FY 2015 Budget (Passed)

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Sponsor: Windjammer

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I'm going to interpret Polnut as objecting to TNF's amendment, so senators a vote is now open on TNF's amendment, please vote aye nay or abstain

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I'm going to interpret Polnut as objecting to TNF's amendment, so senators a vote is now open on TNF's amendment, please vote aye nay or abstain

I should say, as President I oversaw a reduction in overall military spending. So that's not my concern. My concern is the tax structure. Thinking you can finance the Federal Government by only taxing the wealthy isn't realistic and is not a panacea to all economic ills.

I believe in fair and progressive income taxation - this is not progressive or especially practical. Tax evasion and income/asset shifting would become a growth industry in Atlasia. Didn't think Senator TNF would be supporting increasing the incomes of accountants and tax attorneys.

I said we need to re-examine our tax policy, but this isn't workable or realistic. I'm happy to look at other options for tax reform.

I don't disagree with you, I just wanted to open a vote as soon as possible (i.e. before I go to bed) to save time.

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Nay

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The amendment has enough votes to fail, senators have 24 hours to change their votes

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Aye: TNF

Nay: Bore, Yankee, Polnut, JCL, Cranberry, windjammer

Not voting: Bacon King, Deus

By a vote of 6-1 the amendment has failed

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Proposed by: TNF

Status: Unknown

Senators have 36 hours to object to this amendment

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TNF's amendment has passed without objection.

I'll open a vote on Lumine's amendment which windjammer has introduced tomorrow.

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A vote is now open on senator windjammer's amendment, please vote aye nay or abstain

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Nay, but I think we're getting somewhere

Tomorrow I'll provide my own revenue suggestion that will leave the same amount of revenue spending as Lumine's.

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My amendment:

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Basically here's my amendment in brief:

My spending is 2 billion higher than Lumine, I would try and cut more but most of the categories are so vague I have no idea if we actually can cut them without harming people:

I reversed cuts on food stamps and unemployment insurance and dramitically raised foreign aid.

I paid for this by cutting things like specific space research (though I increased general science funding) air and road transportation.

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Officially offering this:

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Senators have 36 hours to object

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I sympathise with TNF a lot here. If we could fund all our programmes with, say, a 40% tax on people earning over 100 grand then I'd be all for that, but I just don't think we can.

If we actually want to provide the services that we do we have to have, however unpalatable it is, some tax on people earning a bit less.

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Looking over Senator Polnut's proposal, it keeps the important features of my proposal along with being somewhat tidier, so I'd like to withdraw my amendment.

Senators also have 36 hours to object to Senator Polnut's amendment.

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Polnut's amendment has been adopted

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Senators have 36 hours to object to Yankee's amendment


As for Polnut's question I must say I'm not really that comfortable with this. As far as I can work out e're cutting healthcare spending for what amounts to a tax cut for the rich (the tax bracket the majority of atlasians fall under stays the same).

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Senators a vote is now open on yankee's amendment, please vote aye nay or abstain

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Nay


Yankee's amendment has enough votes to fail, senators have 24 hours to change their votes

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By a vote of 0-5-2 this amendment has failed

Abstain: Cris, Yankee

Nay: Polnut, TNF, Bore, Cranberry, SWE

Not voting: Lief, Bacon King, Windjammer

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The US government (not including the private sector, which is predictably massive and is about another 4000 per year) currently spends about 4000 dollars per person per year on healthcare which equates to about 1.2 trillion a year.

Now obviously our system is a lot more efficient per patient, but it also covers a lot more patients, so I'm really not sure we are in a position to cut spending.

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Senators a vote is now open on Yankee's amendment, please vote aye nay or abstain

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Nay

This has enough votes to fail, senators have 24 hours to change their votes.

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By a vote of 6-0-2, yankee's amendment has failed to pass:

Nay: Windjammer, Bore, Cranberry, Lief, SWE, Polnut

Abstain: Yankee, Cris

Not Voting: TNF, Bacon King

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Maybe at the margins. The current Northeast budget is here and is exclusively funding things like some research and alcohol reduction programmes. The actual cost of running the health service for instance hospitals, wages, the costs of drugs is not financed at all by my own region, but I don't know what things are like in other ones.