IDS Budget and Tax Committee

[Yelnoc]

     Looking at the high rate of spending you attributed to education, did you calculate it for both state & local spending? I only did state spending, principally because I wanted to avoid the added complication of dealing with revenue due to local taxes. Leave the municipalities to fend for themselves, I say.

For determining a regional budget, it should list state revenues and spending only.

     Interesting isn't it, that we give more autonomy to cities & counties than states here in the IDS? Cities & counties get to levy their own taxes whereas states depend on the region for revenue.

Well, are "states" really political sub-entities of regions in Atlasia? My take on it is "no". It seems regions replaced states in the federal/regional/local divide of federalism.

Yes, they have been referenced numerous times in the Southeast alone.  I would guess they are a bit like America's larger counties when comparing Atlasia to the States.

[Yelnoc]

This isn't dead by the way; I just didn't have any free time this past week.  I will edit this post over the weekend with our revenue and we can get back on track.

[Yelnoc]

Spending (AL,AR,FL,GA,LA,MS,NC,SC,TN,TX):

Pensions: $3.81 billion
Health care: $121.9 billion
Education: $73.4 billion
Defense: $0.6 billion
Welfare: $40.4 billion
Protection: $21.5 billion
Transportation: $28.2 billion
General government: $7.4 billion
Other spending: $18.7 billion
Interest: $7.4 billion
Balance: -$4.4 billion
Σ: $352.1 billion


Revenue (AL,AR,FL,GA,LA,MS,NC,SC,TN,TX):

Income Taxes: 35.6 billion
Social Security Taxes:  15.1 billion
Ad-valorem Taxes: 252.3 billion
Fees and Charges: 107 billion
Business and Other Revenue: 132.5 billion
Total Direct Revenue: 544.5 billion
Gross Public Debt: 598.7 billion

[Yelnoc]

Phew!  The leg work is done.  Now we can begin the arduous task of syncing the above budget with our region's legislative history.

[Yelnoc]

    Great job! Also, a $200 billion surplus seems a little too good to be true.

Yeah, I have been trying to think of ways around that.  If it's ok with Badger, we can add another item to the revenue category named "Moderator Credit" or some such.  This would consist of enough money for that $200 billion surplus to have been true in April 2010 when it was assigned.  However, each month $10 billion would be automatically deducted until the category was whittled down to zero, where it would likely remain.  In the future it can be used for adjustments and budgets that need to temporarily deviate from reality for whatever reason.

Under that plan, the IDS would be down to $90 billion in moderator credit; $0 would be reached in December 2011.

EDIT: Actually, it will take a tad more that $200 billion to create a $200 billion surplus (duh!).  Instead of subtracting a $10 billion a month, we should subtract 5% of that original number.  If it's ok with you PiT, I will PM Badger about this.

Also, looking at the bills and initiatives that need to be integrated into our budget, I think we will need to add all of the subheadings.   

[Yelnoc]

Note that Puerto Rico is not including in the Base numbers.  Base numbers are derived from this site and are the aggregate totals of the following states; AL,AR,FL,GA,LA,MS,NC,SC,TN,TX.

Note also that each base has an implied subheading.  In the future, this will most likely need to be calculated.  The bills and their relevant information are sorted by their implied subheading (the italicized bullet).  If the bill falls under a sub-subheading, that is indicated like such: Subheading/Subheading.

If you have any complaints about where I have placed certain pieces of a legislature, please tell me.

Spending

Pensions
-Base: $3.81 billion

Health care:
-Base: $121.9 billion

Education:
-Base: $73.4 billion (assuming Section 1 of the School Choice Initiative does not invalidate it)
-Tertiary Education/Other Capital Outlay-Higher Education/Southeastern Educational Incentive Act: $3.5 billion
-Pre-Primary through Secondary Education/Other Capital Outlay - Elementary and Secondary Education/School Choice Initiative: $56.4 billion
-Total: $133.3 billion

Defense:
-Base: $0.6 billion

Welfare:
-Base: $40.4 billion

Protection:
-Base: $21.5 billion

Transportation:
-Base: $28.2 billion

General government:
-Base: $7.4 billion

Other spending:
-Base: $18.7 billion
-Cultural Services/Pentagram Creation Act
-Total: ?

Interest:
-Base: $7.4 billion

Balance:
-Base: -$4.4 billion

Σ
-Base: $352.1 billion

Revenue

Income Taxes:
-Base: $35.6 billion
-Corporate Income Tax/Tax-Corporate Net Income/Put the "free" back in Free Enterprise Bill
-Corporate Income Tax/Tax-Corporate Net Income/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4
-Corporate Tax Rate: 8.6%
-Personal Income Tax Rate: effectively 6%
-Total: ?

Social Security Taxes:  
-Base: $15.1 billion

Ad-valorem Taxes:
-Base: $252.3 billion
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Alcoholic Beverage Sales/Southeast Alcohol Initiative, Section 8: $1.00/proof liter
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Tobacco Products Sales/Southeast Tobacco Initiative, Section 6: $0.04/cigarette, $0.08/cigar, $2.00/kg tobacco
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Marijuana Products Sales: $3.00/ounce
-Sales Taxes/Tax-Public Utilities Sale/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: 80% of standard electricity excise tax
-Sales Taxes/Tax-Public Utilities Sale/Southeast Biomass Initiative, Section 3: 80% of standard electricity excise tax
-Property Taxes/Tax-Property/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4
-Transportation/Tax-Motor Fuel Sales/Transportation Commission Initiative, Chapter 3, Section 22: $0.08/liter
-Transportation/Tax-Motor Vehicle License/Fair Consequences Initiative, Section 3
-License/Tax-Other License/Off-Shore Religious Organizations Initiative, Section 2
-Total: ?

Fees and Charges:
-Base: $107 billion
-Other/Charges-All Other/Pentagram Creation Act
-Other/Charges-All Other/Safe Roads Initiative, Section 6
-Total: ?

Business and Other Revenue:
-Base: $132.5 billion
-Other/Miscellaneous-Net Lottery Revenue/Southeast Lottery Regulations, Section 6 (Amended by Expanding Choice Initiative)
-Total: ?

Total Direct Revenue:
-base: $544.5 billion

Gross Public Debt:
-Base: $598.7 billion

[Yelnoc]

I am unsure of what to do with the stimulus money.  The sections that allocated money for the construction of different power generating facilities did not provide money for the continued maintenance of said facilities so we will have to calculate that somehow. 

Also, if anyone in the IDS (heck, anyone who's reading this) is feeling helpful, could you find budget statistics for Puerto Rico?  Preferably with breakdowns similar to this website but anything will do.

[Yelnoc]

     Sections 6 & 7 of the Expanding Choice Initiative, as passed on July 18, 2005:
6. The Southeast shall also establish a Regional Education Tax to subsidize the Lottery Education Fund. This tax may only be collected to finance the Student Scholarships and all profits will be added directly to the Southeast Lottery Education Fund.

7. The amount of the Regional Education Tax shall be determined every fiscal year by dividing the monetary needs of the School System, minus the funds in the Lottery Education Fund, by each Resident of the Southeast.

I am not quite sure what to do with this.  The authors of this bill did not indicate what kind of tax they wanted.  I think we will have to decide this in the legislature.

[Yelnoc]

Ok, all of the bills and initiatives posted in this thread have been added to the budget, barring the cases mentioned in the above two posts and the Transportation Fund which I was also not sure what to do with.

[Yelnoc]

    Great job! Also, a $200 billion surplus seems a little too good to be true.

Yeah, I have been trying to think of ways around that.  If it's ok with Badger, we can add another item to the revenue category named "Moderator Credit" or some such.  This would consist of enough money for that $200 billion surplus to have been true in April 2010 when it was assigned.  However, each month $10 billion would be automatically deducted until the category was whittled down to zero, where it would likely remain.  In the future it can be used for adjustments and budgets that need to temporarily deviate from reality for whatever reason.

Under that plan, the IDS would be down to $90 billion in moderator credit; $0 would be reached in December 2011.

EDIT: Actually, it will take a tad more that $200 billion to create a $200 billion surplus (duh!).  Instead of subtracting a $10 billion a month, we should subtract 5% of that original number.  If it's ok with you PiT, I will PM Badger about this.

Also, looking at the bills and initiatives that need to be integrated into our budget, I think we will need to add all of the subheadings.   

Hmmmmm. I'll have to think about this. Actually many states do have a rainy day fund. And while $200 billion may seem a lot, spread out over 10 southern states (including TX and FL)? Maybe not that farfetched.

Anyone have an idea (or willing to check) what the southern states RL rainy day fund (or equivilent) status is like?

This website provides a graph showing the percentage of annual expenditures in 2008 that went into a rainy day fund.  Georgia, the state which IDS law is based off of, devoted between 5% and 10% of its annual expenditures to a rainy day fund.  Assuming that 10% of the IDS budget was added as a rainy day fund, that would create a rainy day fund of $32.21 billion.  Probably not enough to offset the deficit but it's something.

[Yelnoc]

     Great job! Also, a $200 billion surplus seems a little too good to be true.

Yeah, I have been trying to think of ways around that.  If it's ok with Badger, we can add another item to the revenue category named "Moderator Credit" or some such.  This would consist of enough money for that $200 billion surplus to have been true in April 2010 when it was assigned.  However, each month $10 billion would be automatically deducted until the category was whittled down to zero, where it would likely remain.  In the future it can be used for adjustments and budgets that need to temporarily deviate from reality for whatever reason.

Under that plan, the IDS would be down to $90 billion in moderator credit; $0 would be reached in December 2011.

EDIT: Actually, it will take a tad more that $200 billion to create a $200 billion surplus (duh!).  Instead of subtracting a $10 billion a month, we should subtract 5% of that original number.  If it's ok with you PiT, I will PM Badger about this.

Also, looking at the bills and initiatives that need to be integrated into our budget, I think we will need to add all of the subheadings.   

Hmmmmm. I'll have to think about this. Actually many states do have a rainy day fund. And while $200 billion may seem a lot, spread out over 10 southern states (including TX and FL)? Maybe not that farfetched.

Anyone have an idea (or willing to check) what the southern states RL rainy day fund (or equivalent) status is like?

This website provides a graph showing the percentage of annual expenditures in 2008 that went into a rainy day fund.  Georgia, the state which IDS law is based off of, devoted between 5% and 10% of its annual expenditures to a rainy day fund.  Assuming that 10% of the IDS budget was added as a rainy day fund, that would create a rainy day fund of $32.21 billion.  Probably not enough to offset the deficit but it's something.

Looking at the underlying data for that graph, it appears Georgia's rainy day fund was only at 5.3% of its annual expenditures. Most other IDS states varied from Arkansas (zilch) to Texas (10.2%).

I have studiously determined that the $200 Billion surplus appears, sadly, to have primarily resulted from accounting errors and overestimation of future receipts which were heavily decimated by the recession. There's also mysterious withdrawls to a Cayman Islands account simply listed under "NCYnk".

Even 10% I'm afraid is not realistic when only Texas meets that level in RL. That said, based on TX having a hugely disproportionate share of regional revenues, some other states being in the 5-10% range, plus a bonus for Yelnoc finding this website and doing preliminary calculations (that's always looked upon favorably by the GM's Office ), I'll put the IDS Rainy Day Fund balance at exactly (coincidentally) $25 Bil (or nearly 8% of annual expenditures).

If anyone thinks my numbers are off or unfair in someway, though, I'm always ready to listen.

That's fair.  Darn you NCYnk!!!

Anyway, looking at the balance sheet I put together at the top of the page, I think we will need to add up all of the sub-categories to actually be able to find the budget.  Oye vey.  I've got track tomorrow but I'll see what I can do Sunday.  In the meantime, I'm putting out the call to our other citizens and elected officials.  Pull your weight!

[Yelnoc]

Education:
Base: $73.4 billion
Southeastern Educational Incentive Act: $3.5 billion
School Choice Initiative: $56.4 billion

Total: $133.3 billion

I realize I probably sound stupid but how did you come up with those numbers?

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     It seems to me that it should reduce the base, but I'm not sure by how much.[/quote]
Aw crap.  Looks like we don't have a base anymore.  They stopped regional education spending and then went and abolished the state Departments of Education.  Meaning that all public schools are funded exclusively at the county level (with, of course, unfunded Federal mandates).  If I'm right, I'll place a bill in the pipeline to rectify the situation.

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i luv u

Updating the balance sheet....

[Yelnoc]

Just a thought, what does everyone make of Section 1 of the School Choice Initiative?:

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     It seems to me that it should reduce the base, but I'm not sure by how much.

Aw crap.  Looks like we don't have a base anymore.  They stopped regional education spending and then went and abolished the state Departments of Education.  Meaning that all public schools are funded exclusively at the county level (with, of course, unfunded Federal mandates).  If I'm right, I'll place a bill in the pipeline to rectify the situation.

     I don't think that it should completely eliminate the base, since there is a certain amount of education funding that doesn't go directly to schools. If nothing else, we would still be paying for salaries for regional-level education administration, as pointless as that would be in the absence of regional-level education expenditures. I'd like legal expertise on this matter before taking any action on it though, as I don't know too much about education expenditures.

You're right, it only cuts off funding to "schools" (presumably all levels of education).  All education programs not directly related to schools in addition to administration expenses would remain.  I guess we will have to figure out which sub-category of the education sector covers those sections and add it up across our states for the region total.  Or, to save us the trouble (and vastly improve our education system), we could pass a bill fixing the situation.

Current and future legislators, listen up!  Always make sure every word in a bill says exactly what you want it to say!

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i luv u

Updating the balance sheet....
[/quote]

     If we can find the average rate in the region for each of those items (except marijuana, of course), we can compare them to our regional rates & adjust the tax revenue accordingly. That should produce a pretty good estimate of our total tax revenue.
[/quote]
I'll get on it.

[Yelnoc]

I'll keep this page updated with my endeavors in calculating those regional tax rates.

My initial thoughts are that tax rates are going to be difficult to come by using that US Government Revenue site; it gives each states revenue from these sources but not the actual rates (see the top of page 6).  We do have two states in the IDS, Florida and Texas, which institute no income tax.  To further complicate matters, Texas does not have a normal corporate tax, opting instead for a gross margins business tax.  We really should standardize the IDS tax code.  

That thought leads down an interesting road.  We are assuming that the states are collecting taxes and sending all of the revenue to us.  Does this mean that all State Departments are unfunded?  Meaning, in turn, that any services not explicitly legislated by the Southeast Region are not in place?  I can't believe that in five years no one has thought to look at the logistics of the region!

[Yelnoc]

I'll keep this page updated with my endeavors in calculating those regional tax rates.

My initial thoughts are that tax rates are going to be difficult to come by using that US Government Revenue site; it gives each states revenue from these sources but not the actual rates (see the top of page 6).  We do have two states in the IDS, Florida and Texas, which institute no income tax.  To further complicate matters, Texas does not have a normal corporate tax, opting instead for a gross margins business tax.  We really should standardize the IDS tax code. 

That thought leads down an interesting road.  We are assuming that the states are collecting taxes and sending all of the revenue to us.  Does this mean that all State Departments are unfunded?  Meaning, in turn, that any services not explicitly legislated by the Southeast Region are not in place?  I can't believe that in five years no one has thought to look at the logistics of the region!

     The assumption I've been making was that State Departments have been partially subsumed into Regional Departments, so we have the same amount of bureaucracy, but split between two levels of authority.

     After this is done, I think we should pass an omnibus tax bill, setting specific rates for each item in an easy-to-find location.

I'm beginning to think that we should do that before we try to calculate everything.  Otherwise, we are going to have to go back and do this all over again.

[Yelnoc]

I'll keep this page updated with my endeavors in calculating those regional tax rates.

My initial thoughts are that tax rates are going to be difficult to come by using that US Government Revenue site; it gives each states revenue from these sources but not the actual rates (see the top of page 6).  We do have two states in the IDS, Florida and Texas, which institute no income tax.  To further complicate matters, Texas does not have a normal corporate tax, opting instead for a gross margins business tax.  We really should standardize the IDS tax code.  

That thought leads down an interesting road.  We are assuming that the states are collecting taxes and sending all of the revenue to us.  Does this mean that all State Departments are unfunded?  Meaning, in turn, that any services not explicitly legislated by the Southeast Region are not in place?  I can't believe that in five years no one has thought to look at the logistics of the region!

One little bit of help: If you can provide the GM's Office a list of IDS RL income tax rates (or at least links directly to the states' rates), I can calculate the RL "average" income tax for the region.

Whatever tax rates you guys decide is totally up to you, of course. The point for the RL "regional" income tax rate is that whatever it turns out to be produced approximately $35.6 Billion in revenue (as Yelnoc calculated here). So a determination of however much revenue is produced by whatever tax level you ultimately legislate will be made based on the RL regional average producing $35.6 Bil.

For example, Yelnoc's proposal is for a 6% income tax rate (presumably a flat rate as it reads? Yes, it wouldn't be the IDS if people didn't think progressive tax rates were icky ). If the RL average income tax rate for IDS states is determined to be (e.g.) 3%, then passing a 6% rate would produce roughly twice the revenue as RL: $35.6 Bil x2 = $71.2 Bil.

Thanks, I will do that.  And the 6% was PiT's number, presumably from some bygone piece of legislation.

@PiT: Gotcha

[Yelnoc]

I have italicized statistics that I got from this Wikipedia article because I'm not sure if "tax rate" and "Tax revenue as % of personal income" are interchangeable terms.  If they are, I guess that means every state has a flat tax?

Personal Income Tax Rates
Alabama:
Arkansas:
Florida: 0% [Wikipedia]
Georgia:
Louisiana:
Mississippi:
North Carolina:
South Carolina:
Tennessee: 0% [Wikipedia]
Texas: 0% [Wikipedia]

Corporate Income Tax Rates
Alabama:
Arkansas:
Florida: 5% [Wikipedia]
Georgia:
Louisiana:
Mississippi:
North Carolina:
South Carolina:
Tennessee: 6% tax on income received from stocks and bonds not taxed ad valorem [Wikipedia]
Texas: 0% Gross margins tax on businesses (high exception level) [Wikipedia]

[Yelnoc]

Am I correct in assuming that "tax rate" and "Tax revenue as % of personal income" are interchangeable terms?  If so, we can go ahead and send the Personal Income Taxes off to Badger.

[Yelnoc]

     I doubt it, given that actual non-zero figures are attributed to Florida, Tennessee, & Texas in the article.

Darn.  I have been looking through different pdf's on income taxes (from state websites) and I am beginning to think our quest for one figure for each state is much to simplistic.

[Yelnoc]

Alabama's (Personal) Income tax Rates:

If your income range is between $0 and $500, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 2%.
If your income range is between $501 and $3,000, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 4%.
If your income range is $3,000 and over, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 5%.


Arkansas's (Personal) Income tax Rates:

If your income range is between $0 and $3,700, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 1%.
If your income range is between $3,701 and $7,400, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 2.5%.
If your income range is between $7,401 and $11,100, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 3.5%.
If your income range is between $11,101 and $18,600, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 4.5%.
If your income range is between $18,601 and $31,000, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 6%.
If your income range is $31,000 and over, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 7%.


Florida: No Personal Income Tax


Georgia's (Personal) Income tax Rates:

If your income range is between $0 and $750, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 1%.
If your income range is between $751 and $2,250, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 2%.
If your income range is between $2,251 and $3,750, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 3%.
If your income range is between $3,751 and $5,250, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 4%.
If your income range is between $5,251 and $7,000, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 5%.
If your income range is $7,001 and over, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 6%.


Louisiana's (Personal) Income tax Rates:

If your income range is between $0 and $12,500, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 2%.
If your income range is between $12,501 and $50,000, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 4%.
If your income range is $50,001 and over, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 6%.


Mississippi's (Personal) Income tax Rates:

If your income range is between $0 and $5,000, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 3%.
If your income range is between $5,001 and $10,000, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 4%.
If your income range is $10,001 and over, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 5%.


North Carolina's (Personal) Income tax Rates:

If your income range is between $0 and $12,750, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 6%.
If your income range is between $12,751 and $60,000, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 7%.
If your income range is $60,001 and over, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 7.75%.


South Carolina's (Personal) Income tax Rates:

If your income range is between $0 and $2,630, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 0%.
If your income range is between $2,631 and $5,260, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 3%.
If your income range is between $5,261 and $7,890, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 4%.
If your income range is between $7,891 and $10,520, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 5%.
If your income range is between $10,521 and $13,150, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 6%.
If your income range is $13,151 and over, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 7%.


Tennessee's (Personal) Income tax Rates:

If your income range is $0 and over, your tax rate on every dollar of income earned is 6%.


Texas: No Personal Income Tax

[Yelnoc]

Above are all state personal income taxes.  Our own legislature also passed the below bill on  May 11, 2010.  This is the only bill the IDS legislature has passed on the subject of income taxes.  Of course, this is corporate income tax rates, so it is not directly pertinent to the above, but it does raise an interesting question.  This bill adds a regional tax rate.  It does mention state tax rates, yet state tax rates exist.  Thus, there are three levels of taxation and thus three levels of government; Federal, Regional, and State ("county" I will presume does not exist since I cannot find references to county tax rates in our laws and am willing to turn a blind eye to rl for the sake of simplicity).

Drawing on the above, does it not make sense for this endeavor to be divided into two categories; Regional and State?  Once this project is completed, we can go about the business of integrated the levels, but for now I think this is reason enough to treat them as separate entities.

The state level is taken care of easily enough.  I can introduce a bill to the legislature showing our findings on the state governments.  We have everything we need from Badger's excellent site (other than Puerto Rico, that will need to be rectified).  Then we can move on to the process of the regional budget, which is presumably quite small (as this thread is evidence to, we have not passed that many appropriations initiatives/bills) and finalize our regional budget.

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[Yelnoc]

Speak of Puerto Rico,[urlhttp://i2i.nfc.usda.gov/Publications/Tax_Formulas/territorial/tax-pr.html] here[/url] is a little tax formulas thingy that may or may not be of any help.

[Yelnoc]

     The process we derived for calculating our spending & revenue suggests that there is no state-level taxation or spending beyond what the region deals with. Given that the region has specifically avowed the existence of state-level government, this is slightly problematic, though we can imagine the region as being a decidedly unitary system.

Why is that?  We used real-life state data to do so.  I don't see how that precludes the existence of state level taxation in the IDS, especially when, as you pointed out, we certainly have states.  In fact, bills such as the Education devolution act (whatever the one we were talking about earlier was called) at least attempted to assign duties and thus expenditures to the states, which seems to necessitate the states having some mechanism to gather revenue.

[Yelnoc]

     The process we derived for calculating our spending & revenue suggests that there is no state-level taxation or spending beyond what the region deals with. Given that the region has specifically avowed the existence of state-level government, this is slightly problematic, though we can imagine the region as being a decidedly unitary system.

Why is that?  We used real-life state data to do so.  I don't see how that precludes the existence of state level taxation in the IDS, especially when, as you pointed out, we certainly have states.  In fact, bills such as the Education devolution act (whatever the one we were talking about earlier was called) at least attempted to assign duties and thus expenditures to the states, which seems to necessitate the states having some mechanism to gather revenue.

     We found our spending by adding together the real-life spending of each state in each category. Unless we assume that all of this money is being spent twice, there's not really much left over for state-level spending. Taxes are accounted for in the same manner, with the numbers being adjusted to reflect regional rates.

     My thought is that the region gathers the money & releases certain amounts of it to the states, with the current state government apparati being divided in some fashion between the region & the states.

Yes, our intent was to find our regions spending and revenue by adding up that of the states.  What I am saying is that we have no reason to assume that this money is going to the regional government but several to assume that the states are keeping it for their own programs.

Your thought is certainly the way things should be managed but, as far as I can see, that has not been happening.  My assumption was that areas not touched upon by the legislature or initiatives function the same as in real life; this seems to be an area that no one in the past has dealt with.

[Yelnoc]

     The process we derived for calculating our spending & revenue suggests that there is no state-level taxation or spending beyond what the region deals with. Given that the region has specifically avowed the existence of state-level government, this is slightly problematic, though we can imagine the region as being a decidedly unitary system.

Why is that?  We used real-life state data to do so.  I don't see how that precludes the existence of state level taxation in the IDS, especially when, as you pointed out, we certainly have states.  In fact, bills such as the Education devolution act (whatever the one we were talking about earlier was called) at least attempted to assign duties and thus expenditures to the states, which seems to necessitate the states having some mechanism to gather revenue.

     We found our spending by adding together the real-life spending of each state in each category. Unless we assume that all of this money is being spent twice, there's not really much left over for state-level spending. Taxes are accounted for in the same manner, with the numbers being adjusted to reflect regional rates.

     My thought is that the region gathers the money & releases certain amounts of it to the states, with the current state government apparati being divided in some fashion between the region & the states.

Yes, our intent was to find our regions spending and revenue by adding up that of the states.  What I am saying is that we have no reason to assume that this money is going to the regional government but several to assume that the states are keeping it for their own programs.

Your thought is certainly the way things should be managed but, as far as I can see, that has not been happening.  My assumption was that areas not touched upon by the legislature or initiatives function the same as in real life; this seems to be an area that no one in the past has dealt with.

     As Badger prescribed a few pages back, we are ignoring local-level taxation. As such, my thoughts are that the figures given for regional taxation & spending refers to all that money that passes through the hands of the regional-level government. If we are going to include money on the state-level that the regional government never actually sees, then there is no reason to exclude similar funds on the local-level.

The point of including the state level figures as a separate level would be to temporarily separate them from regional spending and revenue.  We need to figure out our regions debt level and budget history.  Once that is done, legislature can be passed so that the region assumes the responsibilities of the state government.  At that point, those figures will be needed to create the new regional budget.