FT 8-06: Commonwealth Budget for FY2019 (Passed)

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

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The floor is open.

[YE]

This looks like on the surface a copy/paste from last year's bill. Am I correct?

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

So right off the bat we should probably be looking at spending bills that have been passed over the last year.  I do not know which bill to begin with because I've only been a member of the Parliament since May.  For this, I will be needing assistance from the First Minister.

Until we determine how much of a surplus (or deficit, although this is highly unlikely) we have currently, I would rather hold off on changes to tax figures unless they are already mandated by previous legislation.

[YE]

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Amendment to remove from stuff that was never passed outside the previous year budget so we're basically starting from scratch. Will make a post of all the spending bills since October as well soon.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

My last message didn't send for some reason but yes, this was copied and pasted from last year's budget.

Now we have at out disposal Wiki libraries of Parliament term history and statutes.  Since Fremont is pretty organized as far as record-keeping, this should be a fairly easy process.

[YE]

Central and Northern Pacific Railway Act of 2017: $10,424,400,000 - one time thing
Private Prison Depopulation Act of 2017: $500,000,000
Earthquake Act: $50,000,000 - one time thing
Working Retraining and Introduction Act: .5% of GDP per year
Rural High-Speed Internet Improvement Ac: $1,000,000,000
Standing with Survivors Act  $50,000,000 - one time thing
LFTR Act: $5,000,000,000
Fremont Railway and Pan-Regional Transport Act of 2018: $1,118,200,000 - one time thing
Innovation Prosperity Act: $50,000,000 - expires in 5 years
The Fremont Parks and Recreation Act of 2018: $750,000,000 - one time thing
Bank of Fremont Act: $1,540,457
Fremont Promise Act: $3,350,000,000
Fremont Urban Renovation Act of 2018: $250,000,000 - one time thing
Fremont Farm Maintenance Act of 2018: $350,000,000 - one time thing


Gaming Tax
Estate Tax
 

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

So the total cost of these figures (not including the Working Retraining and Introduction Act) is $25,122,640,457.  Subtract that from the surplus and we are left with a total of $449,108,859,543 before new taxes.

[YE]

So in 2018 we had a $474 billion surplus which would carry over to 2019. The budget assumes a $516 billion surplus so that puts a dent in things slightly. So that brings us down to $423 billion not counting my amendment.

[Southern Delegate matthew27]

As representative of the left wing population of this commonwealth I won't settle for anything less then 25% taxes on the 1 million+ column. The rich use most of the resources and have the least to lose. We also need to upgrade our infrastructure, pay for better education for our children and so much more.

$50K - $100K (0%)

$100K - $150K (3%)

$150K - $200K (8%)

$200K - $500K (14%)

$500K - $1M (18%)

$1M+ (25%)

We should also make it illegal to offshore to other countries for the rich.

[YE]

^Why should we be increasing revenues with such a massive surplus?

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

I object for the reason YE stated.

A vote on the amendment is open.

[YE]

Nay

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Nay.

[Lumine]

Nay!

[YE]

Looking through older stuff, I stumble upon two bills that were signed prior to the signing of the FY2018 Budget yet not included in the final bill.

Warren Act: $618,750,000 - one time thing
Mann Act: $300,000,000,000 - one time thing

None of these were actually included in the FY2018 so I'm not sure if they're legally funded programs.

I also think I found an error in the math of the FY2018 budget (not counting for the above two items). I am getting $804,529,005,200 in revenue, $426,628,500,000 in spending,  leading to a surplus of $377,900,505,200.

[YE]

The original post I was replying to was deleted but I’ve wanted to say this for a while so here I go.

This isn’t real life. In real life, our politics is controlled by big money interests that contribute obscene amounts of money to both Republicans and corporate Democrats to allow for them to increase their profits, be hostile to workers who want a living wage, pollute the environment, and pay nothing in taxes. The GOP, in hopes of undercutting the labor left, runs up large deficits and they cries foul about the deficit, contributing to reducing public confidence in government and the welfare state while pushing issues like gun control and abortion in an attempt to divide us up. Since this is just a game, those factors aren’t in play. No one is being paid money to play this game.

With that out of the way, we have such a massive surplus that I don’t think is good for the region. Billions in revenue leads to a stale economy, so I don’t think it is necessary for us to raise the top tax rate to 25%, especially since I already got through an amendment to eliminate last years rebate. There’s also a point in time IMO (and you may disagree with this) where you run out of other people’s money because the economy can’t attract businesses. We’re nowhere near that point IRL but if you completely run out of billionaires to tax, the country collapses ala USSR.

[YE]

Amendment to update 2018FY surplus from earlier findings and to clear last year's surplus and revenue and spending since that's changing:

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[Galaxie]

Nay

[Southern Delegate matthew27]

Nay

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

Trumpsucks' amendment is rejected; YE's amendment is adopted.

Debate resumes.

[Sestak]

What's the current tax code at?

I oppose raises with a surplus, obviously, and I also don't want to throw it all at cuts, but depending on where it is right now we could do a slight cut coupled with increased spending.

[Mad Deadly Worldwide Communist Gangster Computer God]

What's the current tax code at?

I oppose raises with a surplus, obviously, and I also don't want to throw it all at cuts, but depending on where it is right now we could do a slight cut coupled with increased spending.

Trumpsucks' amendment was rejected, so the tax code is the same as the last budget's.

It will change slightly if the drug legalization bill that's currently on the floor gets passed via new sin taxes.

[YE]

Oh the tax rates will be adjusted downward. I want taxes to bring in around 40 billion or so since the political ideology ancestrally favored here is one that favors spending and I don’t want a deficit.

[Southern Delegate matthew27]

I will vote nay on any bill that drops the rate on 500 thousand and above tax brackets. 15% for one million dollars or more is insanely low.

I am open to lowering taxes on the 50-100 thousand per year bracket, but only with increases at the top to maintain the surplus.

[Lumine]

I certainly think we can and should lower taxes here, it wouldn't be fiscally irresponsible in the slighest given the very significant surplus and stimulating the economy through a series of tax cuts across the board would be, I think, a huge benefit moving forward.