FT 16.18 - Budget FY 2021

[Former President tack50]

Looking at this budget debate, the only thing I am surprised is that Fremont hasn't gone over 100% in tax rates for any brackets

Come on, you were so close! Just raise income tax by 0.5% and you will do it!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Looking at this budget debate, the only thing I am surprised is that Fremont hasn't gone over 100% in tax rates for any brackets

Come on, you were so close! Just raise income tax by 0.5% and you will do it!

There's only one thing to do —you must move to Frémont and propose the amendment yourself!

[YE]

No one time spending bills?

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

No one time spending bills?

Nope!

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Okay, folks. With the passage of the property tax here is (roughly) where we stand.

COMMONWEALTH BUDGET
for the fiscal year of 2021

I. REVENUES
☞ Income Tax: $141,458,440,106
$0K – $125K (0%): $0
$125 – $200K (5%): $4,544,572,163
$200K – $1M (15%): $51,494,832,936
$1M – $10M (30%): $45,459,789,567
$10M – $100M (45%): $30,242,234,007
$100M+ (60%): $9,717,011,433

☞ Corporate Taxes: $222,721,286,871
$0 – 100K (0%): $0
$100K – 1M (20%): $1,052,287,645
$1M – 10M (40%): $7,087,226,512
$10M+ (60%): $214,581,772,714

☞ Excise Taxes: $30,457,309,589
Alcohol (15%): $13,087,791,871
Gas & Diesel ($0.30/gallon): $14,653,207,484
Tobacco (15%): $2,716,310,234

☞ Misc. Taxes and Penalties: $64,747,757,223
Fremont Carbon Taxation Act: $31,011,738,620
Green Vehicle Promotion Act § 2(ii): $3,602,574,479
Royalties Act:
Coal: $2,877,687,513
Gas: $1,500,722,750
Oil: $11,355,570,000
Gaming Tax: $5,100,495,700
Estate Tax (50%): $5,852,884,365
Drug Tax: $3,446,083,796
Lodging Facility Sales and Use Tax: $5,091,240,579.71
Property Tax: $180,000,000

☞ FY2020 Surplus: 18,159,573,897

II. EXPENDITURES
☞ Tax Credits: $1,660,474,443
Green Vehicle Promotion Act §2(i): $1,236,935,443
Teacher's Tax Credit: $423,539,000

☞ Mandatory Spending: $206,060,590,457 (List A)

☞ Discretionary Spending: $415,502,000,000
Education: $195,282,000,000
Health and Human Services: $130,676,000,000
Justice: $36,491,000,000
Home Office: $53,053,000,000

TOTAL REVENUES: $657,544,367,686
TOTAL EXPENDITURES: $623,223,064,900
TOTAL SURPLUS: $34,321,302,786

The property tax number is a conservative estimate based on property tax revenues in California for the most recent fiscal year, adjusted for the regional GDP. The real number may be slightly less or significantly more (to the tune of $33 B), but for our purposes I felt it was more prudent to guess low. You'll see that even if revenues from the property tax are on the low end of what we expect, this leaves us with a $34 B surplus for 2021.

I am operating under the assumption that we won't have official projections from the comptroller general's office for several weeks if not longer. I will do my best to come up with a working estimate today or tomorrow so we can move forward with this.

At this point I would like to know if there are serious concerns with the budget as it stands, or if we are ready to move forward with this.

[Anna Komnene]

It's good to see we're in the green again while keeping taxes down for low and middle income folks. Looks pretty solid from what I can see.

[OBD]

What I have so far -
Will finish and edit this tomorrow morning.
I acknowledge Speaker Dragon and Rep. Madigan's requests. New figures will be processed by the end of this upcoming week.

I'm compiling a list of bills since Budget FY 2020 that may affect this year's budget. I was pretty liberal about adding bills to this list, FYI. Here is the list:

14th Parliament (all bills in wiki passed below Budget)
FT 14.08 Prison Reform Package (impact unknown, but probably small) ~$500,000 to ensure any Atlasian prison has the resources to implement program
FT 14.11 Bestiality Criminalization Act (like above, generates revenue thru fines?) Fine revenue and existing enforcement agency provision
FT 14.09 Custody Forfeiture Act (like above - small impact probable) Fine revenue
FT 14.10 Commonwealth Fuel & Power Act (this one's probably gonna hurt) Not immediately having access to the figures in the formula for the bill, I am giving this a preliminary cost of $20,000,000,000 based on an estimate I read for a similar plan
FT 14.14 Diesel Tax Abolition Act (unsure if this is still in application but if it is it affects us) I will leave this aside for now until we know whether it applies to the current budgetary projection ^a
FT 14.12 Lobbying Restriction Act (small impact thru fines?) Fine revenue
FT 14.15 Right to Strike Act (again, small impact through fines?) Fine revenue
FT 14.13 Fremont's Homeless Integration Act (like 14.14, unsure if this is still in effect, but if so, there's an impact) ^a
FT 14.17 Regional Linguistic Freedom Act (doubt this affects the budget but who knows) No budgetary impact outside of potential further legislation for grant efforts
FT 14.16 WJCA II (small impact thru fines?) Fine revenue
FT 14.25 Please Don't Club Seals Act (small impact thru fines?)Fine revenue


15th Parliament
FT 15.03 Right to Organize (potential fine revenue) Fine Revenue
FT 15.05 Medical Price Control Act (there's expenditure here for certain, though the number is as of yet undetermined)
FT 15.08 Fremont Emergency Schooling Act (like above - undetermined expenditure)
FT 15.09 Fremont Nicotine Tax Act (ah yes, new revenue)
FT 15.12 Fremont Criminal Justice Reform Act (lots of fines/moving parts here)
FT 15.01 Public Transportation Expansions/Connections Act ($21 billion in yearly expenditure + a one-time $500 million payment for HSR upgrades)
FT 15.11 Basic Income Guarantee Pilot Program Act (Ouch. That said, I remember doing napkin math that said this shouldn't cost more than a billion...)
FT 15.14 Fremont Higher Education Reform Act (will almost certainly impact the budget)

16th Parliament
FT 16.03 Feed Fremonters Act (this will cost $$$)
FT 15.18 Right to Bear Arms (costs no more than $5 billion annually, potentially mitigated by existing healthcare expenditure)
FT 16.02 Green Futures Act ($350 million in yearly green energy funding, plus several tax effects)
FT 16.06 Animal Lives Matter Act (small fine impact)
FT 16.12 Fremont Public Safety Act (definitely impacts here)
FT 16.11 Hugo Black Assis. of Counsel Act (funded by the feds iirc but just to be safe)
FT 16.10 Green Commuting Act (definitely impacts here, if small)
FT 16.17 PHAT TUSH Act (upon passage, which appears certain, will have effects)

Not to rain on y'all's parade, but according to the Comptroller we could have around $40-50 billion more in expenditure due to recently passed bills. I haven't been paying as close attention since resigning my seat but I'd just like to make sure this has been noted.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I have a lot of questions about those figures. For one, does the $20 B for the Fuel and Power Act take into account the revenues raised in the form of consumer payments?

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

I think in theory it would be better to wait until the Comptroller General has processed all the bills... but he doesn't exactly look likely to post an update soon?

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

List A.
Mandatory Spending.

PAACCA		$600,000,000
TILE		$405,000,000
PPDA		$500,000,000
Earthquake Act		$50,000,000
FremontConnect		$1,000,000,000
LFTR		$5,000,000,000
IPA		$50,000,000
Park Act		$750,000,000
Bank of Fremont Act		$1,540,457
Fremont Promise Act		$3,350,000,000
Urban Act		$250,000,000
Green Act		$20,000,000,000
Warren Act		$618,750,000
Mann Act		$150,000,000,000
Fremont Drug Tolerance and Prevention Act		$55,000,000
Climate Change Act		$1,000,000
Fremont Infrastructure Enhancement Act		$3,000,000,000
FremontConnect Extension Act		$10,000,000,000
Better Interchanges for Fremont Act		$500,000,000
National Guard Funding Act		$2,000,000,000
Fremont Rural Hospitals Act of 2019		$200,000,000
Korean Wars Memorial Act		$5,500,000
Pacific Railway Reauthorization Act		$10,298,400,000
Nebraska and Iowa Flood Relief Act		$250,000,000
Fremont Healthy Lungs Act		$1,500,000
Fremont Farm Bill of 2019		$5,000,000
Park II		$100,000,000
Frémont Missing Persons and Tribal Nations Act		$1,500,000
Alaska Permanent Fund Bailout Act		$444,000,000
Prison Reform Package		$500,000
Commonwealth Fuel and Power Act		$20,000,000,000
Medical Price Control Act		$5,500,000
Frémont Emergency Schooling Act		$17,000,000
Public Transportation Expansions/Connections Act, as amended		$12,000,000,000
Basic Income Guarantee Pilot Program		$950,000,000
Frémont Higher Education Reform Act		$30,000,000
Feed Frémonters Act		$0
Right to Bear Arms Act		$4,832,720,000
Green Futures Act		$350,000,000
Public Safety Act		$4,000,000
PHAT TUSH		$3,500,000

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

List B.
New Revenues.

Frémont Nicotine Tax

$7,243,493,957 (+4,527,183,723)

[YE]

Some of those (the Earthquake and Park Act) were supposed to be one time things or at least I interpreted as such when FM in 2018.

[OBD]

Yeah I basically put everything that could plausibly generate expenditure on there. Probably was a bit too liberal in doing so.

RE the Comptroller we should probably bump him. He said he was going to update it but has gone radio silent since.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

The FRÉMONT PUBLIC SAFETY ACT should result in a net reduction in discretionary spending when all is said and done. The law caps funding for local police and sheriffs' departments at $125/person, down from $340/person in 2020 (Source). The law is somewhat unclear in that is specifies spending by municipal governments; under the Assumption Resolution passed by this parliament in 2019, municipal budgets are funded by regional revenues, so I am interpreting this as effecting funding for the Ministry of Justice in 2021.

As Frémont has a population of 91,022,000 residents, going off the national average we can assume a net reduction of $19,569,730,000 in law enforcement expenditures for 2021.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Notes on List A:

"PAACCA" funds global health organizations affected by the Mexico City Policy whenever it is in effect, which it currently is not.

The Earthquake Act was a one-time expenditure.

The Park Act was a one-time expenditure.

Ditto the Urban Act, the Bank of Frémont Act, the Korean Wars Memorial Act, the Pacific Railway Reauthorization Act, the Nebraska and Iowa Flood Relief Act, the Fremont Healthy Lungs Act, the Park Act II.

[YE]

Most of list A seems to be a one time expenditure because it doesn’t say the money is spent annually.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

COMMONWEALTH BUDGET
for the fiscal year of 2021

I. REVENUES
☞ Income Tax: $141,458,440,106
$0K – $125K (0%): $0
$125 – $200K (5%): $4,544,572,163
$200K – $1M (15%): $51,494,832,936
$1M – $10M (30%): $45,459,789,567
$10M – $100M (45%): $30,242,234,007
$100M+ (60%): $9,717,011,433

☞ Corporate Taxes: $222,721,286,871
$0 – 100K (0%): $0
$100K – 1M (20%): $1,052,287,645
$1M – 10M (40%): $7,087,226,512
$10M+ (60%): $214,581,772,714

☞ Excise Taxes: $30,457,309,589
Alcohol (15%): $13,087,791,871
Gas & Diesel ($0.30/gallon): $14,653,207,484
Tobacco (15%): $2,716,310,234

☞ Misc. Taxes and Penalties: $64,747,757,223
Fremont Carbon Taxation Act: $31,011,738,620
Green Vehicle Promotion Act § 2(ii): $3,602,574,479
Royalties Act:
Coal: $2,877,687,513
Gas: $1,500,722,750
Oil: $11,355,570,000
Gaming Tax: $5,100,495,700
Estate Tax (50%): $5,852,884,365
Drug Tax: $3,446,083,796
Lodging Facility Sales and Use Tax: $5,091,240,579.71
Property Tax: $180,000,000

☞ FY2020 Surplus: 18,159,573,897

II. EXPENDITURES
☞ Tax Credits: $1,660,474,443
Green Vehicle Promotion Act §2(i): $1,236,935,443
Teacher's Tax Credit: $423,539,000

☞ Mandatory Spending: $243,318,970,000 (List A)

☞ Discretionary Spending: $395,932,000,000
Education: $195,282,000,000
Health and Human Services: $130,676,000,000
Justice: $16,921,000,000
Home Office: $53,053,000,000

TOTAL REVENUES: $662,071,551,400
TOTAL EXPENDITURES: $640,911,714,400
TOTAL SURPLUS: $21,159,837,010

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Most of list A seems to be a one time expenditure because it doesn’t say the money is spent annually.

What other bills are you interpreting as being one-time expenses apart from those already struck?

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

While we have a sizable surplus, one thing we might want to consider is stretching out the timeframe for completion of the Transportation Expansion Act so that the cost per annum is lesser. Currently the legislation calls for an annual expenditure of $21 B/year until the project is completed; we could cut this figure in half and in effect double the time it takes to finish construction, or we could reduce funding by a smaller amount (25%) to avoid such a dramatic postponement of the end date. Of course, we could also repeal the legislation outright, though personally I think that would be a shame.

HOWEVER, at this point we have only one bill unscored and a $21 B surplus, so as long as property tax revenues are not significantly less than anticipated we should (?) be okay to leave things as they are. The only major unscored expenditure at the moment is the emergency legislation passed back in March to finance virtual learning during the pandemic. I highly doubt that cost us more than $21 B. My instinct is that if we can reduce spending w/o abandoning any of these commitments completely we should at least consider it, but I'm curious to hear y'all's thoughts.

[Anna Komnene]

Extending the timeline for the public transit act could definitely be an option. I'm not totally sure how the administration of such a large scale project would work, but I assume it's not all happening simultaneously. If that's the case, it wouldn't necessarily endanger any current construction jobs, but rather extend the timeframe for future jobs down the road. That would be the ideal scenario.

[YE]

We should re-evaluate this after we get back from the comptroller.

[OBD]

Yeah as the writer of said transit bill I'm more than happy to postpone funding if it helps balancing the budget.

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

Okay, folks, here's where I'm at:

I'm confident enough in where we are, and with it being so close to January 1, I think we're ready to move toward a final vote. We can get this passed before the end of the year, and then I can go back and propose legislation to amend the Transportation Expansion Act as discussed.

Ideally of course we would have heard from the Comptroller General by now, but at this point that seems unlikely, and I don't want to further endanger our region's fiscal solvency because of delays in Nyman. Fortunately, our projected surplus is large enough that even if our estimates are off by a little, it should be enough to cover any difference between these estimates and the official cost projection when and if we get it.

If there are no objections, I move for a vote.

[Anna Komnene]

With no objections, we'll now have a final vote on the FY 2021 Budget. Members please vote AYE, NAY, or ABSTAIN.

COMMONWEALTH BUDGET
for the fiscal year of 2021

I. REVENUES
☞ Income Tax: $141,458,440,106
$0K – $125K (0%): $0
$125 – $200K (5%): $4,544,572,163
$200K – $1M (15%): $51,494,832,936
$1M – $10M (30%): $45,459,789,567
$10M – $100M (45%): $30,242,234,007
$100M+ (60%): $9,717,011,433

☞ Corporate Taxes: $222,721,286,871
$0 – 100K (0%): $0
$100K – 1M (20%): $1,052,287,645
$1M – 10M (40%): $7,087,226,512
$10M+ (60%): $214,581,772,714

☞ Excise Taxes: $30,457,309,589
Alcohol (15%): $13,087,791,871
Gas & Diesel ($0.30/gallon): $14,653,207,484
Tobacco (15%): $2,716,310,234

☞ Misc. Taxes and Penalties: $64,747,757,223
Fremont Carbon Taxation Act: $31,011,738,620
Green Vehicle Promotion Act § 2(ii): $3,602,574,479
Royalties Act:
Coal: $2,877,687,513
Gas: $1,500,722,750
Oil: $11,355,570,000
Gaming Tax: $5,100,495,700
Estate Tax (50%): $5,852,884,365
Drug Tax: $3,446,083,796
Lodging Facility Sales and Use Tax: $5,091,240,579.71
Property Tax: $180,000,000

☞ FY2020 Surplus: 18,159,573,897

II. EXPENDITURES
☞ Tax Credits: $1,660,474,443
Green Vehicle Promotion Act §2(i): $1,236,935,443
Teacher's Tax Credit: $423,539,000

☞ Mandatory Spending: $243,318,970,000 (List A)

☞ Discretionary Spending: $395,932,000,000
Education: $195,282,000,000
Health and Human Services: $130,676,000,000
Justice: $16,921,000,000
Home Office: $53,053,000,000

TOTAL REVENUES: $662,071,551,400
TOTAL EXPENDITURES: $640,911,714,400
TOTAL SURPLUS: $21,159,837,010

[Anna Komnene]

Aye