[CP] Mid-term update
Day 3,016, 05:36
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Published in Australia 
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by
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by Aus Prime Minister Office
Good evening eAustralia!
We're about the mid-point for my term (doesn't time fly when you're having fun!), so it must be time for a progress update.
Finance
Our reserves are looking healthy. The majority of MPP expenses have been met already for this month, and I see no significant expenses on the horizon.
The promised monetary market trading continues. Total profit to date is about 30,000 CC. That puts us on track for about 100,000 CC for the month, which roughly equals our national income through taxes.
Speaking of taxes, our national daily income dropped about 750 CC/day, or 30%, on Day 3013.
The root-cause seems to be that the work-as-manager work tax has dropped from about 2 CC/company to about 1.5 CC/company. Since the work tax rate hasn't moved in months, it must be due to a caused by a drop in the average wage. It seems we are now host to a mysterious and large minimum-wage commune...
The first gold transfers as part of the Boss Bucks program for new company loans have started to be made. In total, almost 120 gold in loans have been booked to three different citizens. If you missed out because you fell off your bike, broke your leg and your grandmother died all on the same weekend and you just couldn't get in game for a week then please PM our Governor and plead your case.
Foreign affairs and defence
Congratulations to everyone for their effort last night. Montenegro successfully held off the Egyptian airstrike. Doesn't it feel good to show your support for an ally?
Our training war with South Africa continues. Until a bunch of people complain and want to stop, it will continue. South Africa are happy (eager, even) to keep things going indefinitely.
I was asked privately by a citizen why we are the attackers in this training war, as they can never get a Resistance Hero medal. The answer is complicated, like always, but it boils down to a few fundamental things.
- When we started the TW, both South Africa and ourselves held common Serbian and Romanian MPPs. The attacker loses any common MPPs, which had the potential to make both Serbia and Romania annoyed about wasted money at their end. Our MPPs expired sooner than South Africa's, which makes the discussion easier.
- South Africa are better able to control their damage, to be more certain that the right battles are won and lost.
- We get occasional use of a weapons bonus region, when we hold Free State.
New Zealand has applied to become a member of Nebula. For acceptance, the vote must be unanimously in favour. Senators can expect this to appear for debate in their inbox shortly. I hold Australia's vote on this issue, and will vote at the direction of the senate majority.
Domestic issues
We are still a democratic country, and we are still here! Elections for new Senators (congress, as the game insists on calling it) are in just a few days. I cannot encourage enough people to get on their party lists and nominate. Write articles! Tell everyone what you will use your month to do, because trust me - it goes quickly! In a democracy, these elections count for something. So please, take them seriously.
After a fairly unsatisfying month grappling with many mass-PM threads, I think it's time we looked to our forums again. Last time we tried to use them the effort was abandoned for lack of activity. Things are different this time around, so it must be time for another try.
If you haven't already, please visit http://auserep.forumotion.org/
Make an account, register, and start talking. As an added bonus, there's a link at the top to our IRC channel (#auserep @ Rizon server). If you have technical issues, contact Guagature. He's good for sorting these sorts of issues out.
I'll be trialling the forums over the next few days, testing out ways we could and should use it. I just need to remember my password.... Guag!
The below are links to valuable sources of information for eAustralians young and old. Please feel free to use them as they are there for you.
Facebook
Twitter
Discord
Comments
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"It seems we are now host to a mysterious and large minimum-wage commune" - Wouldn't the solution to this evil min wage commune be to raise the min wage? while that will only effect those who place new job add up after the law passes, not those hired when the min wage was at 1cc (I am sure I saw this discussion in the past about MU communes).
Oh looking at it another way to quote you again "The root-cause seems to be that the work-as-manager work tax has dropped from about 2 CC/company to about 1.5 CC/company." Doesn't that help you with your "Boss Bucks" Program as it makes it more profitable for those who take the government loan to make money off the items they produce and sell (since they pay less manager work tax?
Yes, it is advantageous to anyone who runs a group of companies. For a Fishery or Q1 food factory, it's about 5% more profit. If that translates into rollover investment or lower market prices, things are wonderful. 🙂
I never said a minimum wage commune was evil! Nor did I say I wanted to raise taxes or fiddle with anything to compensate. A 30% drop in revenue is noteworthy, so it has been duly noted, along with my interpretation of why. I wouldn't be doing my job properly if I didn't...
I called it mysterious because I haven't seen any publicity about this new commune. No shouts, no articles. It is big enough to affect the national average wage. So either it is an existing commune relocated, or someone has built a top tier bot-net overnight.
Good luck
O/
As a newcomer I would address the WT issue.
I pay as little tax as possible. I've done so almost from the very beginning when I was a econ geek. Any and all game mechanic "tricks" that gave me the advantage are used.
I'll give you a minute to finish swearing.
Almost from the beginning I also have used what I have accumulated to help n00bs, MUs and my government. I tend to "go all in" when something is afoot. Those of you who have noticed my battle antics may have noticed. People are what's important here for me, I like helping
Now, to the point. I don't like over taxation nor do I like people who demand a free ride. The WT should only be as high as the "working class" are comfortable with and as low as that same group would still be a contributing factor. I also point out that MU communes do not only get a tax break buy paying minimum wage, they also (usually) provide free damage to defend or attack enimies. Go ahead, ask around what mercs charge for their services. You local MU provides damage at a very reasonable cost.
Now about me personally. I will explain this once because I'm not one to toot my own horn. If needed/wanted I will do my best to help Australia get the job done. 'Nuff said.
If you want to role-play a tax evading capitalist that's just fine with me. We could use one for flavour reasons. Two competing would be better, but I'm not too picky. 🙂
Not sure what you're referring to as far as going "all in" is concerned. That said, we are a small community. Any and all offers of help are gladly accepted. I'll send you a PM to see how we can best use your particular talents.
Work Tax has primarily been paid by managers, not wage earners, for a very long time. I have. At 2 CC/company it equates to about 20% of revenue for a Fishery or Q1 food factory. That's not unreasonable. 1.5 CC/company is 15% of revenue. And you pay whether you sell goods or not. It seems about right to me. 3% of your worker pay check is peanuts. Less than 2 CC a day on the average salary (2.5 CC/shift at the likely median salary of 80).
Speaking of the median, I think that has dropped a little too. We had 80-90 wages being advertised not long ago, now it's 60-70.
Sorted your forum issue now.
If there is an issue with the WT/Commune (haven't looked at it myself yet) maybe a proposal of increasing the WT up slightly is in order.
Remembering also that a commune member gets free tanks (generally), most commune tanks don't go through the market (sent via donations generally) so the government does loose out on this in a big way.
Communes are there for the members, likewise it builds a decent MU for the country but it is not about lining individuals pockets over the country so a tax should reflect what suits all parties.
I'm not sure increasing work tax is the right way to go. Perhaps in the short term due to the lower average wage, but long term some manager worked businesses are already making quite slim margins, and it takes years in some cases to pay back capital investments.
Also, increasing the work tax will make little difference on a minimum wage commune job, which only pays 15 cents in tax under the 3% rate.
There is only one eAustralian MU which is reliant on commune work and raised concerns about the increased minimum wage, according to a survey I sent out. I believe offsetting the recent $4 wage increase is simple enough by lowering the weapons dividend to workers by 2 a week. Although the increase only applies to new job listings so I'm not sure it's had much impact yet.
It may make a small to little difference in the commune wages in a return that we see but if I had 20 companies and 35 workers at a low wage (piss poor wage) I would still WAM, the WAM part is where the larger difference will come up.
Granted the MU still puts damage here so are entitled to a relief of sorts and they get that through minimum wage.
It will have to come to a trade off of either WT or Min Wage as the country needs money of it's own and to not rely on too many donations.
Anything above 5% WT is just starting to get stupid and we need to look elsewhere for gains.
A 4% worker tax should put us about level with where we were at with a $60-70 average wage. I might put it to a vote in a couple of days when the new senate sits. If the average wage goes back up there's no reason we can't drop it again.
are these the kitten forums the old ones or are they new ones not ones that the elitist morons banned people because they didn't like what was said always remember the true sign of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result
Not sure what you mean by kitten forums? As far as I know, nobody has been banned from this one.
I admit that I am sceptical that this will work well. Historically it hasn't. I'm happy to be proven wrong though. 🙂
it is ok they aren't the other ones should have just seen myself