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werd!

Addy's our daddy!

I'm an anarchist and worshipper of free and unhindered markets in RL, so I would tend to think this:

"To be candid, the only other choice is to make import taxes 0% and let the free hand of economics dictate where prices should be."

is not only the "only other choice" but actually the correct (and free) one.

I know this isn't RL and is a game with mechanics and modules and all that. My only personal caveat to the Zero Per Cent would be if PEACE countries began ruling the market (as their profits go towards our destruction, raising taxes would be an act of self defence and self preservation). But we have embargos against those nations anyways.

MAKE EM ZERO AND LET THE MARKET SORT IT OUT! 🙂

Oh, and before I forget:

Addy's my Daddy!

It's becuz simply our market is so favorable to labour side now
If we have zero import tax, we all Cdn company will have to close down (at least for weapon industry) i have seen even with 20% import tax, Finland company can sell Q2 weapon at $5~$6 Cdn. Even i imported the iron at lowest possible price, the B/E price for me is $7. Think about it.

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I also support this 🙂

Yes, we're asking our companies to compete with USD, which is cheaper to buy than CAD in volume with gold by a substantial margin. eUS has lower minimum wage, another hurdle.

If we're gonna be competitive, then we should embrace it 100%

Or, if we're gonna go full on harmonized Brolliance economy for a sustained war effort - which the economy likes, then we should embrace that 100%.

Clearly a choice need to be made.

Our tax structure is inimical to our current economic and diplomatic needs.

Yeah I completely agree with this as well. The markets are a joke right now. Wages are high and product price is low.
When I opened Rylde's Red Ale Q1 food was at 0.73-0.71 it is now at 0.68-0.66. I hate to say it but I've been hoping some of the competition to go bankrupt.
Its hard enough with the local company competition never mind throwing foreign imports into the mix.

Rylde: Perhaps the $1.25 in profit you make each day is a little too much. You rich, vile elitist! 🙂

quiet you I or shall put you back to work inside the brewery and you won't escape this time.

I have to agree with Temujin. Lower costing goods should be considered a benefit for eCanadian consumers. As a business owner its telling me i have to scale back my labour cost to be competitive. Raising the import taxes will force the people to lose some of their purchasing power.

Agreed Addy - spent a whole lotta time this weekend making spreadsheets models to figure out where I could invest my gold and make money somewhere in Canada, but decided to keep it parked for now cuz there isn't anywhere worth investing at the Q1 or Q2 level

A lot of companies must be operating at razor profits at best right now and a few aggressive employers are inflating the job market

Hey, I'm a subscriber... but this company isn't a threat to anybody but it's owner (" Adam the the econ guy" )It has to be losing about 1/3 gold a day and only putting about 40 base units
on the market a day (out of total of about 4000 on the market now)

If I want to move my daily goods I have to drop prices. After the product is moved to stay competitive and keep my employee's i have to match the job market which is inflated due to alot of new companies looking for workers. My profits are razor thin and sometimes a CAD or 2 in the hole.

would lowering income taxes and VAT in addition to raising import taxes be a sound move in your opinion, Addy?

I too support Addy with 99% Import Taxes. Voted!

I also agree fully, at least for the four high level resources, and possibly the iron market if I was more familiar with it.

Voted!

I support free trade too in RL and here. Unfortunately, we don't have it here.

I have been looking for a country to export to, and so far, I'm unable to make a profit anywhere because of their import taxes.

I think eCanada's economy is mature enough to stand on it's own and fully support 99% import taxes on all manufacturing and land sectors.

If it doesn't work, we can change it back very quickly and it will be very apparent in a few days if we've made a mistake.

It's a game, lets try something new!

Everyone get in touch with your congressman and lets make this happen!

No support for this plan from this Congressman. Trade is an important factor in Canada's economic growth and shutting off our markets completely to the outside world would send a very poor message.

It's better to use a case-by-case tax system that will allow for both protection of industry and for some level of free trade.

Expect more and more companies to close up shop and have an over supply of workers.
I've looked over alot of grain companies and slowly there thinning out there workforces and I'm sure citizens are losing there jobs. It just isn't worth it to operate a company in canada right now.

Addy himself fired 10 ecanadians and closed his doors. I think this trend will continue. I hope I'm wrong and the market improves. Where do you run Gaius so I can make sure and spread the word that you do not support small business to players I have some influence on.

Import taxes don't have that kind of an effect on the economy. It's only natural in a commodity-based economy such as this for prices to continue to fall at a steady rate. No tax change will ever change the reality of the economic system.

On the other hand, trade certainly can have a huge impact on the economy and it brings in outside currency to Canadian markets, thereby spurring the economy further. That's how I believe we can help Canadian business. 😉

I always believe in far-sighted policies. 🙂

yeah but doesn't it help the country more if foreign products are left out of the equation and consumers buy from canadian companies.
Thx for explaining yourself more than your previous comment. i'm new to business and still learning and I obviously want whats going to be best for my business. I'm not sure if your a supporter of small new business though as a slow plan is betetr suited to big companies that have alot of gold and CAD kicken around and they can wait out the markets.

0% import taxes, are not a new idea. It does sound nice, certainly if you favour free trade in RL. The problem is, game mechanics make the argument moot. Say we drop import taxes, we get flooded with cheap resources and manufactured goods, that seems wonderful, until a few days later when your wage is slashed 40% so that your employer can try to remain competitive.

Then, there is the problem of consumption.

It doesn't matter how cheap food is, you will only ever eat 1 a day. You will only ever buy a maximum of 5 houses in your eRep lifetime. You will likely only use a small handful of moving tickets a month. Constant training battles make gifts virtually unnecessary. Finally, you will only use 5 or 6 weapons each day, unless you are willing to blow your gold on wellness packs.

Free trade doesn't work, because consumption cannot rise to meet increased supply.

Finally, the last insurmountable hurdle for local companies competing against foreign free trade, is that it's not reciprocal. Those of us with companies cannot export our goods because foreign countries still have taxation barriers, as well as a weaker currency.

On the flip side, 99% tax barriers, will promote a short term recovery, as they remove downward pressure on our markets from foreign competitors. However this only works in the short term, given time as more Canadian companies recover there is no external force keeping prices low, thus they rise. Historically our sheltered sectors have grown stagnant and horrendously high priced. Thus, engineered import taxes, geared to level the playing field, but not shut out competitors is in our long term interest.

A tax hike, to get us over the slump could work, but won't work forever.

Goran Thrax

I agree - raise the grain import tariffs. At 50%, they are pitifully low. Should be 60-75% (like it was in the past). It is nearly impossible, for even the best run businesses like this one, to make one red looney nor compete with the foreign firms in our markets. Lets give jobs and pay to Canadians. I am requesting that Congress do something in this regard TODAY. Enough is enough.

Goran hit this problem on the head.

In this game the only way to fix an economy is war. It is the only thing that increases consumption and allows for high wages. All the goods produced in this game are geared towards helping the war module.

Adjusting taxes upwards only changes things for the short term and allows more companies to struggle along until the crash. Moderate taxes give some protection while ensuring that weak companies get culled.

Well there not being culled fast enough lol. Anyone take a look at all the Q1 grain companies that are employing no one and just have there product on the market trying to get rid of there stock.
I personally got a good deal on a grain company from some Hun awhile back but there is no point opening it up.

To repeat Goran Thrax's point for those with an aversion to lots of text

Free trade must be reciprocal (i.e. both ways)

Besides that - gains from free trade in RL are based on specialization, R&amp😉 and technology and economies of scale - you don't really really get that in the erep model.

Having your markets unilaterally open to foreign competition basically just makes us a bunch of suckers who are giving away our domestic market and the wealth it can create

@Gaius

This is a case by case proposition, albeit for four cases:
oil
grain
diamonds
wood

@maple123

You are bang on, this company alone isn't bring down the ship but this company is indicative of what is going on in the market place

@PimpDollaz

I advocate lowering income and offsetting that with increased VAT however I do not know what the government budget is nor the surplus/deficit so I hesitate to take a stand as to the exact figure. That said, I firmly believe that our income taxes should be reduced today with a corresponding increase to the VAT.

@CooLoo:
"Having your markets unilaterally open to foreign competition basically just makes us a bunch of suckers who are giving away our domestic market and the wealth it can create"

And this is a point free-marketeers like me forget. There aren't any other marketable skills that Canadians can turn to apart from the Big Three in this game. There are only twelve industries to work in, and no amount of anarcho-capitalist wishful thinking is going to change that.

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I support Addy!

The economic module needs revamping. I joined this game for the economic aspect, but quickly discovered running a company would not make much if any profit.

I think more variety of products and processes are needed, maybe introduce transportation companies? Or start a secondary market where private citizens can sell goods, especially houses. Perhaps have quotas or restrict the number of companies to can exist in a country based on population. I'm just thinking out loud, but there's a lot of changes that could be made to spice up the economics.