Taxes - eBelgium
Day 1,644, 06:43
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Published in Belgium 
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by
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by NBB-BNB
Hello,
In order to make a decision on policy I prefer to see past rhetorics. A referendum is being held by the LCC about our taxrates. Perhaps it’s a good time to introduce you to the hows and whys of taxrates in eBelgium.
First of all let’s look at what taxes exist, how they’re calculated and who’s paying them:
VAT (Value Added Tax): This tax is payed on all finished products (food and weapons) you sell on the market. The VAT is currently at a rate of 15% amongst the lowest in eWorld. It’s payed in the large majority of the cases by the market bot. In other cases it’s payed by those who buy goods (food or weapons) through the market. It is important to note that there is no VAT at all on raw materials.
Import tax: This tax is paid on finished products put on sale by foreign citizens on our market. The import taxrate is currently at 20% for Raw materials, 12% for food and 25% for weapons. Import taxes are mainly a tool to protect domestic producers and avoids them being undercut by offers from citizens living in countries with a higher production bonus. This tax is payed by whoever buys the materials put on sale by these foreign producers. Aside from the raws market, almost all products put on sale by foreign citizens are bought by the bot.
Income tax: This tax is paid on wages you receive in eBelgium and is currently at a rate of 1%. This is the mechanical minimum. In order to keep our wages as competitive as possible this tax was lowered to the strict minimum.
As you can see two tax types (Import and Income) are used as tools to protect our domestic market from dumpingprices operated by certain foreign citizens who produce too much to sell in their own market.
VAT is used to generate income for the state. This VAT is used primarily in military programs (Paras and Belgian National Army) followed closely by the different social programs (Belgian Training Academy, Citizen Packs, Boost Your Strength, Lottery, Land grants,...).
I believe citizens should make informed choices reflecting the full impact of their decisions.
In short:
- Lowering VAT will cause a lowered tax income and as such a reduction in programs for our citizens. Raising VAT makes more budget available to maintain or improve programs for our citizens.
- Lowering Import taxes will lower the prices and increase the number of goods put on the market by foreign citizens making it more difficult for our citizens to sell their goods. This might cause domestic producers to be outcompeted. Raising import taxes will raise the prices and decrease the number of goods put on the market by foreign citizens making it easier for our citizens to sell their products. This might cause a shortage in goods if raised too high.
- Lowering income taxes is not possible. Raising income taxes would decrease the competitivity of our wages on the international market and might cause more citizens to start working abroad.
Best regards,
Nohjis
Minister of Finance
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Comments
Referendum about taxes is generally bad idea.
Import tax can be 99% for me.
We will make a lot of money that way
Thank for an informative article.
Good stuff, big vote!
Very good article. We needed a pedagogic one like this.
Question :
- VAT (food) : 15%
- Import tax (food) : 12%
Taxed paid by a foreigner selling food in Belgium will be 27% (15% + 12😵, right ?
Thank you for this article Nohjis
Nice article!
Indeed Jeiry the total taxrate on a Food offer from a foreign citizen would be 27%
If wan't Belgium to become a powerful nation i suggest that you support lowering import taxes.
Imagine that Belgium is a bucket. It has a hole in the bottom that represents food. This hole leaks at about the same rate regardless of what goes in the top.
There is a pump in the bucket that represents war spending!
The pump operates when we spend to make damage. There is a siphon that drains water - this represents exports.
There are also two hoses that fill the bucket, the big one is domestic production, and the little one is imports.
They toled me that congress already passed a new budget with even more military spending. The military is making a switch to more weapons consumption and less tanking. The policies have been laid to take advantage of more consumption. Now is the time to lower import taxes to help feed the beast we are creating.
http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/lcc-referendum-007-taxes-import-income-vat--2038234/1/20
Vote for lower taxes iff you wan't Belgium to become bigger and stronger.
Thor99 imagine Belgium is a bucket that is almost filled with a very small hole in the bottom. Opening the hose of foreign imports would cause a flood where eBelgians are no longer able to grow because of a lack of margin. It's fine to disagree with the solutions we use but there is currently no shortage of food or weapons on the market.
Nohjis, we must send more water through the siphon. This will make Belgium incrementally more powerful. In this case citizens switch from cheap over-supplied markets to more expensive, under supplied ones. This increase in market efficiency makes the Belgian economy incrementally more progressive and efficient. With a more efficient economy, we become more powerful.
It's good to see an article like this . not every person always understands the fine details of finances.
voted
🙂
Clear explanations, thanks Nohjis ! Good job... o/
Very good and clear article Nohjis!
Why lower taxes when the bot buys the majority of market goods? You'll only reduce state revenue and encourage black market sales. Referendums on complicated but serious matters are foolish. Ever heard a pilot hold a referendum asking passengers how to fly?
simply put, lowering vat will result in lower paras funding, that's what healthy society needs
pilot hold referendum not HOW, but WHERE to fly
tax is theft
Gibberish, higher taxes encourage the Black Market sales.
Good article Nohjis and nice to read.