[MoL] Working tax working for us.
Day 2,102, 12:58
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Published in Denmark 
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by
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by pho3nix
Since the creation of the Welfare-program, I have more or less been in charge of it. The point of the program is simple: redistribute some of the wealth Denmark sits on, to trusted Danish players, to make life somewhat more bearable in the country. The start of the program was something of a struggle, and I remember hugging it out with some of the more prominent players of Denmark about it. As country president, I decided to scrap the Ministry of Defense and send the resources to the Welfare program. To this day, we've had about 20 employees connected through the program. The employees maintain a steady rate of working around 94% of the days. The program includes both old and newborn players.
My personal hopes for the program was of course to see new Danish players being able to live of more than just the 10 DKK per day otherwise supplied in the private sector. Deep down inside, my personal hope was also that players would use the influx of cash to invest in themselves. Build new buildings, save their gold in order to upgrade training grounds. Such things means an investment in the players, which in the long run becomes an investment in Denmark. As players are able to purchase more, the market should start moving a bit faster. And actually, it has. The national accounts have been steadily increasing every month - from a modest start around 9-12.000 DKK to today's level of around 20.000 DKK. For me that's a clear sign the market is alive again. It warms my heart, and also means that part of the program at least is working.
During the last two-three months, Denmark's average salary also increased quite remarkably. From a level of 6 DKK per day on average, we struck in at just under 13 DKK per day at a peak. It was a very exciting period to be Minister of Labor, since my work seemed to pay off not only to program participants, but to the general public as well. Then something happened.
As the highest market wage increased to (I believe) the eWorld's highest, another PTO attempt was made on the country. It's hard to point at a specific thing that attracts PTO'ers. Usually it's the size of the country, or the amount of money in the country treasury. As we had emptied the treasury and our numbers remained the same - my conclusion is that the market wages attracted international attention. Again: it's almost impossible to point at one specific thing that attracted them, but this has been nagging my mind for the last couple of weeks.
In the last couple of weeks changes have been made to the tax schemes of the world. As Denmark currently stands without a congress, we haven't been able to change the tax rate - something I know some are waiting anxiously for. This change also made collection of data somewhat more easy for economic analysts - such as Matthias Lund, who does a remarkable job with his weekly prices update.
If we compare his numbers, which are similar to the ones I have on record, with the ones gathered by the game we can clearly see the effects of Welfare. Market average salary has been stable around 6-8 DKK for the last weeks, while the game reports the average wage is around 30 DKK. Welfare now clearly is a vital part of Danish gaming, and the results can be felt by all inhabitants. Money is pouring into the country treasury.
While 10% Work tax might be too high, it is now a tax that hits the society more equally, and is hopefully a step in order to get players and their goods back on the market. It also makes sure that all of Denmark's society gets to pay for the maintenance of the country - foreign elements as well as domestic.
This is really me stepping out of my role as Minister of Labor, but one effect of maintaining a high level of Working tax is that we're making money of PTO-attempts. As long as we're able to maintain a high level of working tax, it will effectively scare off any player who thinks of trying out for Danish citizenship. Before the tax, running a Danish company was hard. With a high worker tax we now have the possibility to make it almost impossible without the cooperation of the state.
I for one am for a high level of working tax, if we combine it with a broader cooperation for the general population. That is, paid combat orders and a wider Welfare program. It's okay to bring money into Denmark - as long as we're pumping it back out there again.
My personal hopes for the program was of course to see new Danish players being able to live of more than just the 10 DKK per day otherwise supplied in the private sector. Deep down inside, my personal hope was also that players would use the influx of cash to invest in themselves. Build new buildings, save their gold in order to upgrade training grounds. Such things means an investment in the players, which in the long run becomes an investment in Denmark. As players are able to purchase more, the market should start moving a bit faster. And actually, it has. The national accounts have been steadily increasing every month - from a modest start around 9-12.000 DKK to today's level of around 20.000 DKK. For me that's a clear sign the market is alive again. It warms my heart, and also means that part of the program at least is working.
During the last two-three months, Denmark's average salary also increased quite remarkably. From a level of 6 DKK per day on average, we struck in at just under 13 DKK per day at a peak. It was a very exciting period to be Minister of Labor, since my work seemed to pay off not only to program participants, but to the general public as well. Then something happened.
As the highest market wage increased to (I believe) the eWorld's highest, another PTO attempt was made on the country. It's hard to point at a specific thing that attracts PTO'ers. Usually it's the size of the country, or the amount of money in the country treasury. As we had emptied the treasury and our numbers remained the same - my conclusion is that the market wages attracted international attention. Again: it's almost impossible to point at one specific thing that attracted them, but this has been nagging my mind for the last couple of weeks.
In the last couple of weeks changes have been made to the tax schemes of the world. As Denmark currently stands without a congress, we haven't been able to change the tax rate - something I know some are waiting anxiously for. This change also made collection of data somewhat more easy for economic analysts - such as Matthias Lund, who does a remarkable job with his weekly prices update.
If we compare his numbers, which are similar to the ones I have on record, with the ones gathered by the game we can clearly see the effects of Welfare. Market average salary has been stable around 6-8 DKK for the last weeks, while the game reports the average wage is around 30 DKK. Welfare now clearly is a vital part of Danish gaming, and the results can be felt by all inhabitants. Money is pouring into the country treasury.
While 10% Work tax might be too high, it is now a tax that hits the society more equally, and is hopefully a step in order to get players and their goods back on the market. It also makes sure that all of Denmark's society gets to pay for the maintenance of the country - foreign elements as well as domestic.
This is really me stepping out of my role as Minister of Labor, but one effect of maintaining a high level of Working tax is that we're making money of PTO-attempts. As long as we're able to maintain a high level of working tax, it will effectively scare off any player who thinks of trying out for Danish citizenship. Before the tax, running a Danish company was hard. With a high worker tax we now have the possibility to make it almost impossible without the cooperation of the state.
I for one am for a high level of working tax, if we combine it with a broader cooperation for the general population. That is, paid combat orders and a wider Welfare program. It's okay to bring money into Denmark - as long as we're pumping it back out there again.
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"That is, paid combat orders and a wider Welfare program. It's okay to bring money into Denmark - as long as we're pumping it back out there again."
I agree with that very much and I believe we can steadily increase the combat orders until we reach a level that is sustainable. It would have been nice if our MU had the elite MU status, as in beeing able to set DO on *ANY* battle regardless of MPP's or not, that way combat orders and daily order could be put on the same battle and therefor easily found.
Can we get the elite-status thingy? I think this is the first time I have heard of such 😛
It was one of the rewards of the previous MU tournament. My MU has it, quite nice. :3
Lets just get a MU in the top50 next tournament, shouldn't be too hard xD