On Taxes and Such

Day 3,026, 07:04 Published in USA USA by Israel Stevens


On Taxes and Such


Orik wants to talk about what we’ve done in the past. Yeah, sure. That’s fine with me. As I’ve gotten further away from the game, it’s seemed a lot more silly to me. But whatever. And from a roleplaying perspective, it makes sense. So let’s take a trip down memory lane.
President - Twice
Chief of Staff - Six months for four different Presidents (Tenshibo, Frost, Vanek, Oblige)
Secretary of State - Twice (Cerb, Inwegen)
Secretary of Media - Five months for three Presidents (Auctoritas, Oblige, Artela)
AMP President - 10 times

Man. I had fun doing a lot of those jobs. Chief of Staff is the best. All the perks of being President, but you don’t have to actually deal with the public. Secretary of State was cool. Meet loads of people. But a lot of lame people want to talk to you too. Media is the toughest job in the cabinet. Hands down. It is almost always the hardest spot to fill. The amount of work you’re responsible for on a weekly basis… shudders

And these are just the major positions. They don’t begin to talk about actual accomplishments. Creating Interior programs, forming new branches of the USAF, co-writing our last major peace treaty (sup Derphoof). And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

I’m not one to beat my own drum. I mean, I am, but not like this. Listing jobs is a nice ego boost, but it doesn’t mean anything. Lots of people have been President. Lots have been Chief of Staff, or Secretary of State.

I only write about this, to point out that I’ve done all this stuff before. It’s nothing new. And you can’t tell me that the game is harder than it was in 2012. There’s just no way. Different challenges, sure. But nothing more complicated.




I haven’t yet talked about taxes. And that’s a hot button issue. So let’s really light up the comment section for this article.

I’m fine with the tax rate.

It’s whatever. It’s pixelated money. Yeah, it’s pretty high. And yeah, it’s probably doing some damage. But it’s anecdotal damage. And unfortunately, due to the state of the game (dying, remember?), you can’t say that it is killing things anymore than the admins are.

But the thing is, those funds are what provide for our defense. When we can easily drop millions of dollars on a war, that changes the tide. And it allows us to keep all of our regions. Without those taxes, we don’t have full bonuses. There’s just no way. We would be unable to defend ourselves. Maybe we wouldn’t be wiped, but we would be at least occupied. Neighbors would pick off a few resources for themselves.

What stops Spain from taking Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas, and getting themselves a Rubber region?
Our massive reserve.

The taxes that we pay into, allow us to have full resources, and not be under threat from foreign powers. They keep us safe. And they keep us profitable, and producing at a high level.

They are unfortunately, necessary.




There is a more major concern for me with the taxes however. It goes like this.

A year ago, an 18% work tax was unconscionable. But now it’s a reality. MAX TAXES were a joke. But we had those too.

We have to keep raising taxes, to keep our reserve high. How far away are we from permanently having max taxes? A year? Six months?

I’m not trying to fear monger or anything. Because again, like hello… pixelated money. But it is something that I think about, and I wonder how much longer our system is sustainable. And if there is even another way to do things, that doesn’t rely on a handful of players donating money, and becoming our defacto leaders.

It’s not something that I have any concrete ideas about how to solve either, except for the usual hail marys: hope the admins make a change or hope we get a baby boom. Only one of those things would be good anyways. Admin never gets it right.




Lastly, a lot seems to have been made about my semi-retirement.

But if I can publish as many articles in my semi-retirement, as our ‘fully involved’ President can, then I think that puts that issue to bed. I’m not as out of touch as others would have you believe, or maybe even I would have you believe. I’m well aware of our position in the world, the taxation issue, and the ‘problems’ that we have with USAF.

If I’m already at Presidential level while being ‘semi-retired,’ just imagine what it’s going to be like when I’m fully involved.