The Shylock Corollary OR I am Evry's biggest fan.
actualguns
When In Rome - The Promise
It seems as if it is that time of season again, you know, that time. The special time of the year/month/day/hour that people tend to be silly creatures and come up with conspiracy theories and claim they are 'important citizens' who are fed up with their taxes and have already been 'tax enough already'. They attack a lovely article condemning a very lofty ideal, presented an a manner that is simple and concise. Perhaps those who attack a certain Governor's article are not able to interpret the meaning behind text and would prefer that data be presented in the form of graphs, charts, or other visually appealing data holding devices. Well, I suppose I can do that.
Trust, But Verify.
Seeing as I like providing sources for claims I make, this list will provide all of the information I utilize in this publication.
Budget of the United States of America
Fiscal Solvency Protection Act
US National Economy Page
Personal Google Spreadsheet
Congressional Budget Office
Section I: The Income of the United States
This graph is a visually appealing representation of the United State’s Income with a seven day average. I’ve been collecting this data for the last twenty-four days for the giggles and because I myself was interested in how much our nation truly earns per month. As you can see, earnings have clearly spiked due to the massive spending on the Christmas EB bonus and the related increase in wage as company owners have scrambled to pay their employees more and more in a race to get maximum production in their factories.
This increase in the average wage (raising wages from 22.50 USD to 42.50 USD) led to the work tax being raised to 1.70. You can thank the members of the various communes for keeping the average wage rather low seeing as every commune member that is paid $1 dilutes the average wage even further.
But why balk? Most private communes are based in nations like China, Spain, or Turkey that have wonderful bonuses and relatively low tax rates and provide more supplies at a lower cost. It seems that most citizens that complain about the work tax still have their communes based here in the United States or are private citizens who fret over every penny (a lovely trait, but alas it does not warrant legislative power to be used).
If the government an evil entity with malign purposes as some paint it, it could mechanically extract more money from you at 1% WT than you currently pay. For example, I could charge you a 1% work tax rate and increase the minimum wage to 170 USD. Guess what! The average wage would increase because the commune members would now be working at $170 per worker and would ensure a minimum work tax of $1.70 (which would most likely be higher due the workings of the private employers). So if you want to blame anyone for the ‘high work tax’, blame your fellow entrepreneurs and those who post job offers above profitable numbers.
SECTION II: The Reserves of the United States
The image above shows the current reserves.
This reserve has grown since I last published an article on this topic -- it has grown by $758, 755.39 over a twenty-four day period (31614.81$ per day). This growth is primarily due to the ‘reserves’ line set in by the Fiscal Solvency Protection Act (So bourgeois, Evry) and the reserve actually dropped slightly in some categories due the fact that gold has weakened against the USD.
Only the gold in the national treasury has appreciated due to the fact that government can still convert the national treasury’s gold into USD at .005 (but it will most likely not do so unless a major catastrophe occurred).
SECTION III: THE BUDGET OF THE UNITED STATES
This is the current budget displayed as a ‘pie chart’ which shows that the majority of funds end up in the coffers of the United States Armed Forces which isn’t too bad (especially if you consider that the USAF delivers damage at a relatively low cost). This is followed by MPP costs and then the agreement with the Irish. But wait! Are we spending all our money on this crap?
The short and concise answer: Nope.
Many people point out that the USAF is a ‘money sucking monster’ and that is far from the truth if you look at daily expenditures compared to daily tax revenues.
You mean to tell me that we are spending only 44.56% of the income that comes in each day? That means that we are adding over $36,878.95 per day to our reserves each day on average (I realize this conflicts with the earlier statement but I am using an average over twenty four days, which will get closer to the actual mean as more data is added (this is called the ‘Law of Large Numbers’, for those interested) - last week had several outliers due to the competition)
So there you have it.
Is the work tax so bad?
Not really.
As Evry states “[this] is the same tax revenue used to fund our military, MPP’s, tanks, mercenaries, rental agreements, air strikes, and Combat Orders” and to add a corollary of my own ‘and we should continue to follow the tenets ascribed to in the Fiscal Solvency Bill, past the point of $10,000,000 and continue building until $15,000,000 in reserves have been set aside’
Signing off,
Uncle Shylock
Congressional Rep from Northern Georgia
Comments
This makes me P. Hard.
♥
such wow
much number
❤ Hale26.
You're dead to me.
About half of tax revenue is going to the reserve.
Reserve will have reached 10 million threshold in 2-3 months.
WorkTax forms a fraction of the revenue.
If only WAM is considered, reducing the WorkTax, or increasing it, by a small amount will have negligeable effect on player retention or on reserve accumulation. The status quo therefore seems appropriate unless the real agenda is either "get rid of government MUs" or "get rid of idle money sitting in reserve" or possibly just "lets have a talk".
However, the WorkTax rate is also the old Income tax rate, applied against ordinary wages and a change there might have a more profound effect since it applies to all wages. The effect is not likely to improve retention. The likely effect is to significantly delay replenishing the reserve. Ultimately, it is the speed at which you replenish the reserve, and its magnitude which is in question. Like a bandaid, best do it quick: status quo seems reasonable.
I moved to Canada because of the Work Tax. It's created tax haven countries. No bueno.
Excellent Article, voted and subbed.
Voted Hard
Mmmm pies
I don't claim that I'm an important citizen, however I am entirely fed up with the work tax at 10%. I'm also complaining and am not part of any commune.
What I am is an insignificant eUSA citizen who is seeing new spending by my eGovernment in things such as the rental agreements. This new spending is taking place during the 10% work tax period which was implemented for the purpose of replenishing the reserve. If eCongress keeps finding new things to spend money on before the reserve goal is met, I believe I have a perfect right to express my extreme displeasure.
I see article after article pondering new programs and ideas about retaining/recruiting eUSA citizens. I'm not threatening to leave my country, however how about stop irritating the participating yet insignificant tax payers?
You are producing more materials due to bonuses and you claim not to benefit from the rental agreements? The rental agreements completely pay for themselves and actually increase revenues a bit.
The only thing I produce is food. I purchase the weapons I battle with. Right now I can only afford to battle every 3 days or so, which is tolerable since we're at peace, however when we are at war again, it will be a problem.
Please don't tell me that someone else should be supplying me either. I don't want handouts. I'm not saying that you were going to say this, however in the past someone almost always tells me that when I comment.
Four years into this game (for me) and people are still complaining about the same things. Thanks for the article, Uncle Shylock, but unfortunately I don't believe this will convince anyone. Logic is lost on the role player.
You're right. It is entirely illogical of me to believe that my eGovernment should be using the increased taxes for the exact purpose they were raised for. /sarcasm
I doubt you care, but I found your comment to be very insulting.
Look, you have no clue who the hell I am or what I've done or continue to do for this game. Congress has stated what the increased tax rate was for: reserve replenishment. It has also been pointed out in a very obvious manner that the cost savings on an individual basis are nearly negligible whereas in the aggregate the revenue is very beneficial. Either you're being purposefully obtuse or you are only interested in selfish, individual play. Your choice.
Yes they did state what the raised taxes were for and yet have increased spending on things OTHER than filling the reserve. That is what my primary issue is.
As you've decided to continue insulting rather than civil discussion, I will cease communicating with you. I also regret voting for your party in the last congress elections.
I am only a member of that party for ATO purposes. I pretty much eschew party membership and find party politics to detract from the larger point of the game. Also, you really shouldn't associate the larger groups with the actions of a select few. I take it from your comment that you don't support increased spending on programs even when there might be a solid reason for doing so. Noted. Also I wasn't being insulting, apologies if you took it that way.
You should use cake charts next time.
Cake > Pie
THIS from the founder of the Mobile Infantry? HERESY!
Not the founder, but I did lead for a glorious time under the cake banner!
FIST
The Budget is most satisfactory IMHO, I do have one question; define 'mercenaries'...?
I would suppose Evry would mean those who follow Combat Orders? They are mercenaries in a manner.
Good looking, very clean article. Well put together, well presented.
I like to think your Media College courses had a little something to do with it.