Work Tax, WaM and You
Thedillpickl
Mood Music - If you like metal turn on the sub-woofer.
First A Little History
About 2 years ago admin 'fixed' the economy. Suddenly those of us smart enough to have built corporations were forced to fire workers because we could no longer afford to pay them a decent wage that they could live on. The market was flooded by product that was being overproduced at an alarming rate which drove prices through the floor. All our planning and designs were thwarted.
What happened? Two things changed the course of eRep forever. The cost of building a company was cut in half. While most considered 20 gold an insurmountable amout to acquire, 10 gold was doable for a start-up Q1 company. The other thing? WaM. Working as a manager in each company owned by an individual was now possible. Prior to the change an owner could only work in one company at a time.
Side note: I had a Q3 house and a stone company. I made a decent income from my employee's labor so I would work in the stone co. for a few days and when I had enough raw I would work a couple days in the house co. I made 2 extra houses for everyone I used. They did not sell well so I started giving them to good employees and other friends. Those were the days.
People said, "It will not be that bad." and "This will help people who don't have much.". What really happened was this started the slide down a slippery slope that has us where we are now. Every thing is fair and even. No one makes any real profit. There is no strategy to speak of. Those of us that understood the game mechanics of the econ had the rug pulled out from under our feet.
What Did The Entrepreneurs Do?
There was one last 'trick' to take advantage of the system. Build infrastructure, make RM companies that were not meant for workers, only to be WaM'ed by the owner. Others were buying RM from the market or paying employees to work in one or two RM companies and just breaking even (if they were lucky). People like me bought gold with real money, not to fight with but to buy infrastructure. We WaM'ed our own RM's and could make a profit. Just not enough profit to make it worthwhile buying the gold to build with.
But... Suddenly it became possible to make enough weapons and food to supply commune workers and have a bit left over. With the introduction of Military Units as we have now, a group of friends could supply their own weapons and food. While this did little to improve strategy at least it was something fun to do. Of course government MUs supplied the best because they were mostly funded by tax dollars.
TL
😃R Start Here
Update for day 2088 has pooped in my swimming pool. If you didn't know yet, income tax is abolished. It is replaced with work tax. People who WaM pay from 1% up to 25% for the privilege to work for themselves.
On the plus side this will provide much needed income to the eRep governments in every country. They have been revenue starved since the admin finally turned off all the bots. With treasuries depleted something had to be done. I would suppose this is also why the current tournament is putting a lot of gold in those treasuries.
The negative side affects me and people like me. The people who bought a bunch of companies to WaM, are getting ripped. (I know there is not much sympathy for a gold buyer, so don't wear out the comment box laughing at me.) In my home of Switzerland we currently have no bonus regions (heck we don't always have any regions). Roughly my commune makes about 3 gold worth of stuff per day. This is mostly distributed as supplies to our MU. If Switzerland enacts a 25% work tax this will cost a little more than 2 gold. In that case I would be sending 2/3rds of our supply to the government. I supply 7 Q7 tanks per day worked. That would reduce supply to 2 Q7 tanks for my mates.
Here's What I'm Bitchin' About
A good part of that revenue taken from my MU's supply is going to go to the governments MU(s). They run their own communes but the work tax for anything they WaM is returned to them in government funding. So, any thinking person will go to the government sponsored MU to get hooked up with the better supply. Screw any of us who play eRep for fun and to hang out with friends.
YaY admin! You have figured out how to destroy WaM without hurting the little n00bs that you started WaM for. They can run to the all powerful government MU. Of course they can't afford to WaM their own little companies so much. This will help reduce overproduction (the original sin if you will) so finally you are trying to fix what was screwed up 2 years ago. Bravo. :claps: Too bad I wasted money buying all the gold it took to build a decent commune. Too bad I may be left with an empty MU. Congrats! It's been almost 2 years since I seriously considered quitting, now you've done it again.
Comments
And not a half naked body body to be seen. xD
you have explained this very coherently and succinctly (which in itself is notably atypical).
now you need to tell us what to do about it.
should we stop WAMmming ?
where do we get RMs ?
I thought the article was long enough so I didn't want to start talking about what to do. 😃
Scenario #1 - Govt. raises work tax to 25% for max revenue income.
> Overproduction is significantly reduced and econ works again.
> Govt. MU is well supplied.
> Funds available to MPP, etc.
> Private MUs lose members to govt. MU (better supplies).
> More cohesive fighting force.
> Less do it yourself fun.
Scenario #2 - Same as above except govt. send funding to private MUs.
> Private MUs retain members.
> Not as cohesive fighting force (more like now).
> Retains fun in private MUs.
> Swiss Patriots still do not take funding.
Scenario #3- Govt. keeps work tax low, say 5%-10%.
> People still WaM so overproduction is still a problem.
> A little revenue for MPP's but probably none for govt.. MU.
> Private MUs go on much as before.
Unless chukcha can change the work tax without congress it will remain at 1%, so life continues as before. The higher the work tax is raised the less incentive to WaM your own RM. However if that happens the cost of RM will eventually go up or will be imported from a country with lower Work tax (assuming chukcha lowers the import tax too).
Superb explanation !!!
Thank you.
Like bombing the communities by taking away borders for MUs wasn't enough...
The economy will not be fixed even by this. Overproduction will still happen. People will start using Q5 RM companies instead, but they will still produce more than what can be reasonably consumed. The government will get its share.
Sarcasm about this 'fixing' the econ. Whether it actually raises prices of RM remains to be seen.
Also forgot to mention, who the fÖÄk changes the tax system overnight? How about a little notice dear team of idiots?
Voted o7
one can only wonder what may go next...
Big bombs for money, ull see
Haha
SO VOTED!!!
Voted!
now i will NEVER make companies...
Time to shut down shop I think, cannot afford to keep running especially when my companies are all Q3 or less.
Good explanation, Dill.
v
Will be interesting to see what happens. My early guess is that there will be a lot of companies sold or dissolved resulting in an influx of gold available in the game - probably pushing gold prices down a bit.
While WaM will not be as profitable, there will now be a tremendous financial arbitrage opportunity as different countries have vastly different work tax rates and buying and selling of goods across multiple countries becomes a very profitable (and tax free) endeavor.
This is going to kill the community aspect of the game though...
"...buying and selling of goods across multiple countries becomes a very profitable (and tax free) endeavor."
VAT varies country to country but the purchaser does not see this.
That is why it will be very profitable because everyone will not sophisticated enough of a player to do it successfully 🙂
I's sofaistricated.
~pickle adjusts cummerbund and then taps on the bar with his ruby & diamond encrusted ebony walking stick for service~
My friend and I would like another glass of the Damn Penguinanon champagina.
nods.
“Dirty?”
An elegant swish of the head from thedillpickl gives the bartender an answer.
Sgtchewy glides off to acquire the ingredients.
X1 Gold Bar – 28k
X1 6oz 30-year old scotch
X1 Dry ice block
X1 Holy Cross
X1 Dash of cheap champagne
X1 Dirty dishrag
X1 Olive
“Would you like that in a silver and corundum wine glass, or a red Solo cup?” Sgtchewy asks in a voice practiced to sound like money (large bills) ruffling. “Maybe you friend would like his laced with vegan fish?” The bartender suggests while putting the reagents in a thirty grand blender. “We live to serve.”
this beta test game is the longer ever known on web 🙂
This means nothing to the new players. They will still drop like flies because, let's face it, this is a crappy game and most non-multi players who join don't hang around long enough to really grow to hate eRepublik the way they should. It really only affects guys like DP who invested in the game to be more self-sufficient. Governments will benefit but that's about it.
TBH I made a choice. Choices are important milestones in life. Not choices like deciding whether to have shrimp or chicken tacos at the Mex joint down the street. I mean like I made the choice to keep playing eRep and to keep my interest that required buying gold to build something fun.
To this day I don't regret paying for gold to give my friends and me something fun to do. I still have reservations about the time almost 3 years ago when I clicked on a link to eRep. 😃
I still have reservations about the time almost 3 years ago when I clicked on a link to eRep. 😃 ....big smile there 😁
I believe the market prices will increase with this as producers sell of their factories that are no longer profitable. Right now FRM is horribly unprofitable and will have to rise in price to offset this new work tax. I'm accumulating FRM at .02 or less to resell down the road at twice that price.