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Whats are the plans to fix this

Just like real life?

Do you want it fixed Congressman Smith?

That is not a problem.

As ONE is weakened our required MPP costs will deflate. Eventually we will only need a handful of key MPPs, like Canada and Croatia, and a couple others. We have a successful system in eIreland, and plenty of wealthy citizens that will make sure Eire stays financially solvent.

We do not want to change the system to "increase tax revenue" only to create a pot of gold to lure corrupt politicians that steal back into eIrish politics. Too many other nations face that fear EVERY election. Eire has the peace of not worrying about problems like that. The wealth is in the hands of many people, not a single coffer that can be PTO'd.

There are no plans to "fix" something that is not broken, Winston. And there should be no plans in the future.

Not long ago, a person told me they are able to turn a handful of gold into 7 figures of IEP wealth in a very short time. I'm sure Sweet can work the market in the exact same way with the country's funds if times get lean. But, I don't think that's going to be needed at all.

hmm

I agree with Bhane, Also raising taxes will only damage out country's population that has slowly but steadily increasing , activity is also increasing . Look at votes cast in last congress , Up on previous months and it was christmas day

"raising taxes will only damage our country's population" -Cas
Is this statement based upon data collected by nations who have raised their tax rates?

"our required MPP costs will deflate. Eventually we will only need a handful of key MPPs" -Bhane
You've evidence that in the long term Britain will no longer be a threat to us?
And if so, we abandon countries whose MPP's have been vital to our own survival to save IEP?

"create a pot of gold to lure corrupt politicians" -Bhane
A homeless man might not fear burgulars because he has nothing to rob. But I'd rather have a home, even if it means locking the door.

"We have a successful system in eIreland" -Bhane
Define success.
Is watching our enemy run multiple social development programs while we cannot success?
Is our alliance fees being months in arrears as we try to conserve the treasury success?
Is not realizing game mechanics' true potential for our community success?

"The wealth is in the hands of many people" -Bhane
Is this true?
Do the majority of Irish citizens feel there is wealth in their hands? I'M REALLY ASKING

"turn a handful of gold into 7 figures of IEP wealth in a very short time"
1/2year isn't a short time in erep. We don't know if we have that amount of time.

"work the market in the exact same way with the country's funds if times get lean." -Bhane
How I wish this were possible. Truth is the ratios between our capital reserves, revenue, overhead, and liquidity result in negative cashflow despite that system already being in operation.

"There are no plans to "fix" something that is not broken, Winston." -Bhane
Actually there are plans with varying degrees of impact.
Whether we need to 'fix' the current system is an opinion that may very depending on the citizens personal status.

I never understood the eIrish tax structure.

You're a small country, so you should have low Import Taxes, low Income Tax (because it's a regressive tax) and a medium sized amount of VAT (20-25% or so) to collect monies from Platobot.

If you did that, you'd probably have enough IEP to run the country without relying on anyone. If you're worried about theft then spend it on social programs like Sweet said.

Our tax system was created democratically in an open article discussion.
Only ppl with major business interests decided to take part.
So
Business owner interests are maximized, regardless of consequence. ie:
Vat is minimized,
Import prohibitive.

Also it was believed that by minimizing income tax Ireland could keep more ppl employed domestically. Creating a 'captive market' for Irish producers to sell to. The fact that an Irishman could earn almost 3 times as much working for an ally in China as they do here (Based on current wage offers and gold exchange rates) is apparently irrelevant to the wellbeing of our citizens.

Business expenses minimized, competition irradicated, wage slaves. What would you call that?

Makes me laugh cuz Ireland actually has a very socialist ideology. Yet we set up a capitalist utopia to dominate our society right before everyones eyes and for months it's been hiding in plain sight.

What's not to understand?! : P

1% tax = no tax collected.

Problem ridden Ireland as usual...

T-bills, issue T-bills.

Money cant be robbed when only one or two have access, none has been stolen since the community fund unless I missed something.

Id say raise taxes and get rid of all MPP's bar the ones we actually need.

We have tonnes of MPP's we cant afford to renew so just let them expire and it will cut our costs dramatically.

eIrish citizen interests are maximized, with good consequences. ie:
Income tax minimized,
Vat is minimized,
Import prohibitive.

*Fixed that for you, Sweet.
We built a system that helped the common man, far more than it helped the politicians. I do not want to see a system where money is syphoned from the many loyal citizens to a few in power who distribute it to their friends. I want to see money in the hands of the people, not a chosen few.

Look at the congressional elections, people get in with just 3-4 votes. We are too small of a country to risk enlarging a target for PTO'ing by building a nest egg that would lure thieves. If you want to raise a minimal tax like 3- 5% to get a little extra, I would support that. Rates like 20% are cumbersome to the eIrish workers.

Remember, the goal of tax policy should be to create the best economic environment for the citizens of the country. The goal should NOT be to generate tax revenue... the revenue should simply be a side effect of the policies.

Yes Marcus, I overspent on MPPs in my term for the big push to liberate our land. There should be no intention to renew most of those MPPs. I felt free to sign so many because I paid for them. I sent my personal funds into the treasury as needed. We transferred ZERO IEP from the bank to the treasury during my term, I took care of the extra funding.

Bhane stop going on about it being robbed, who can rob the funds when Sw33t has the bank and the orgs emails are under a different group.

Nothing can be robbed unless control of them orgs is handed over to someone we know cant be trusted or who we know is a PTO'er.

Ah yeah man I know the reasons behind you getting all the MPP's, they were needed at the time but atm we dont need so many but id keep the main EDEN ones and the likes of the Brazilian one.

I'm not talking about robbing the bank, I'm talking about the treasury. I don't think anyone doubts Sweet's loyalty, and he will continue to be finance minister that Eire can be proud of.

Ah the treasury, only thing id say we could do is make sure a min amount is kept in it.

When I was CP I only left enough IEP in it to cover the new citizen fees and left no gold in it.

"We built a system that helped the common man, far more than it helped the politicians. I do not want to see a system where money is syphoned from the many loyal citizens"

Helped the common man how?
They still get a shit wage
They still pay above international rates for supplies
Undeveloped players still get F-all assistance developing economically

There has been one limited run offer of development assistance in the last 1/2yr. Where did the funding come from? From Bhane & Starkad two of Ireland's largest industrialists!

It's not fair that young players rely on the scraps financial monsters like us have left over on the plate.
Let alone that our nations ability to aid allies is dependent on our crumbs.

As for 'syphoning money from the citizens':

Who said anything about taking any money from our citizens?!?!

Don't you understand it's a SIMULATED economy?
We can 'simulate' buyers!
We can 'simulate' sellers!
We can simulate producers!

Nobody actually has to pay more, or earn less.
The only difference is that more money enters our country!
If there was a way to make it enter via citizens' wallets I'd do it. But game mechanics only provides a way to make it enter via the treasury

You can grow our treasury at the expense of lessening what the common man can afford to supply himself each day. That will lessen our total damage output per day as a nation. You can start amassing a nest egg to nurture political corruption. And in a few months, I get to say "I told you so."

Why will 'the common man' be able to afford less for themselves?
They aren't goin to pay it.

I wasn't thinking about a nestegg. I was thinking a Ireland should be able to MPP everyone it wants to.
Being able to run aid programs for undeveloped players would make a nice bonus.

There aren't enough goods in your marketplace to stimulate proper price competition. By restricting Imports you're forcing people to pay 40-50% more for finished goods than they normally would had you developed your economic policies around new players and small producers. Further, the lack of proper competition is only making your economy more and more dependent on super producers to hold prices steady.

Income Tax should be minimized, it's the Workers Tax no doubt. But, by keeping the VAT low you're not only denying yourself the benefits of taxing PlatoBot, you're also failing to tax those who can MOST afford it. The producers and heavy consumers.

Then again, I'm the "evil" enemy, you shouldn't trust a word I say.

Do you know why I hate ^that guy so damn much?

It's because he's UK's MoF and I've been watching him operate programs to make his (already stronger) country even stronger than us by providing loan schemes etc to help Britons develop themselves faster than Irish forever. While I sit here twiddling my thumbs cuz we don't do that in eIreland.

Quite frankly: I'm sick with jealousy..

Seems like this one isn't just black and white. I'm not sure anymore what my thoughts are on this issue.

Sorry Guys,--doesn't anyone look at the market place and compare gold values of raw materials both food and weapon for the different markets? Looking at the gold cost values, Ireland's cost of raw materials sold is on par or a bit lower than almost every major market out there.

Higher salaries are often not possible. If a worker produces 300 raw material with a market value of .33, a salary of 100IEP results in a net loss for the company owner. Some of the job offers I see out there are convenience offers. People employed at a loss for the company owner just to make sure he has the raw material available to avoid looking at the market for purchase availability.

Ireland has a stable raw commodity market. Prices have had minimal movement even with the extra health bonus given for the new year and the introduction of Q6 plants which have increased demand of raw materials by 20%. Opening the market by lowering import taxes will not change this aspect of the market.

We're not interested in changing RM tax rates at this time Mardel3
The finished goods mkt is our concern

Sweet: "Why will 'the common man' be able to afford less for themselves?
They aren't goin to pay it."

You honestly think 'the common man' won't be shouldering the weight of this tax increase? As one of those evil capitalist pigs gaming the system, do you think I will just lie down and go from reasonable profit to significant loss on my products? Not a chance. These changes will leave me (and presumably many other business owners) with two choices: raise prices || shut down. I'll likely try the former option first, but if I can't compete, I'll just pack up my toys and go home. I produce more than enough for myself. I run my businesses to give myself and the community's consumers just a little bit extra. So if it stops giving that extra bit, it's no serious expense to me to close up (although it does hurt those consumer folks by putting less competition on the market to drive prices down).

Don't try to paint yourself as the defender of 'the common man' with these proposed tax changes. If they go into effect, the end result will be that the government earns a little extra, and prices rise until I earn the same. Who's going to get hurt? The person without any cards in this game: 'The Common Man.' Perhaps the eUKer is right, and "We" are the most able to pay our 'fair share.' However, we are also the active players, and the least likely to suddenly turn eHumanitarian.

Final bit of ranting here. Sorry for the long post.
Sweet (in response to Cas): "Is this statement based upon data collected by nations who have raised their tax rates?"
Thank goodness for the comments section, as this very article you've crafted contains a single lonely sentence, which includes a grand total of zero graphs, charts, figures, analyses, and details. I'm sure you're doing a fantastic job as MoF, but if you're going to post an article and call it a report, is it too much to ask for a little reporting?

Subbed; Not voted.

Also, for the record, as Bhane said, I'm not opposed to higher VAT taxes. I am opposed to sudden 25% increases though. Volatile market shifts are bound to destabilize things.