Ask seem to remember, the tax is simply a sales tax on products and services. No income tax,property tax, breathing tax, etc. When you buy something, the tax is included in the price of the item. I don’t remember what the percentage is, but I seem to remember it being between ten to twenty-five percent of the total cost.
25 percent. 10 to the Empire, 10 to the kingdom, 5 to the city or town.
If anybody has suggestions for different portions, I would love to hear them.
(The Navy makes money by mining the asteroid belt and selling raw materials).
Start here: http://thegentlewolf.net/comic/tgw-632/
Sounds steep, but fair. I’d prefer a one time tax vs the annual nickel-&-dime robbery we have now with property taxes, auto registration and licensing, etc.
I’ve read that in total, government gets 65 percent of the average person’s income.
Including taxes paid by companies, who must add those taxes to the cost of their products.
Yeah, I prefer 25 percent of spent income with no hidden taxes.
It’s still gonna suck to be poor when it’s time to buy groceries but when in history has it NOT sucked to be poor? I know the wife and I are feeling the pinch from inflation I thought we had left behind up when Uncle Ronald was sworn in. {sigh} Still occasional gaping holes on the grocery store shelves. Not sure exactly what’s going on.
Find “The Fair Tax Book” One of the authors is Neil Boortz. It explains an alternative to the Federal income tax that is set up so that if you are below the “poverty line”, you pay no tax.
Everything is sales tax. It would be a great system.
So, in other words, materials sold to companies are taxed at 25% and final products are sold with another 25% tax as well? No transportation or labor taxes, other than when materials are used, and 25% of material cost is taxes. That could work well, but, from raw materials, to finished products to final sales by middle man (stores, online shopping, etc.) Could add almost a total of 50% to the total cost, from raw materials to final product, from three levels of sales, depending on the amount of processing and transportation, required.
Still, vastly cheaper than our current system, but it still remains A substantial income to the government.
Nope nope nope. It’s only added at the point of final sale. And once taxed, never taxed again.
Flea markets and thrift stores only pay taxes on new items that they sell.
Sure, cheating is possible, but two of the reasons that crime in the Empire is so low are:
1) There are so few laws to actually break, and:
2) The penalties for breaking the laws that exist are ugly. Not usually painful,
mostly restitution, fines, and/or jail time.
Some people might not like the severity of the punishments, but crime is very low.
But there are some innovative fit-the-crime punishments, maybe I’ll go there later.
In fact, maybe in a couple of weeks.
I’ve often thought that one line in the Constitution that ought to be amended is the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments. Not the cruel part. Some crimes just seem to cry out for unusual, tailor-made punishments.
I’d give more to the city level – but that’s because I still think that stuff like infrastructure should be done or at least organized by a central (or rather local) authority.
I really can’t imagine how the sewers would look like if anybody just did whatever pleases them.
“how they would look”.. hence why most cities are built on waterways. up until the 1800’s, waste was dumped into the waterways.. some cases they were covered (smell). or before cesspit/pool. you have the “chamber pot” an just dump out the window.. (medieval)
in most cases now days, “Waste Management” is a private company that is city controlled.
Thought as much. But seriously – I don’t think it will work. At the least the private company would have to way to suspend services for unwilling customers. Which would make things very complicated.
And how would you treat a property owner who’s unwilling to allow that company to tunnel under their property?
What about if half the street hires one contractor, most of the others hire a competitor and yet another one is taking care of it all by himself?
What about health standards? Or even ecological ones?
Hmmm. You’re making me think. Thank you.
I suppose the government would handle sewage disposal the same way they
handle toll roads. Map the system, parcel out entire sections, and let the
company charge a fee for use. A fee that must be paid or your service will
be cut off. The fee is a contract that binds both parties, so if anyone fails to
perform properly the CEO can be arrested for theft or fraud and prosecuted.
A private company can almost always get things done faster, better and
cheaper than a government. And any kind of bribery or corruption carries
a very steep penalty, up to exile or death. The Empire doesn’t have very many
laws, so they can be very thorough about enforcing those laws that do exist.
ok. So the gov’ment is mapping out stuff …
I have been wondering how they’d handle new settlements and urban growth.
(I guess most people would prefer American style city design over Marakesh style chaos …)
About getting stuff done better faster and cheaper … yeah that’s one point we’ll never agree on.
Ok maybe you’d like to have a look at this one: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1925
(The point 7a)
RFC 1925 is an “April Fools internet standard” about dealing with large, complex projects.
I find it pretty amusing and mostly quite on point.
In regard to RFC 1925 7a my claim is that a private contractor will tend to pick “fast” and “cheap” over “good” because they usually get picked because “cheap” and “fast” means immediate profit.
I used to be a truck driver. Government will also choose fast
and cheap but expensive. Government answers to no one, really,
while private contractors answer to the customer.
Case in point: My neighbors and I wanted our dirt road paved.
Since it’s a private road, the county would do it, but we
would have had to GIVE them the road and 5 meters of our land
on either side of it. Plus pay for the paving, at a cost of,
call it, 4X dollars. With no guarantee of the quality of the
work.
A private contractor quoted us a price of 3X, with a 10 year
warranty, built to our specs and we would keep our property.
We decided to keep it dirt, as maintaining it would cost us
far less.
Keep in mind that the default position of the Empire is to
do as little and stay as small as possible, and preserve
individual freedom. The Empire can only do those things that
the Kingdoms can not do, and the Kingdoms can only do
those things that the smaller governments within them can
not do, and they can only do those things that the citizens can not do for themselves. This is why a 25% sales tax
works, because governments within the Empire don’t actually do
much. Defense against outside threats, and police functions are
pretty much it. The crime rate is low for two reasons, there are
so few laws to break, and punishments for breaking those that
exist are so severe.
Yeah. This is one point where we should agree to disagree. There’s plenty examples for both views in RL.
Still. If you say the Kingdoms should only do what the local authorities can’t … I still come up with giving more money to the Cities then the Kingdoms. They’re closer to the people, they should be providing services like mapping out settlements and law enforcement.
Don’t forget, whatever the Empire provides, it has to provide
for all of the kingdoms. A military is expensive, so is
maintaining something like the Legion.
As I said, just my two cents. In my personal view the local communities tend to always have to make do with the leftovers.
(But maybe that’s a more of a RL German problem? Dunno)
About just dumping your waste into the water: that’s pretty sure fire way to spread pretty nasty diseases like Cholera. Ok, easibly curable via antibiotics but still.
As for private companies controlling this: No thank you very much. And you would still need somebody willing to pay for this.
Over here in Europe many communities decided to enter “private public partnerships” for waste disposal and fresh water supply and stuff.
Usually resulting in the communities paying much more, the companies getting rich and he service getting worse.
(PPP often means the community takes the risks and the company has the profit, especially if they’re relentlessly cutting corners)
I would invite anyone interested to look at my DA page. I have posted two renders of Petercat’s explorer ship HLMS (His/Her Lupine Majesty’s Ship) Discovery with most of the surface modelling done plus a couple of poems I have written and some very politically incorrect observations and such. I am not trying to offend anyone but I suppose I ought to issue a possible “trigger warning”. As always comments are welcome here and at DA.
Oh,I think you’ll like Kipling. Great story teller and poet. I’m sure you’ve at least heard of “The Jungle Book” and Mowgli. Half a dozen movie versions, most good.
But try his poems. Simple, good rhythm and meter, straight forward ideas. BOLD! http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/kipling_ind.html
(may have to copy & paste?)
I am amazed at just how well Kipling’s works have stood the test of time. So many of his works could have been written today. Kinda scary, too. If his stuff seems current then history is rhyming A LOT!
Mike Vanderboegh was a blogger. Cancer took him before his time. Very wise man. He originated the 3% thingy. His blog is still up. You can read Mike’s words at https://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/. He was a year younger than me.
Fair Tax FTW!
I’d like to know how the tax structure works in Cheryl’s world?
Sounds like the good captain is hatching a devious plot. (mwhahahahaha….)
Ask seem to remember, the tax is simply a sales tax on products and services. No income tax,property tax, breathing tax, etc. When you buy something, the tax is included in the price of the item. I don’t remember what the percentage is, but I seem to remember it being between ten to twenty-five percent of the total cost.
25 percent. 10 to the Empire, 10 to the kingdom, 5 to the city or town.
If anybody has suggestions for different portions, I would love to hear them.
(The Navy makes money by mining the asteroid belt and selling raw materials).
Start here: http://thegentlewolf.net/comic/tgw-632/
Sounds steep, but fair. I’d prefer a one time tax vs the annual nickel-&-dime robbery we have now with property taxes, auto registration and licensing, etc.
I’ve read that in total, government gets 65 percent of the average person’s income.
Including taxes paid by companies, who must add those taxes to the cost of their products.
Yeah, I prefer 25 percent of spent income with no hidden taxes.
Does that 65% include all the licenses, permits, and other “mother-may-I” laws and regulations?
Every penny that went from your earnings to a government coffer. Fed, state, local, park entry fee, tolls…
It’s still gonna suck to be poor when it’s time to buy groceries but when in history has it NOT sucked to be poor? I know the wife and I are feeling the pinch from inflation I thought we had left behind up when Uncle Ronald was sworn in. {sigh} Still occasional gaping holes on the grocery store shelves. Not sure exactly what’s going on.
Find “The Fair Tax Book” One of the authors is Neil Boortz. It explains an alternative to the Federal income tax that is set up so that if you are below the “poverty line”, you pay no tax.
Everything is sales tax. It would be a great system.
So, in other words, materials sold to companies are taxed at 25% and final products are sold with another 25% tax as well? No transportation or labor taxes, other than when materials are used, and 25% of material cost is taxes. That could work well, but, from raw materials, to finished products to final sales by middle man (stores, online shopping, etc.) Could add almost a total of 50% to the total cost, from raw materials to final product, from three levels of sales, depending on the amount of processing and transportation, required.
Still, vastly cheaper than our current system, but it still remains A substantial income to the government.
Nope nope nope. It’s only added at the point of final sale. And once taxed, never taxed again.
Flea markets and thrift stores only pay taxes on new items that they sell.
Sure, cheating is possible, but two of the reasons that crime in the Empire is so low are:
1) There are so few laws to actually break, and:
2) The penalties for breaking the laws that exist are ugly. Not usually painful,
mostly restitution, fines, and/or jail time.
Some people might not like the severity of the punishments, but crime is very low.
But there are some innovative fit-the-crime punishments, maybe I’ll go there later.
In fact, maybe in a couple of weeks.
I’ve often thought that one line in the Constitution that ought to be amended is the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishments. Not the cruel part. Some crimes just seem to cry out for unusual, tailor-made punishments.
I’d give more to the city level – but that’s because I still think that stuff like infrastructure should be done or at least organized by a central (or rather local) authority.
I really can’t imagine how the sewers would look like if anybody just did whatever pleases them.
“how they would look”.. hence why most cities are built on waterways. up until the 1800’s, waste was dumped into the waterways.. some cases they were covered (smell). or before cesspit/pool. you have the “chamber pot” an just dump out the window.. (medieval)
in most cases now days, “Waste Management” is a private company that is city controlled.
In the Empire, it is controlled by the property owners the
private company serves. Government is not involved.
Thought as much. But seriously – I don’t think it will work. At the least the private company would have to way to suspend services for unwilling customers. Which would make things very complicated.
And how would you treat a property owner who’s unwilling to allow that company to tunnel under their property?
What about if half the street hires one contractor, most of the others hire a competitor and yet another one is taking care of it all by himself?
What about health standards? Or even ecological ones?
Hmmm. You’re making me think. Thank you.
I suppose the government would handle sewage disposal the same way they
handle toll roads. Map the system, parcel out entire sections, and let the
company charge a fee for use. A fee that must be paid or your service will
be cut off. The fee is a contract that binds both parties, so if anyone fails to
perform properly the CEO can be arrested for theft or fraud and prosecuted.
A private company can almost always get things done faster, better and
cheaper than a government. And any kind of bribery or corruption carries
a very steep penalty, up to exile or death. The Empire doesn’t have very many
laws, so they can be very thorough about enforcing those laws that do exist.
ok. So the gov’ment is mapping out stuff …
I have been wondering how they’d handle new settlements and urban growth.
(I guess most people would prefer American style city design over Marakesh style chaos …)
About getting stuff done better faster and cheaper … yeah that’s one point we’ll never agree on.
Ok maybe you’d like to have a look at this one:
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc1925
(The point 7a)
RFC 1925 is an “April Fools internet standard” about dealing with large, complex projects.
I find it pretty amusing and mostly quite on point.
In regard to RFC 1925 7a my claim is that a private contractor will tend to pick “fast” and “cheap” over “good” because they usually get picked because “cheap” and “fast” means immediate profit.
I used to be a truck driver. Government will also choose fast
and cheap but expensive. Government answers to no one, really,
while private contractors answer to the customer.
Case in point: My neighbors and I wanted our dirt road paved.
Since it’s a private road, the county would do it, but we
would have had to GIVE them the road and 5 meters of our land
on either side of it. Plus pay for the paving, at a cost of,
call it, 4X dollars. With no guarantee of the quality of the
work.
A private contractor quoted us a price of 3X, with a 10 year
warranty, built to our specs and we would keep our property.
We decided to keep it dirt, as maintaining it would cost us
far less.
Keep in mind that the default position of the Empire is to
do as little and stay as small as possible, and preserve
individual freedom. The Empire can only do those things that
the Kingdoms can not do, and the Kingdoms can only do
those things that the smaller governments within them can
not do, and they can only do those things that the citizens
can not do for themselves. This is why a 25% sales tax
works, because governments within the Empire don’t actually do
much. Defense against outside threats, and police functions are
pretty much it. The crime rate is low for two reasons, there are
so few laws to break, and punishments for breaking those that
exist are so severe.
Yeah. This is one point where we should agree to disagree. There’s plenty examples for both views in RL.
Still. If you say the Kingdoms should only do what the local authorities can’t … I still come up with giving more money to the Cities then the Kingdoms. They’re closer to the people, they should be providing services like mapping out settlements and law enforcement.
Don’t forget, whatever the Empire provides, it has to provide
for all of the kingdoms. A military is expensive, so is
maintaining something like the Legion.
As I said, just my two cents. In my personal view the local communities tend to always have to make do with the leftovers.
(But maybe that’s a more of a RL German problem? Dunno)
About just dumping your waste into the water: that’s pretty sure fire way to spread pretty nasty diseases like Cholera. Ok, easibly curable via antibiotics but still.
As for private companies controlling this: No thank you very much. And you would still need somebody willing to pay for this.
Over here in Europe many communities decided to enter “private public partnerships” for waste disposal and fresh water supply and stuff.
Usually resulting in the communities paying much more, the companies getting rich and he service getting worse.
(PPP often means the community takes the risks and the company has the profit, especially if they’re relentlessly cutting corners)
I would invite anyone interested to look at my DA page. I have posted two renders of Petercat’s explorer ship HLMS (His/Her Lupine Majesty’s Ship) Discovery with most of the surface modelling done plus a couple of poems I have written and some very politically incorrect observations and such. I am not trying to offend anyone but I suppose I ought to issue a possible “trigger warning”. As always comments are welcome here and at DA.
Oops, forgot to post the link:
https://www.deviantart.com/bmullins3
Ships look good and who doesn’t like Kipling? Your Dutch friend was clever if he had more sayings like that one.
Well, I don’t know if I like Kipling or not.
But then, I’ve never kippled.
Oh,I think you’ll like Kipling. Great story teller and poet. I’m sure you’ve at least heard of “The Jungle Book” and Mowgli. Half a dozen movie versions, most good.
But try his poems. Simple, good rhythm and meter, straight forward ideas. BOLD!
http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/kipling_ind.html
(may have to copy & paste?)
I am amazed at just how well Kipling’s works have stood the test of time. So many of his works could have been written today. Kinda scary, too. If his stuff seems current then history is rhyming A LOT!
Oh, I have many of his poems in print. I was making a joke.
“Excuse me, Miss. Do you like Kipling?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never kippled.”
Old joke in filk community. Filkers in general love Kipling because he is so EASY to set to music.
Mike Vanderboegh was a blogger. Cancer took him before his time. Very wise man. He originated the 3% thingy. His blog is still up. You can read Mike’s words at https://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/. He was a year younger than me.
I have Sipsey Street permanently bookmarked in all my devices.
Looks great. Thanks.
Sent you some pix of your folding fins on Discovery. Also put ’em up on DA.
Imperial policy in Waukenda (and other places) in a short video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE
Holy smokes this is a great video. It keeps your attention.