Difference between revisions of "Ankh-Morpork Player Council/Motion:Tax Law"

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===Won't this make playershops even more expensive?===
 
===Won't this make playershops even more expensive?===
Since playershops are open auctions with a reserve price of only $1, bidders can easily take the tax rate into consideration when bidding - each bidder knowing what they'll eventually have to pay. So, no.
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'''This answer has been updated.'''
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As the auction house automatically includes tax in the price displayed, the price you see is the price you bid. As it's an auction with a negligable reserve price ($1), a higher sales tax rate does not affect the price at all, only the portioning of money afterwards. So, no.
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<!-- Since playershops are open auctions with a reserve price of only $1, bidders can easily take the tax rate into consideration when bidding - each bidder knowing what they'll eventually have to pay. So, no. -->
  
 
===So does this law actually change the tax rate?===
 
===So does this law actually change the tax rate?===

Revision as of 06:32, 18 April 2011

This is a brief article about the following motion:

1) Add new rule; added by Beale at Sat Apr 2 18:29:47 2011
(general) by Beale (Sat Apr 2 18:29:47 2011):
Sales Tax Maximum Rate Adjustment

For the purposes of rule 327, this rule specifies that the maximum sales tax rate that may apply to the lease of a commercial premises is 9900%.

Rationale

This law is designed to recover more of the vast sums of money that are spent on playershops, and use it to benefit citizens.

When a player bids on a leased property like a player shop, within Ankh-Morpork, their bid has a sales tax added on the final price they pay. At time of writing, this tax is 1.5%, and the maximum it can be is 10%. This law would increase that maximum to 9900%. This quantity was chosen because it is easy to calculate the final price from a bid - multiply by 100.

Money paid towards leases that is not tax disappears. The tax portion is added to the council coffers, and can be used to sponsor guild events (e.g. Witch Trials, The International Assassin Games), and really anything else the magistrates view as being a good use for the money.

The current sales tax rate means that currently 98.5% of money paid on playershops disappears. If this law were passed and the sales tax rate were raised to 9900%, only 1% of money paid on playershops would disappear, and 99% of it would be recovered to be usable.

But what does this mean for me, average Joe Morporkian?

If the sales tax rate rises to 9900%, much more money will be available to sponsor events, and fund new schemes and ideas proposed by citizens. This being the case, you may notice a rise in such events and schemes and ideas.

If playershop prices remain at current levels, the council may even be able to hire citizens at decent wages to perform regular municipal services to benefit you.

Won't this make rents really expensive?

Rent tax applied to housing rent is separate from sales tax applied to shops - this law would only apply to sales tax, so housing prices will be unaffected.

Won't this make playershops even more expensive?

This answer has been updated. As the auction house automatically includes tax in the price displayed, the price you see is the price you bid. As it's an auction with a negligable reserve price ($1), a higher sales tax rate does not affect the price at all, only the portioning of money afterwards. So, no.

So does this law actually change the tax rate?

No. There is currently a previous law capping the maximum tax rate, and this raises that cap. Any tax rate increase has to be announced and citizens given fair warning and information via town criers and board posts and probably also in the AM Daily, as described in the original tax cap law.

How can I vote on this?

You can either vote by going to the council offices and visiting the relevant room (s;s;w;s from the entrance, I think), or much more simply, by visiting the motions page on the council section on the website: Ankh-Morpork Council Motions.