The Imperial Dominion of the South's Legislature

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

If Zanas feels he can represent The People to the best of his ability, then I will fully support him.

[Dereich]

If he can manage to make things more user-friendly while keeping the wheels turning as he says, I see no reason why Zanas shouldn't be Speaker.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Zanas is the only one who has declared interest in the speakership. I'll give jerry an opportunity to chime in, if he so wishes, but otherwise it looks good for Zanas.

[JerryArkansas]

I will run, just so we don't have it given to someone

[Zanas]

I'm glad jerry is running, so we can make this fair and square. If i get elected, I promise I will keep this position unpartisan, though I will not relinquish my partisan ability to debate on the topics once I will have introduced them before the Legislature.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Alright, nice to have a race here. The vote opens now and closes in 72 hours.

Imperial Speaker:
[ ] jerryarkansas
[ ] Zanas46

[JerryArkansas]

Imperial Speaker:
[ X ] jerryarkansas
[ ] Zanas46

[Bacon King]

Imperial Speaker:
[  ] jerryarkansas
[X] Zanas46

[Zanas]

Imperial Speaker:
[  ] jerryarkansas
[X] Zanas46

[Dereich]

Imperial Speaker:
[ X ] jerryarkansas
[ ] Zanas46

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Imperial Speaker

• Zanas

[ ] jerryarkansas

[Zanas]

I would like to thank my fellow Legislators for their vote, and ask them the permission to celebrate the achievement with my family and staff for tonight. Legislative work shall begin again tomorrow morning ! :-)

[Associate Justice PiT]

      Congratulations, Zanas.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Also, I should mention that we have passed our 2011 and 2012 budgets as bills, so as to have a convenient record of them. I suggest our next order of business be to do the same with the 2013 budget.

[Dereich]

Congratulations Zanas.

So do we have to decide what to do with the surplus first then?

[Zanas]

I hereby declare the new Legislature session opened. As the Emperor suggested, and since we are already nearly in February, I figure we should focus on discussing the 2013 budget first. Then we shall unroll the docket of bills in the order of business. Here is below the budget our Emperor has established :

     Here is the budget for the new year. I forgot that we had eliminated the social security tax, so the surplus is much smaller than I had thought.

2013 Budget

Notes

• Base shall be understood to refer to the combined totals of the state governments minus Puerto Rico.
• Total shall be understood to refer to the combined totals of the state and regional governments minus Puerto Rico.

Regional Spending

Pensions
-Base: $42.9 billion
-Total: $42.9 billion

Health care:
-Base: $127.4 billion
-Total: $127.4 billion

Education:
-Base: $75.0 billion
-Tertiary Education/Other Capital Outlay-Higher Education/Southeastern Educational Incentive Act: $3.5 billion
-Total: $78.5 billion

Defense:
-Base: $0.7 billion
-Military Defense/IDS Militia Structure Act: $0.4365 billion
-Total: $1.1365 billion

Welfare:
-Base: $34.2 billion
-Total: $34.2 billion

Protection:
-Base: $21.8 billion
-Total: $21.8 billion

Transportation:
-Base: $29.3 billion
-Total: $29.3 billion

General government:
-Base: $6.5 billion
-Total: $6.5 billion

Other spending:
-Base: $17.3 billion
-Puerto Rico: $17.41 billion (total spending of PR- PR is not included in any other category in Spending but the Total Regional Spending)
-Total: $34.71 billion

Total Regional Spending: $376,446,500,000

Regional Revenue

Income Taxes:
-Base: $0 (state cannot collect their own income taxes)
-Corporate Income Tax/Tax-Corporate Net Income/Put the "free" back in Free Enterprise Bill: (see personal income tax rate)
-Corporate Income Tax Rate: 5.8%
-Personal Income Tax Rate: 5.8%
-Total: $69.25 billion

Social Security Taxes: 
-Base: $0 (-$23.0 billion from 2012 IDS Budget Amendments)
-Total: $0

Ad-valorem Taxes:
-Base: $144.3 billion
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Alcoholic Beverage Sales/Southeast Alcohol Initiative, Section 8: $1.3127 billion ($1.00/proof liter or $0.385/gallon for beer, $0.909/gallon for wine, $3.31/gallon for spirits)
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Tobacco Products Sales/Southeast Tobacco Initiative, Section 6:  $0.04/cigarette ($6,034,000,000/year), $0.08/cigar ($80,000,000/year), $2.00/kg tobacco ($24,000,000/year)
-Excise Taxes/Tax-Marijuana Products Sales: $3.00/ounce ($48,000,000/year)
-Sales Taxes/Tax-Public Utilities Sale/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: 80% of standard electricity excise tax: $0
-Sales Taxes/Tax-Public Utilities Sale/Southeast Biomass Initiative, Section 3: 80% of standard electricity excise tax: $0
-Property Taxes/Tax-Property/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: n/a ($0)
-Transportation/Tax-Motor Fuel Sales/Transportation Commission Initiative, Chapter 3, Section 22: $0.08/liter ($17,284,230,161/year)
-Transportation/Tax-Motor Vehicle License/Fair Consequences Initiative, Section 3: $10,700,000/year
-Total: $151.5654 billion

Fees and Charges:
-Base: $51.1 billion
-Other/Charges-All Other/Pentagram Creation Act: $5,700,000/year
-Other/Charges-All Other/Safe Roads Initiative, Section 6: $44,400,000/year
-Total: $51.115 billion

Business and Other Revenue:
-Base: $97.7 billion
-Business and Other Revenue/Utilities Tax/Southeast Nuclear Energy Initiative, Chapter 4: -66.1 million (-0.0661 billion)
-Puerto Rico: $19.04 billion
-Total: $116.6739 billion

Gross Public Debt: $598,700,000,000 (assumes that Regional Government has not accumulated its own public debt)

Rainy Day Fund: $50,000,000,000

Total Regional Revenue: $388,604,300,000 (does not include Gross Public Debt or Rainy Day Fund)

Balance: $12,157,800,000

It so appears we have a 12 billion dollars budget surplus. I don't know what the custom is to do with it, since I wasn't around for previous budgetary discussions, so I'll invite the Emperor to offer us Legislators his clarification upon the subject, then we'll debate on it.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

We had discussed a reduction in both corporate and regional income taxes in the prior session but failed to come to an agreement. I hope that won't be the case this time around.

[JerryArkansas]

I say that we cut taxes by 1.9%.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

I offered this awhile back. It cuts both corporate and income taxes. Many of us here want to see our corporate levels at least on par with the Mideast. Right now, they have a comparative advantage to us in that area.

I'd like to offer this amendment.

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[Dereich]

Is our income tax currently flat?

[Associate Justice PiT]

Is our income tax currently flat?

     No, but it is pretty close to flat. The top bracket of 6% occurs at $7,000 for single filers and $10,000 for joint returns.

[Adam Griffin]

Is our income tax currently flat?

     No, but it is pretty close to flat. The top bracket of 6% occurs at $7,000 for single filers and $10,000 for joint returns.

This sounds very similar to Georgia's income tax code. I know much is carried over from OCGA; is this the case? Just for reference, Georgia's current income tax brackets were established approximately 100 years ago and have never been updated to account for inflation since.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Is our income tax currently flat?

     No, but it is pretty close to flat. The top bracket of 6% occurs at $7,000 for single filers and $10,000 for joint returns.

This sounds very similar to Georgia's income tax code. I know much is carried over from OCGA; is this the case? Just for reference, Georgia's current income tax brackets were established approximately 100 years ago and have never been updated to account for inflation since.

     Yes, we do use Georgia's tax code. The brackets make more sense in that light.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

In that case, what are the exact rates for each bracket? Right now, my amendment is far too inadequate to be a final product.

[Associate Justice PiT]

In that case, what are the exact rates for each bracket? Right now, my amendment is far too inadequate to be a final product.

     They are given in this link.