MA: Mideast Budget 2012 (Debating)

[Oldiesfreak1854]

I'll bring the following amendment to a vote.  Members will vote AYE, NAY, or ABSTAIN.  This will be a 24-hour vote.

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I hate to do this, but Aye.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Voting is now closed.  The AYEs are 4, and the NAYs are 0, with 1 not voting.  The AYEs have it, and the amendment is agreed to.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

I'll sponsor this amendment for the Governor, and since it's been up for a bit, I don't see need for debate.  Voting is now open on this amendment.  Members will last for 48 hours.  Voting will vote AYE, NAY, or ABSTAIN.  This will be a 24-hour vote.

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[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

AYE

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Aye

[MyRescueKittehRocks]

Nay and for the record on the previous amendment NAY

[HappyWarrior]

AYE

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Tmth asked me to look at this:

Halving the mortgage interest deduction: the effect will be mostly felt by people with more expensive homes.  Lower and middle income earners will pay additional $100 or less in taxes, but people at the higher incomes and more expensive homes could pay an additional thousand dollars or more. Upper middle and upper class homes may see a small decrease in home values. People in mid-to- high tax brackets tend to factor in the deduction when they decide whether to buy a home, so they made need to readjust their budgeting. This could contribute to a decision to move into a less expensive place, or rent instead of own, but the effect will not be very large because federal taxes will still have a full deduction.

Having the property tax deduction:  The effect will depend on local property tax rates, but the additional tax will be small for most people. Still, there may additional pressure on some localities to lower local property taxes due to this change.

[ZuWo]

Thank you, shua, for these insights.

I never claimed my amendment would not be painful but at this point we simply don't have many choices. As A-Bob and shua pointed out earlier in this thread, we can't cut a lot from the budget because certain programs are actually nearly underfunded in this budget. That's why, as shua suggested, we are probably forced to focus on tax expenditures instead.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Voting is now closed.  The AYEs are 3, and the NAYs are 1, with 1 not voting.  The AYEs have it and the amendment is agreed to.  Debate will now continue.

[ZuWo]

Alright, the debt is down to roughly $22 billion now (from $32 billion). If anyone has other suggestions for cuts to the budget, feel free to post them here.
If we establish a regional lottery we can do something against the deficit on the revenue side. This might be an effective plan to solve some of our problems because there is not a lot of (if any) room for cuts in government programs.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

If I had been here for the vote, I would've voted for it.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Would we support a pension tax?

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Would we support a pension tax?

Probably.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

What type of tax rate?  Do we want to tax it when it's put into the pension or when it comes out?

If done when it goes in, we could just include pre-pension contribution for income tax, but then that would exclude employer's contribution.  If we tax it when retirees get the pension and tax it as income then, it would probably be taxed at a lower rate than it would be if we taxed it when it was put in, but we would be covering the money put in by both employees and employers.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

How about we include pre-pension income in an employees taxable income, and we tax employers' contributions at a rate of 1.5%?

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Input anyone?

[ZuWo]

I can live with that.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

I can live with that.

Mhm.

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

While the pension tax is going through the pipes, does anyone else have amendments?

[ZuWo]

The net revenue from the sale of lottery tickets alone (excluding taxes on winnings) is around $4.8 according to an estimate by GM shua. Once we have figured out how much money we collect by the tax on lottery winnings and the pension tax, our budget seems to be ready.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

The net revenue from the sale of lottery tickets alone (excluding taxes on winnings) is around $4.8 according to an estimate by GM shua. Once we have figured out how much money we collect by the tax on lottery winnings and the pension tax, our budget seems to be ready.

Cool!

[ZuWo]

EDIT: $4.8 billion of course. $4.8 would be a bit disappointing.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

EDIT: $4.8 billion of course. $4.8 would be a bit disappointing.

That's what I was assuming/hoping it was

[Queen Mum Inks.LWC]

Plus the pension tax numbers have to be added in.