L601: Education Act Amendment Bill 2017 (PASSED)

[Lachi]

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Sponsor: Gov. Mike Wells

There is now 72 hours to debate and make amendments.

[Lachi]

I support this bill, as I feel that it is a nice first step in helping struggling families with getting their children into university.

[Former Lincoln Assemblyman & Lt. Gov. RGN]

Being in real life, one of the beneficiaries of subsidy from the government, I can say that this is a good bill.

SUPPORT.

[Wells]

Naturally, I support this, being the one who wrote it. The original author of the bill did support a sliding scale and increased funding as a measures that he thought would improve the bill. (Ideally, all college education would be funded, but I don't think that can be done without a tax increase, something I'm reluctant to do.) Once AZ gets the analysis done, I can give more info about the bill. I would support extending debate until that's done.

[Lachi]

Naturally, I support this, being the one who wrote it. The original author of the bill did support a sliding scale and increased funding as a measures that he thought would improve the bill. (Ideally, all college education would be funded, but I don't think that can be done without a tax increase, something I'm reluctant to do.) Once AZ gets the analysis done, I can give more info about the bill. I would support extending debate until that's done.

I agree with the Governor.

[Wells]

So I have some bad news, the analysis came in today, and the bill costs a lot. Upwards of one hundred billion. I'll mess with the numbers to try to pay for it or decrease the cost. I'll amend the bill once that happens.

If anyone has any suggestions, say so.

[Lachi]

Governor, have you managed to get a workable amendment ready?

[Wells]

So I've decided to give you a few options:

1) Raise the property tax. The property tax is a big source of revenue for us - if we raised the property tax by $10 per mil on assessed value of unimproved land, would give us another $69,953,535,886 in revenue. This would still leave us with a surplus once the bill is paid for.

2) Raise the income tax. Raising the tax on the highest bracket to 13%, the next highest bracket to 8%, and raise the taxes on the third highest bracket by 0.35% while leaving the other brackets alone would create $43,442,150,717 in revenue, which would also save our surplus.

3) Cut the cost of the bill. I misread the spreadsheet, the bill should actually cost $91,462,507,750 when all the numbers are added up. So, if all benefits were cut in half (that's not the only solution, but the Assembly is for debate, so if you have better numbers in your head, then say so) the bill would cost $45,731,253,875. This would only cut into a little more than half our surplus.

4) A combination of these, or something else. Maybe we could cut benefits by 25% and raise the property tax by only $5, bring the cost of the bill to about $69B while increasing revenue by $35B. Or maybe we could merge a bracket (though that would mean AZ would have to analyze again). Another idea is to just pass the bill as it is and have non-player characters figure out what to do one way or another. (Former GM Kalwejt had non-player state governments be a reality in Atlasia. We could have the states fund this.)

Anyway, this is just me brainstorming and doing a bit of math. I'd like to know the Assembly's thoughts on these, and which one you think is the solution we should go with. I'm currently leaning towards the 25% cut and $5 increase I mentioned in #4.

[Lachi]

The floor is open for discussion.

[Lachi]

Anyone have anything to add to the debate?

[Wells]

Well, after all this discussion, I've decided that this amendment is acceptable:

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Hopefully this works. I think we should send this to a vote.

[Lachi]

Does anyone second the motion for a vote on the amendment?

[Former Lincoln Assemblyman & Lt. Gov. RGN]

Seconded

[Lachi]

We shall now have a 24 hour vote on the amendment
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AYE

[kyc0705]

Aye

[Lachi]

Voting time is finished

With 2 ayes, and 1 absence, the amendment has been adopted.

There will now be 24 more hours of debate before a final vote

[Lachi]

There will now be a 24 hour final vote on the bill.
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AYE

[Former Lincoln Assemblyman & Lt. Gov. RGN]

AYE

[kyc0705]

Aye

[Lachi]

With 3 ayes, the bill passes.

It will now go the governor's office for signing.

[Lachi]

Governor?