Office of IDS Emperor PiT

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I would like to extend my sympathies to the family of Gainesville QB Jalen Watson, for the severe injury that he sustained. I hope to address the issue that this raises, though it is not an easy one to deal with. The issue of player safety is a critical, yet very thorny one in the case of football, considering that the aggressive nature of the sport is its prime appeal.

     As such, I intend to open a dialogue with the Imperial Legislature on how to improve player safety in our region's high school and college football programs without compromising the spirit of the game. College football is and always has been the prime athletic pasttime of our region; we must do what we can to ensure its fullest enjoyment, both for the players and the spectators.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I hereby appoint jerryarkansas to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

[Associate Justice PiT]

     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

[Wisconsin+17]

So on total revenue of close to 400 billion dollars a year, we'd need to cut about 10 percent and raise the sales tax by a couple percent to eliminate income tax altogether.

[Wisconsin+17]

Emperor, the IDS Tax Abolition Act of 2013 has passed 2-1 and now awaits your signature.

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[Associate Justice PiT]

     I hereby appoint jerryarkansas to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I hereby appoint Gamecock to fill the vacant seat in the Imperial Legislature.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

[Gamecock]

(Slips envelope of money under the Emperor's door...)

[Associate Justice PiT]

     At the request of Legislator Dereich, I hereby name the esteemed Mr. Cathcon an honorary Captain of the IDS Militia. Go forth, and raise the banner of the Imperial Dominon of the South in triumph.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Emperor PiT, may I take this opportunity to extol my boundless gratitude at this appointment. Despite my residence to your North, I have long admired the South, its form of government, and its incredible tradition. The way you have managed to maintain great autonomy and integrity in this vast land is admirable, and the fact that you have taken upon yourselves defense in the from of militia is one specific trait I have viewed fondly. Therefore, I gratefully accept this nomination with pride and humility, and would like to extend my thanks to Darth* Dereich.

*I was once informed that "Darth" is the official title for all Legislators of the Imperial Dominion of the South.

[Zanas]

Actually, it's not anymore, since the "Darth is not a noun Amendment" was passed in February 2012. But Legislators, as they are now called, retain the right to refer  to themselves as Darth John Doe, though no one has done so in a long time.

[FEMA Camp Administrator]

Actually, it's not anymore, since the "Darth is not a noun Amendment" was passed in February 2012. But Legislators, as they are now called, retain the right to refer  to themselves as Darth John Doe, though no one has done so in a long time.

Ah, a shame.

[Zanas]

Is the Captain of the Militia able to represent the South in the Supreme Court as defender of the region ? Because it seems we have none to do so in the hearing on our electoral law... Anyway, it would be to say that we are changing this and we don't care if our constitutional requirement is cancelled, but we need to let the last election stay. I did that, but not vested by official powers or anything, as a simple citizen.

[Donerail]

Is the Captain of the Militia able to represent the South in the Supreme Court as defender of the region ?

I believe the Legislature needs to appoint a Defender of the Realm for that.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I haven't checked the proceedings in a few days, but I saw no indication that the election was at risk of being voided.

[Velasco]

Sorry, PiT, just for the record and the wiki updates. The result of the legislative election was 17-14 and not 18-13. Hope that you could fix that.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Sorry, PiT, just for the record and the wiki updates. The result of the legislative election was 17-14 and not 18-13. Hope that you could fix that.

    Didn't notice this sooner. I can still edit my last post in the thread. It doesn't change the outcome of the election, so nobody should mind if I just make a quick edit there.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Retiring Emperor PiT addresses his subjects one last time, in front of the Southern Capitol Building, modeled after San Francisco City Hall

     As I rapidly approach the end of my 30-month reign as this region's Emperor, I would like to thank everyone who helped bring me to this place. It has been an honor to work with every one of you and to help guide our ship through its travails, and to see day break over the South once again.

     As some of you may remember, I ran for President twice in 2009. That was a very unfortunate time, and I learned that I was not the person that I wished I were. I carry a link to a contemporary thread in my signature now, as penance for my actions. I wound up leaving my allies in the RPP behind for a while and wandered in the wilderness. I found myself highly disillusioned with national politics, and I seriously considered leaving Atlasia for good. I did not, however, because I saw the opportunity to get involved at the regional level.

     At the time, regional legislatures were an emerging phenomenon. (They were known at that time as regional assemblies, with the evolution in terminology standing as a proud mark of our region's influence on the political discourse of this nation.) I remember that Purple State had argued that these legislatures were important in introducing new Atlasians to the game and acting as a launching pad for federal candidacies. As the South created its Legislature, I decided to get involved so I could help mentor new Atlasians to success. I was elected its first Speaker, and later became our region's Emperor.

     I cannot claim to have played a role in bringing this recent wave of activity to the region, but I can say that I worked hard to keep the spectre of inactivity at bay for many long months when we struggled to even get three active citizens to partake in the Imperial Legislature. In so doing, I like to think that we together built a stronger region where a continuous and evolving legal code has taken root, reflecting the opinion of The People from the time of our glorious region's inauguration under its Constitution in 2004 to this day. In another time, old laws may have been neglected or forgotten, but awareness of the full corpus of our statute has now taken hold instead.

     The wonderful thing is that this awareness brings many new possibilities for complex and informative debates on the issues. I was pleased to see lengthy debates occur over the course of this campaign, on issues such as nuclear power. I can see that there are people who has the passion and the knowledge needed to lead the region in this new age of partisan fervor. I'll freely admit that debating issues is not a facet of politics that I particularly enjoy. That is, I consider myself more of a clocksetter, who ensures that everything is well-tuned and working.

     When I took over, our statute was in a state of total disarray. I repealed superseded laws, consolidated laws that separately addressed the same issue, edited new laws for clarity and precision, and helped work newly proposed laws into tandem with applicable older statute. As a result, our statute is far more usable and far less cluttered today than it once was. It's hardly perfect, but it will always be a work in progress. Likewise, I have seen many of our Legislators successfully use it to launch their political careers and continue on to federal office; people like ChairmanSanchez, Clarence, HagridoftheDeep, and many more that I am sure to be forgetting at the moment. Even more so, I do not think that that argument has to be made anymore. The longstanding tradition of activity and health embodied by the various regional legislatures, are own included, has made the argument that the regions can be an important part of the game, when it was once popular to view them as a pointless waste.

     With that said, I believe that I have done my part here now. I'll still be around, so no need to worry. However, I leave the future of this region to the ever-capable hands of the current crop of Southern politicians, and I pass the torch on to my successor, the Third Emperor of the Imperial Dominion of the South, SJoyceFla.

     Thank you all, and Dave Bless The South.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Hello, everyone. I am back.

     I see that the good people of the Legislature have been doing a good job of crafting my campaign ideas into bills. With that said, I have a few bills that I have been writing myself. I hope to post them tomorrow, and find Legislators who will champion them. I look forward to working with all of you.

[Donerail]

Emperor,

The Legislature Size Adjustment Act has passed the Legislature 4-0 and awaits your action.

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[Associate Justice PiT]

     It's not a lot, but here are a few bills that I have penned, to be introduced by members of the Legislature. It should tide us over for a couple of weeks.

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[Associate Justice PiT]

     Following the example of my Mideastern colleague Governor ZuWo, the current tallies for the amendments in the IDS are as follows:

Expulsion 14-0 (100%)
Consolidation 2-12 (14%)

Turnout: 14/29 (48%)

     With two days left to vote, it seems unlikely that either the passage of the Expulsion amendment or the failure of the Consolidation amendment will be avoided. With that said, let's try to drive turnout as high as possible.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I hereby appoint the former Speaker Scott and the Speaker and former Emperor SJoyce to the districting Commission authorized by the Legislature Size Adjustment Act. These appointments will have to pass a vote by the Imperial Legislature and then the commission will meet.

Be it resolved, X Emperor PiT

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I have a bill and an amendment that I would like members of the Legislature to introduce for me. The amendment is one to correct an oversight that I seem to have found. The bill is to make possible an idea that I had for something like an "ascended statute". If you're interested, then please introduce it.

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[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

What are the tax rates in the IDS? I need some sort of benchmark for the pacific.