B-016: National Defense Contribution Act, 1674

[Seydlitz]

Madam Speaker,

I move to amend as follows:

ARTICLE 2. Establishment of an Income Tax

1. An income tax shall be assessed upon all natural persons and corporations and organizations earning income within the Republic of Alduria; provided that all corporations shall be considered as single-filers within the meaning of this Act, and organizations that are for charitable or non-profit purposes shall be considered as joint-filers within the meaning of this Act.

ARTICLE 3. Exceptions to Income Tax

1. Income tax shall not be assessed on any income earned from a retirement account, pension, or life, medical, or health insurance payout.

2. Income tax shall not be assessed on any revenue earned from the government by active duty service members in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Alduria, nor on their spouses who shall file their taxes jointly.

ARTICLE 3. Exceptions to Income Tax

3. Income tax shall not be assessed nor shall any income tax return be filed by any single filer who shall earn less than 30,000 ecus in a calendar year or joint filers who earn less than 60,000 ecus in a calendar year.

ARTICLE 4.

11. Failure to pay tax due by the end of the calendar year shall result in a penalty equivalent to 4 per centum of the tax due, per annum.

12. A final tax of ten percentum of interest earned on any deposit instrument, excepting loan, mortgage, or bond instruments, shall be levied.

13. A tax of two cents per Aldurian ecu bought or sold in foreign exchange transactions within Alduria is hereby levied.

14. A stock transaction tax of 2 Aldurian ecus or one-half of one percentum of the value of any shares sold in Alduria, whether in organized trading or negotiated via direct sale, is hereby levied.

15. A documentary stamp tax of 1 Aldurian ecu is levied on every Aldurian legal document, excepting government documents, and one-half of one percentum of the value of any contract of sale, is hereby levied.

ARTICLE 5. Enforcement

6. The Secretary of Finance or his designated agent is authorized to enter into compromise negotiations with and agreements with respect to payment of delinquent taxes, provided that any of the aforesaid agreements involving a sum of one million ecus or more, prior to being signed and gaining legal effect, must be approved in writing by the Prime Minister.

[Alfonso Velez]

Madam Speaker,

I'm happy to accept two of the Honourable Gentlemen's amendments as friendly:
 

ARTICLE 3. Exceptions to Income Tax

3. Income tax shall not be assessed nor shall any income tax return be filed by any single filer who shall earn less than 30,000 ecus in a calendar year or joint filers who earn less than 60,000 ecus in a calendar year.

and

ARTICLE 5. Enforcement

6. The Secretary of Finance or his designated agent is authorized to enter into compromise negotiations with and agreements with respect to payment of delinquent taxes, provided that any of the aforesaid agreements involving a sum of one million ecus or more, prior to being signed and gaining legal effect, must be approved in writing by the Prime Minister.

Regrettably, I cannot accept his other 3 amendments as friendly and ask the Speaker to open debate on those 3 amendments.

[Speaker Rejo]

The two amendments that were tabled and accepted as friendly by the Prime Minister are incorporated into the bill.

The remaining three amendments that have not been accepted as friendly are now recognized by the Chair.

Due to the time for debate falling on the Weekend, the Chair will leave debate open on the amendments until [OOC: Monday Morning EST].

It is now in order for members to debate the merits of any or all of the three amendments offered by Mr. Seydlitz.

[Alfonso Velez]

Madam Speaker,

While I was happy to agree to a couple of the amendments offered by the Honourable Gentleman, I'm afraid I could not agree to the remaining three for the following reasons. I will go through them one by one.

As to the first amendment that would extend income taxes to corporations, I strongly oppose this. Corporations create the jobs we need to stimulate our economy and are already burdened with enough regulation and taxation. While I dislike taxation at all, my calculations arrived at an income tax because there is no existing income tax on a national level. Applying these taxes to all business would have a terrible impact on our economy--particularly with small businesses--and therefore we will strongly be opposing this amendment.

My objection to the second amendment is that I believe that 100% of income earned by active duty military should be exempted from these taxes, not just the income they may earn for their service. While I agree that this is unlikely to be of much significance either way as most of our men and women in the armed forces earn their money through their direct pay, I believe a total exemption is important on principle. We are asking citizens to make sacrifices to ensure the protection of the Republic. These citizens have already made great sacrifices by serving in the armed forces and are even in situations where they put their lives at risk for their service to the Republic. The very least we can do, therefore, is exempt them entirely from this assessment.

My objection to the remaining amendment is that I believe we have struck the right balance of dealing with capital gains and other forms of trading income in this tax. I would rather view capital gains as "earned income" rather than get into the nitty-gritty of picking and choosing which forms of investment we will tax and at what rate. Similarly, I believe that the sterner financial penalties for failing to pay tax which are written now--as well as the great deal of discretion given to decide what range of penalty to give considering the circumstances of the situation--strike the right balance as presently written by the bill.

Given the totality of all of these concerns, I respectfully ask this Parliament to oppose these remaining amendments and leave the bill in its present form.

[Speaker Rejo]

All time for debate has expired. The question is, shall Parliament adopt the 3 pending amendments that have not been accepted as friendly by the Prime Minister. 

Please make sure to cast your votes for each of the 3 amendments. To avoid confusion, the amendments are designated as follows:

Amendment 1: 

ARTICLE 2. Establishment of an Income Tax

1. An income tax shall be assessed upon all natural persons and corporations and organizations earning income within the Republic of Alduria; provided that all corporations shall be considered as single-filers within the meaning of this Act, and organizations that are for charitable or non-profit purposes shall be considered as joint-filers within the meaning of this Act.

Amendment 2:
 

ARTICLE 3. Exceptions to Income Tax

1. Income tax shall not be assessed on any income earned from a retirement account, pension, or life, medical, or health insurance payout.

2. Income tax shall not be assessed on any revenue earned from the government by active duty service members in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Alduria, nor on their spouses who shall file their taxes jointly.

Amendment 3:

ARTICLE 4.

11. Failure to pay tax due by the end of the calendar year shall result in a penalty equivalent to 4 per centum of the tax due, per annum.

12. A final tax of ten percentum of interest earned on any deposit instrument, excepting loan, mortgage, or bond instruments, shall be levied.

13. A tax of two cents per Aldurian ecu bought or sold in foreign exchange transactions within Alduria is hereby levied.

14. A stock transaction tax of 2 Aldurian ecus or one-half of one percentum of the value of any shares sold in Alduria, whether in organized trading or negotiated via direct sale, is hereby levied.

15. A documentary stamp tax of 1 Aldurian ecu is levied on every Aldurian legal document, excepting government documents, and one-half of one percentum of the value of any contract of sale, is hereby levied.

No less than 24 hours to vote on the 3 amendments. DIVISION! CLEAR THE LOBBIES!

[Alfonso Velez]

Amendment 1: NAY - Level 3 Whip for L&D

Amendment 2: NAY - Level 2 Whip for L&D

Amendment 3: NAY - Level 1 Whip for L&D

[Natalia Cotilla]

National-Liberal Alliance:

1. Amendment 1: NAY (Level 3);
   
2. Amendment 2: AYE (Level 1);
   
3. Amendment 1: NAY (Level 3).
   

[Alduria]

Communist Party of Alduria

1. Amendment 1: AYE (Level 3);
   
2. Amendment 2: AYE (Level 3);
   
3. Amendment 3: AYE (Level 3).
   

National Congress for Social Democracy

1. Amendment 1: AYE (Level 3);
   
2. Amendment 2: AYE (Level 3);
   
3. Amendment 3: AYE (Level 3).
   

Euran Destiny Party

1. Amendment 1: ABSTAIN (Level 1);
   
2. Amendment 2: ABSTAIN (Level 1);
   
3. Amendment 3: ABSTAIN (Level 1).
   

Movement for Alduria

1. Amendment 1: AYE (Level 2);
   
2. Amendment 2: NAY (Level 3);
   
3. Amendment 3: NAY (Level 3).
   

[Tzvi Barak]

NEW CENTER VOTES:
Amendment 1: NAY (Level 3)
Amendment 2: NAY (Level 2)
Amendment 3: NAY (Level 1)

[Seydlitz]

Amendment 1: Present
Amendment 2: Aye
Amendment 3: Aye