[ingliz]

You said earlier PoFo was a nordic Saudi, I took you at your word.

If the taxable base is consistent with the supposed GDP and the government is not reliant on oil revenue why is the government spend not enough to set up and support a single payer health system and state education system?

I can concoct an 80% PRT and institute an insurance stamp and payroll tax but can't we take that as a given?

[Dr House]

Anyway, oil prodiction is about the same as Norway, or 2.6 million bbl/day. Of that, 600,000 is used domestically, and some 2 million are exported. At current market prices, the revenues account for 7.5% of GDP.

Based on that, I'm adjusting down the GDP share of industry, as I originally thought oil revenues would be more. So GDP sector composition is as follows:

Agriculture: 7%
Industry: 29% (of which natural resources account for 14%)
Services: 66%

Labor force by sector:

Agriculture: 10%
Industry: 21%
Services: 69%

And you are correct, you could implement a payroll tax to fund NHS. Didn't quite think of that.

[ingliz]

Are those a given then to save time and get on with the "game"? We can just pretend to changes the rates to UK levels.

[Dr House]

Payroll tax rates?

Yeah I can agree with that.

[Dr House]

Okay, me and Dave just came to a decision regarding the state of the government's finances, and as I mentioned before, they aren't good. 7.5% of the budget alone is gobbled up by interest on the public debt, which is at 150% of GDP after the previous government's excesses.

Currently the entire budget is 23.5% of GDP, including interest on debt. However, rampant corruption and bureaucracy gobbles up an appalling amount of that money, with less than a third of the funds going where they're supposed to. 4% of GDP is allocated to the military, 5% to infrastructure, a paltry 2% to education, and another 4% to the general functions of government (police, firefighting, embassies, et al).

Revenue collection is in an even poorer state than budget allocation. The tax regime is offensively regressive and included among other things a $3,500 poll tax (those who couldn't pay the tax were conscripted into forced labor camps by the government), a 24% sales tax (which is chronically underreported by merchants), and various excise taxes and user fees. Taxes are levied on both imports and exports. Tax collectors frequently siphon off the revenue they're collecting, which results in total revenues being a measly 13.5% of GDP. We currently have a budget deficit equal to 10% of GDP.

[Figlio di Moros]

Okay, me and Dave just came to a decision regarding the state of the government's finances, and as I mentioned before, they aren't good. 7.5% of the budget alone is gobbled up by interest on the public debt, which is at 150% of GDP after the previous government's excesses.

Currently the entire budget is 23.5% of GDP, including interest on debt. However, rampant corruption and bureaucracy gobbles up an appalling amount of that money, with less than a third of the funds going where they're supposed to. 4% of GDP is allocated to the military, 5% to infrastructure, a paltry 2% to education, and another 4% to the general functions of government (police, firefighting, embassies, et al).

Revenue collection is in an even poorer state than budget allocation. The tax regime is offensively regressive and included among other things a $3,500 poll tax (those who couldn't pay the tax were conscripted into forced labor camps by the government), a 24% sales tax (which is chronically underreported by merchants), and various excise taxes and user fees. Taxes are levied on both imports and exports. Tax collectors frequently siphon off the revenue they're collecting, which results in total revenues being a measly 13.5% of GDP. We currently have a budget deficit equal to 10% of GDP.

So, in other words, we're boned?

[Dr House]

Fer now

[Figlio di Moros]

Worst depiction of Davy Jones, ever... Those two movies sucked.

[Dr House]

You suck.

[Figlio di Moros]

You suck.

The first one was good, but the second two... not so much. I mean, come on, getting married in the middle of a battle? a super-huge arc involving Greek gods, Siamese pirates and Davy Jones? Way too much, mio amico...

[Dr House]

I agree that it was entirely unrealistic, but that doesn't make it bad.

getting married in the middle of a battle?

That scene was actually the most hilarious part of the whole trilogy.

"Barbossa! Marry us!"

"I'm a little busy at the moment!"

Oh, and this discussion does not belong here.

[Holt]

Perhaps the summary could include a section on Pofoese imperialism - the Pofoese West Africa Company, Todolundi (Pofo's only ever formal colonial possession) and the Jensen dynasty. I touched on some of these things in my bio entry.

The Todolundi Free State had been effectively controlled by the Jensen family since 1885, when it was sold to Lord Algrim Jensen in a takeover bid. Lord Jensen had used insider information to seize up Todolundilese property of the Pofoese West Africa Company, allowing him to monopolise the territory’s assets and exploit its natural resources (coal, diamonds, and precious metals) as a private entrepreneur. The family's personal regime propped up an oppressive local ruling class against a population historically dependent on subsistence-farming; peasants rendered landless by constant rent-raising, arson, violence and intimidation allowed the administration easy access to a plentiful supply of cheap labour. Todolundi's status as a semi-colony had meant that for nearly a century, the Jensens had taken advantage of the stability created by Pofo's continuous military presence to reap heavy profits, at the expense of both the Todolundilese people and Pofoese taxpayers.

When a report investigating the Jensens' holdings in Africa was made public in 1974, the Todolundi Reform Association demanded action. Other European nations followed suit, as did the United States and the Soviet Union. The Pofoese Parliament, pushed by socialist leader Emile Vandervelde and other critics of the nation’s Todolundilese policy, set up an independent commission of inquiry, and in 1975, it confirmed the essentials of the report. The 1885 purchase itself was found to be in violation of Pofoese laws of moral hazard.

On 15 November 1978, the parliament of Pofo took over the Todolundi Free State from the Jensens and dissolved it, issuing a referendum for independence. The people of Todolundi voted overwhelmingly in favour.

[Figlio di Moros]

Holt, the problem is that we were a colony, not an imperial nation. Except for Dave.

[Thunderhawk]

New Zealand and Australia were colonies, but they are tasked with protecting several other former British colonies - effectively making them into NZ/Oz colonies.

Newfoundland (province of Canada) was forced to join Canada by british political manouvering.

[Holt]

Holt, the problem is that we were a colony, not an imperial nation.

These two things are hardly mutually exclusive. Belgium, for most of its history, was forced into vassal status by surrounding powers - almost continuously up to the mid-19th century. However, that did not make anything less of the notoriety of Belgian imperialism in the Congo, an area almost a hundred times its size.