One of the things people complained about in the previous version of Mock Parliament was the lack of control the government has over spending and taxation. This feature has now been added.


So how's it done?
The government now has a budget, and it can use this to control levels of taxation and spending.

Won't it be really complicated to keep track of all the different taxes?
Yes, it would be very complicated, so I have invented a statistic called the Basic Tax Rate. Every time the government raises taxes, the BTR will increase. The size of the increase depends on the type of taxation - for example, a 2% increase in income tax would probably mean a 2% increase in the BTR, but a 2000% increase in tax on spider plants wouldn't have any effect on the BTR (meaning that the tax would only serve to make the government unpopular).

So, how is spending going to be controlled?
In the budget, the government will allocate the funds for each spending area. For simplicity's sake, I won't use actual figures, so instead the amount of funding will be show by Budget Units.

Budget Units? How many of them does the government have?
The amount of Budget Units there are available for the government depends on the BTR and the Economy Rating on the Opinion Polls. The list below shows how exactly the number of budget units is calculated.

Economy Rating ~ Number of Units Available
5% ~ BTR x 0.5
6-9% ~ BTR x 0.6
10-15% ~ BTR x 0.7
15-19% ~ BTR x 0.8
20-29% ~ BTR x 0.9
30-39% ~ BTR x 1
40-49% ~ BTR x 1.2
50-59% ~ BTR x 1.5
60-69% ~ BTR x 2
70-79% ~ BTR x 2.5
80-84% ~ BTR x 3
85-89% ~ BTR x 3.5
90-94% ~ BTR x 4
95% ~ BTR x 5

Any decimals will be rounded up.

So, how are changes to the budget made?
The distribution of budget units can be changed government in budgets. These are posted in the Government HQ's Announcements forum. Also, you can change the budget just by adding details about funding to the end of bills.

Who can make budgets?
Only members of the government who have the "budget" power. See the Government FAQ for more information.

How can we tell how much funding is needed?
Beside each spending area, there will be a figure in brackets. This figure shows how many budget units are needed by that spending area.

What if more budget units are assigned than are needed?
Then the existing services will be improved, and you'll probably see the opinion polls for that area go up. Also, any new bills for that spending area will not require increased funding (unless they are very expensive), as spare funds already exist for that area.

What if not enough budget units are assigned?
Then services suffer. Opinion polls will fall, and the government will probably face some nasty headlines.

What happens if the economy rating falls and reduces the number of budget units available?
Then the Admin will automatically decrease the total number of budget units allocated. First of all they'll remove any unallocated ones from the budget, then they'll remove budget units one at a time from each funding area.

Can the government take out loans?
The government is able to take out loans of budget units from the Central Bank of Ostentia. Loans would be in intervals of 5 (5,10,15 etc.). If a government takes out a loan then for the current parliamentary term, they will be given extra budget units which they can then allocate just like any other budget units. Once the term has ended, and parliament is dissolved, these extra budget units are considered as spent and can no longer be used.

Do loans charge interest?
With each loan taken out, the national debt will be increased. The government will be charged 20% per term on the national debt. The government will be expected to include interest payments in the budget, and allocate budget units to it. If the government does not allocate the required number of budget units, then any outstanding debt will be added to the debt needed to be paid next term. In addition, the Central Bank will refuse to give the government any more loans until interest payments are met.

How are loans paid off?
At the start of the parliamentary term, the government can also pay off all or part of the national debt. Like loans, the national debt is paid off in intervals of 5 budget units. These budget units will then be unavailable for use for the rest of the parliamentary term. Paying off loans can only be done at the start of a parliamentary term.

Is there a limit to how much can be borrowed?
The central bank will not loan more budget units per term than the amount the government recieves in taxation. Also, the central bank is not an infinite source of money. The central bank will refuse to loan the government any more budget units if at any time the interest repayments required in the budget exceed a certain level (determined by the current economy rating). If when this happens, the government refuses to pay the interest on the national debt, the central bank could collapse.


If you still have unanswered questions, just PM the Admin.