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Justice Department funding

Started by abelardsnazz, 28 November, 2017, 12:24:22 PM

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abelardsnazz

I know this has probably been asked before, but how is Justice Department funded? Judges don't get paid, but all their kit, uniforms, training etc. has to be paid for from somewhere. Cityblock rent? Tax from citizens that work? Off-world investments?

Or do they just get everything for free because they are the Law?

Steve Green

Space economics.

There was a story about a robbery on a ship sending in money/tributes from off-world MC colonies.
So they provide some income to the city.

But, yeah in a place with pretty much everyone on welfare - it's a big hole to fill.

But regular economics seems crazy, so it's not something I've lost sleep over.


CalHab


Proudhuff

They shake the magic money Peachtree that grows in Finance.
DDT did a job on me

Mardroid

Quote from: Proudhuff on 28 November, 2017, 01:18:26 PM
They shake the magic money Peachtree that grows in Finance.

They sell Slo-Mo? Naughty Judges.

TordelBack

#5
Most work is carried out by robots (both in MC-1 and its various earthbound and space territories), said robots being owned by a hyper-wealthy minority, whose taxes provide a chunk of change.  Import and export duties are likely to be another juicy source of revenue, in a world of walled city states and offworld colonies. 

Keeping most citizens on Welf is probably a simple piece of maths when robots are more efficient than people: everything they consume is taxed, and their income is returned to the coffers one way or another. Competition for even menial jobs probably means that a minority of working poor are prepared to endure high tax rates out of sheer desperation.

So much for a shocking future, readers.

The Legendary Shark

Private bankers create the credits (the clue is in the name) then lend them to Justice Department at interest.

The judges pay a portion back through taxation of citizens and offworld colonies.

The debt rises constantly and unstoppably, putting the whole City in a never-ending debt trap.

This is why the judges never go after the bankers, because they're as baffled by banking and afraid of illusory bankruptcy as we are today.

Or something.

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ZenArcade

Interesting thread. With the onset of potentially all work , both skilled and unskilled to be subsumed by 'intelligent' robots, software etc and the introduction of universal basic income (welfare in so many other words) in Finland.

We are really seeing the speeding up of massive changes in societies. Z
Ed is dead, baby Ed is...Ed is dead

Molch-R

Just passing by, but I did look at this issue somewhat in The Chief Judge's Man volume of the Mega Collection, citing the work of Sheldon Wolin on 'Inverted Totalitarianism' https://www.amazon.co.uk/Democracy-Incorporated-Managed-Inverted-Totalitarianism/dp/069114589X

Dash Decent

- By Appointment -
Hero to Michael Carroll

"... rank amateurism and bad jokes." - JohnW.

TordelBack


Fungus

Nice!

Also, just to say... I love the premise of this thread  :D  Funding?!

The Legendary Shark

As robots are slaves who don't get paid, they'd have to tax the robots' owners. A power drill can't be taxed but the carpenter who uses it can.

Mills's idea seems similar to vehicle tax, a set yearly charge for just owning and/or operating a robot.

I would imagine Charlie's tax would be paid by the port company or authority that owns him.

I wonder if Justice Department pays tax (to itself) for the robots it uses to carry out public services. If public service robots are taxed, that would mean the citizens might have to pay taxes in order to cover these charges - a tax to pay a tax. If public service robots are not taxed then Justice Department makes nothing out of them and so must raise the revenue required to purchase, run and maintain them from other sources.

Individual blocks might pay the robot tax for public service block robots, gathered as part of any in-block business charges or from a percentage of residents' rent payments, or both.

With robots doing most of the jobs at a fraction of the cost of human wage slaves, provided that the initial cost of purchasing or leasing said robots isn't too high, the opportunities for profit would likely be many. The more profits made, the greater the taxes gathered.

There would be a fine balance to be maintained, though. Too many robots would lead to overproduction and a consequent drop in prices, lowering tax income as cheaper goods and services flood the market and/or remain unsold. Too few robots would lead to underproduction and a rise in prices, lowering tax income again as fewer people could afford to pay the higher prices and opportunities to provide unproduced goods and services go begging.

I should imagine the MC1 tax system isn't very much different to our own, with tax shortfalls being supplemented by borrowing.

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TordelBack

#13
Quote from: The Legendary Shark on 01 December, 2017, 04:12:36 PMA power drill can't be taxed ...

-cough- VAT- cough- Electrical goods disposal levy - choke-  renewal of CSCS construction skills permit gag

Tools (or robots) can most certainly be taxed - just like Employers Contributions in PAYE taxation -independent of who is going to pay it. Tax on goods is frequently applied in differential ways with the justification that it encourages or discourages certain behaviours.  Making robots (or 3D printing materials, or media streaming devices) more expensive through taxes or levies is a way of balancing lost income (or societal benefits).

The Legendary Shark

Sorry, I meant that a power drill is an inanimate object so only its owner can be taxed. A robot, being a more sophisticated kind of power tool but still only a power tool, earns no money for itself and so in that sense cannot be taxed. The money made by the owner of the tool/robot can be taxed.

The exception proving the rule would be Walter who, as a free robot, would presumably be permitted to earn his own money and pay his own taxes.

Tax on sales of tools or robots is obviously a factor, as is purchasing a permit or license to use them.

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