Fed II Star newsletter - masthead The weekly newsletter for the Fed II game by ibgames

EARTHDATE: May 7, 2006

OFFICIAL NEWS
Page 2

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MOVING MONEY

With the advent of planetary infrastructure builds, there is suddenly a need for groats in the treasury in order to fund all the improvements. A well-run planet should of course have plenty of spare cash in order to pay for builds, but sometimes there just isn't enough to do everything you want to do.

Planet-owners' personal bank balances, on the other hand, are sometimes sloshing with excess groats, particularly if they have been hauling their own commods off and selling them to other exchanges. This, of course, risks attracting the attention of the taxman, always on the look out for excess groats he can squeeze for tax.

So POs have been getting increasingly vocal in their wish to be able to move money from their personal bank balances into their planet's treasuries. A recent deputation of powerful out-of-Sol Fedders visited the Galactic Administration HQ on Earth recently to lobby for a change in the regulations. Opposing them were a consortium of Sol-based bankers, who certainly don't want to see groats slipping out of accounts they handle, and the bureaucrats from the revenue service, who like all available groats to be kept in Sol where it is easily countable and taxable.

Normally, in a battle between the GA and individuals, the GA wins without breaking a sweat. After all, they are the government and they make the rules, so of course they are going to pass laws that benefit their interests and not those of the people. But in this case, the POs had an ally that swung things in their favor - the Galactic Trading Guild.

The Guild actually doesn't care whether money is kept in Sol or outside, but they do have an interest in making sure their core members - Merchants and Traders - are not disadvantaged. And recently they have been concerned at the power POs can wield when hauling their surpluses. It would suit them if POs' money was not used to trade on the exchanges, but instead used to build infrastructure.

So with this powerful lobbying force on their side, the POs were able to persuade the GA to amend the law. The revenue department grudgingly agreed when they were offered a compromise: yes, they would allow money to be transferred to planet treasuries, but a super-tax would be applied at a rate of one-third.

The command to move money from your personal bank account to your planet's treasury is 'TRANSFER megagroats', where 'megagroats' is the number of meg that you want to shift. There is no limit on the amount you can transfer in one go. The one-third tax rate will apply, so if you transfer 3 meg, the planet will get 2 meg and the other 1 meg will go to the rapacious revenooers.

Incidentally, this facility really was lobbied for by planet-owners - it was a suggestion made recently by a player. So it is worth making suggestions, because we do listen!


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