The Affairs of the Diet/Congress, June-July 2012: Part 2

Day 1,705, 18:16 • Published in Japan Japan • by ahava3233

Hey, ahava3233 here. I haven't done this in a while so I figured it is time for me to report on the Diet (Congressional) Proceedings that have taken place in the last 17 days since my last unofficial report was released. Unless SHTF in the next few days this is probably going to be my last unofficial Diet report until after the elections. There's plenty I need to catch up on so without further ado, let's begin.





1. Immigration (Part 1 and Part 2)

While discussion on reform to the current MoS/MoI (Minister of Security/Immigration) immigration system seems to have been lost in committee since I last reported, penalties for disobeying the system as it stands are currently being discussed.


2. VAT (Weapons (+forum vote) and Food)

During the Darshu administration, Geezus, with government support ran a very effective tax money-making program, taking advantage of the marketplace bot and surplus weapons stock to produce government funds. However, since the introduction of rockets and exreality's ascendance to the presidency, demand for weapons skyrockted, so government support for the program has reportedly ceased. Nevertheless, Geezus has continued to run the programs on his own.

At any rate, in order to further maximize profit through Geezus' private programs and also for the government through general financial transactions, parties throughout the Diet successfully pushed through a VAT increase for weapons, maximizing domestic weapons VAT to 25% earlier this month and are now working on doing the same in regards to food. Objections have been heard, primarily stating that the VAT increases undercuts the ability of small business owners to make a profit off their companies. If you are unfamiliar with economic principles, this is due to the fact that VAT in itself is a percentage of the product's listed price that is sent to the government at the point of sale. Thus the larger it is, the smaller a profit business owners make per sale at the same price. Counterobjections have included recommendations by members of the community to participate in Geezus's programs as many of them do allow participants to make a profit by their investment.



3. Imperial Japanese Army Academy (Current and Old)

The idea earlier in the month to create a "Japanese Newbie Army" has manifested into a concept for the Imperial Japanese Army Academy, or IJAA. The IJAA would be targeted towards Japanese citizens in Divisions I and II and would provide them additional government supply so long as they put additional effort into strength training and fighting for the MU. The discussion appears to be on the cusp of a vote to put the idea into practice.



4. Diet Procedural Charter and Constitution Replacement (Charter and Constitution)

Due to concerns in the vague manner in which the Diet has held session, the Diet commissioned a committee made up of Myung Kei, exreality, Nowe, and myself to draft a procedural charter dictating exactly how the Diet should conduct its everyday affairs behind closed doors. This committee should be returning a potential document soon publicly to the Diet.

In a related matter that branched off of this affair, Tetsuya Tameru brought it upon himself to draft a new potential constitution for the country in order to further detail the structure and duties of the entire government. This seems to have fallen into committee.


5. Additional Matters

Captain/Commander Salaries (Discussion)

The idea of giving salaries to COs (Commanding Officers, ie: Captains and Commanders) in JNF supplied military units in order to promote activity was discussed on the floor of the Diet. This discussion has since been closed.

IRC Complaints (Discussion)

I personally complained about the conduct of Alfred Ball and Fruitcommando on IRC on the Diet floor. The discussion has since been moved to the Bureau of Complaints.




That's all for today folks, stay tuned for a further updates on Congressional Affairs. You should also be hearing from me soon in regards to Tanabata Festival Programming (as MoCH) and separately my intent to run for the Diet this month, amongst other things...

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