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A History of Tax Collection in Willemstan

Willemstani Economics

This article was last updated on August 31st of 2021.

Image at the top of the screen.

The Bank of Willemstan in 2020. This is a drawer in Charlie's desk.

Lore

Tax Collection was a four year long initiative primarily run by Charlie, in which he (on behalf of the Willemstan government) collected donations from the Willemstan Public and stored the funds in a desk drawer. In addition to collecting real USD, the government also collected "Willemstan Currency" during 2018 and some of 2019, which was mostly computer bolts stolen from school computers. However, by the time 2020 rolled around, the practice of Tax Collection had become a thing of the past. Willemstan had no real expenses at the time, or at least, nothing that Charlie couldn't pay for himself. As a result, several calls were made to officially outlaw the practice by the citizens of Willemstan during 2020. In July of 2021, this finally occurred. Although Tax Collection could be brought back in the future if needed, this is highly unlikely.

What is Tax Collection?

Tax Collection was income given to the Government of Willemstan through donations given to the government, as well as voter fraud and money from rank purchasing. This means Tax Collection was not an actual tax as the name implies. This was because the Willemstan Government had been unable to collect money through forced charity as originally intended. All proceeds from Tax Collection were typically given to and managed by Charlie Nolan, and are stored in the Bank of Willemstan, a drawer in Charlie's desk. Willemstani tax dollars were spent on a variety of things. Not many citizens paid their taxes. Joey Badra and Andrew Meyer paid the most taxes, and Eli donated 30 cents at one point.

Tax Collection had been a practice since the days of the Silly School for Cosmic Children. However, the practice has fallen out of use. In all of 2020 there was no collection, and after Charlie was removed from power in May of 2020, the Willemstan Government's link to the Bank of Willemstan was severed for a time. Even after Charlie was put back into power in early 2021, he did not make any attempt to collect or spend tax money. The fact that there has not been a single call for Tax Collection in 2020 and 2021 has put the legitimacy of the entire practice into question. When Dictator Eli Payton was asked about abolishing the practice in November of 2020, he said it should be up to the candidates in the Winter 2020 Election to decide.

No official statement was made on Tax Collection by the government in early 2021, even after Charlie returned to an admin position in January of that year. It has been almost two years since the last revenue was collected. As such, the practice of Tax Collection is considered dead. Charlie and Ian Hampton have discussed potentially bringing back the practice to fund public Willemstan services, such as the Willemstan Wiki and WENIS. However, this idea was discarded pretty quickly because there isn't a Willemstan service that is actually expensive to maintain. The domain "Willemstan.com" costs very little annually, so it isn't exactly something that can be crowd-funded. On July 6th of 2021, as one of his first commandments as Dictator, Ian announced that Tax Collection is officially disbanded until further notice.

Reasons for Tax Collection

Willemstan needed funds to advance its influence and further its progress into becoming a great cult/nation. The revenue from Tax Collection was typically used to cover production costs for Comrades' Choice, but despite this, the Comrades' Choice franchise was in significant debt. In the past, it was used once to buy food for Willemstan Citizens. It was also used to finance the war effort during the Willemstan - Wolfenstan War, although little money was actually raised during that period.

On August 24th of 2021, $11.90 were transfered from the Bank of Willemstan to Ian Hampton through Charlie Nolan, who gave the money to him entirely in change. Furthermore, this change was stored in a plastic bottle with some water in it, making the coins smell like vinegar. He was also accidentally short changed by $0.10, as one of the coins given to him was a Canadian dime. On August 30th of 2021, this money was spent on 180 days of premium Zira, in order to automate all of the Willemstan Discord Server's role selection. This was the first expedenture of Willemstani tax dollars in years. Following this purchase, only $4.90 remained in the Willemstan Bank.

Methods of Collecting Tax

Ask nicely. Typically, announcements were made on the classroom or Willemstan Discord Server begging for funds. However, vote and rank purchasing was also considered a form of "tax".

Instances of the Willemstan Government Asking/Begging for Money

Revenue