General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760

General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760

14th Cortes Federales
Long title	An Act to appropriate funds and impose taxation for the operation of the Government of the Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie for the year 1760; to strengthen the direct taxes on the largest company profits, estates, and financial institutions while the taxation of great fortunes is referred for independent costing; to lay a financial transactions tax, to add higher bands to the personal income tax, and to raise the carbon tax; to replace the recovery's debt-brake with a standing fiscal framework, to continue and extend the Federal Debt Review Board, and to establish a Federal Budget and Costing Office; to continue the employment and homebuilding measures of the recovery; to provide a reduced rate of value added tax on a basket of essential food and domestic energy for the relief of the cost of living; to rebuild the National Fiscal Reserve and Emergency Fund; to define renewable generation for the purposes of the renewable-energy target; to pilot sectoral collective bargaining; to modernize the administration of the Federation; to simplify the permitting of enterprise and to require the prompt payment of small suppliers; to refer a universal child wealth account for independent costing; among other purposes.
Introduced by	The Council of State (Government of the Federal Accord), tabled by Treasury Secretary Tomás Iñiguez (CGA)
Extent	Entire Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie
Dates
Royal Assent	22.IV.1760 AN
Commencement	22.IV.1760 AN
Other legislation
Amendments	Supplementary Appropriation Act, 1760 (amended Article 37)
Related legislation	General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1758 Economic Emergency and Recovery Act, 1758 Alexandrium Sustainability and Strategic Management Act, 1750 Aldurian Economic Diversification and Recovery Act, 1755 Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759 Supplementary Appropriation Act, 1760

The General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760 (Alexandrian: Loi générale de crédits et d'imposition, 1760; Martino: Ley General de Apropiaciones y Tributación, 1760) is a law of Nouvelle Alexandrie that enacts the federal budget for 1760 AN, the first budget of the 14th Cortes Federales and of the Government of the Federal Accord. The Act appropriates NAX€21,155.0 billion against projected receipts of NAX€20,180.0 billion, leaving a deficit of NAX€975.0 billion, about 1.9 percent of projected output, in the first budget written as the Recession of 1757 gives way to recovery.

The Act is the confidence document of the three-party coalition of the Alliance for a Just Nouvelle Alexandrie, the Civic Governance Alliance, and the Federal Consensus Party. Under the Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759 the budget is a shared document, drawn up by the Treasury and bound to fund every commitment in the agreement, and all three parties are committed to vote for it. Where the last budget was written in a crash, this one is written in a recovery: it turns the emergency measures of the Economic Emergency and Recovery Act, 1758, whose authorities expired at the close of 1759 AN, into a standing settlement, and it meets the deficit by the return of revenue as the economy recovers and by a strengthening of the direct taxes on the largest incomes, together with new taxes on financial dealings, on the highest personal incomes, and on carbon, without drawing on the Federation's reserves.

The Act differs from its predecessor in the substance of its choices. The National Fiscal Reserve and Emergency Fund, drawn on through the recession under the previous government, is left untouched and rebuilt toward its pre-crisis balance. The direct taxes on the largest company profits, estates, and financial institutions are strengthened and the tax on low earners is cut, in keeping with the Proclamation of Punta Santiago's principle that the common contribution be shared according to ability to pay; the taxation of great fortunes is referred to a new independent costing office for assessment before it is legislated. The recovery Act's rigid debt-brake is replaced with a standing fiscal framework, under which the Government balances its current budget over the economic cycle and may borrow to invest. Beside the money, the Act sets out structural reforms of low fiscal cost: it matches support for housing demand with the supply of new homes, clears the permitting and grid delays that hold back renewable power, and places the conduct of the public finances under an independent Federal Budget and Costing Office. It fixes which generation counts toward the renewable-energy target and leaves biomass out of it; it pilots sectoral collective bargaining in a small number of low-paid sectors and extends the work of the Department of Administrative Coordination and Efficiency; and it eases the permitting of new enterprise and requires public bodies to pay small suppliers on time. A universal child wealth account, endowed from birth and weighted toward children of fewer means, is referred for independent costing before it is brought forward.

Background

The budget follows two years of recession. The 1757 Alexandrium market crash of 5.XII.1757 AN and the Recession of 1757 that followed it were met first by the General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1758, which protected the producing Regions and drew NAX€220 billion from the National Fiscal Reserve and Emergency Fund, and then by the Economic Emergency and Recovery Act, 1758, a NAX€750 billion package of employment protection, homebuilding, and regional support financed by borrowing under a debt-brake and a fixed expiry. The recovery Act's emergency authorities expired at the close of 1759 AN by their own terms, leaving the incoming government to decide what of the recovery to keep.

By 1760 AN the recovery had begun. Real output returned to growth in the course of the year, unemployment fell from its recession peak toward the natural rate, and the price of Alexandrium recovered toward the reference floor set under the Treaty of Fontainebleau on Alexandrium Coordination, carried in part by the orders and investment of the Lindström Recovery Protocol agreed with Natopia at the close of 1759 AN. Gross public debt, raised by the recession's borrowing, stood above the sixty-five percent ceiling of the recovery Act's rigid debt-brake, which had begun to bind on the recovery just as the coalition took office. This budget repeals that brake and replaces it with a standing fiscal framework.

The rigid debt-brake was not a long-standing rule. The Federation had abolished its national debt ceiling in 1743 AN, by amendments to the Public Debt Management Act of 1716 that created the Federal Debt Review Board to watch the debt in a fixed ceiling's place. The recovery Act had reimposed a ceiling only as a temporary condition of its emergency borrowing, with a fixed expiry, so repealing it returns the Federation to that settled policy, its debt watched by the continued Board rather than capped by a rigid rule.

The budget is also the Government's confidence document, and it is framed within the undertakings on which its investiture turned. The Government won its confidence vote by 461 to 293 when thirteen independents led by Piti Gándara crossed to support it, on two undertakings: that the NAX€200 billion of the recovery Act's emergency borrowing that remained undrawn would stay frozen, to be released only by a separate act of the Cortes, and that the recovery accounts would be laid before the appropriation was moved. The relief the budget provides is met from the appropriation, not from the frozen tranche. The Government had also undertaken that it would not lift the debt brake; the Act repeals the recovery Act's rigid brake and replaces it with a standing framework that retains a medium-term anchor holding gross public debt below sixty-five percent of output.

The New Alexandrian general election, 1759 returned no party to a majority. The Federal Humanist Party, in office since the 1739 election, remained the largest party but fell well short, and a government was formed for the first time in almost twenty years without it: the coalition of the Alliance for a Just Nouvelle Alexandrie, the Civic Governance Alliance, and the Federal Consensus Party, together holding 448 of the 801 seats under Premier Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves. The Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759 made the Treasury the condition on which the Civic Governance Alliance joined, gave it to the Civic Governance Alliance under Secretary Tomás Iñiguez, and provided that the budget would be drawn up jointly, fund every commitment in the agreement, and carry the votes of all three parties, with the Federal Consensus Party bound to confidence and supply for the term.

Key provisions

The budget appropriates NAX€21,155.0 billion, of which NAX€20,170.0 billion funds departmental programs and NAX€985.0 billion services the public debt. It is built on the recovery, and its choices lie in the taxation and financing, in the low-cost structural reforms, and in the composition of spending rather than its scale.

Taxation

The Act carries forward the tax rates in force at the close of 1759 AN, and imposes no tax on the Regions. Within that settlement it strengthens four direct taxes on the largest bases, in keeping with the principle of the Proclamation of Punta Santiago that the common contribution be shared according to ability to pay. A minimum effective rate of fifteen percent applies to the profits of companies with a turnover above NAX€750 million, so that reliefs and deductions cannot carry a large company's effective rate below that floor, projected to raise NAX€90 billion. A higher band is added to the gift and estate tax, five percentage points above the top rate, on estates and gifts above NAX€10 million, projected at NAX€35 billion. A levy of one-tenth of one percent is laid on the liabilities of the largest financial institutions, projected at NAX€25 billion and directed to the housing program. The higher rate of the idle lands tax is raised, projected at NAX€25 billion, beginning a shift of the land taxes toward the value of land rather than of the buildings upon it, to discourage the holding of land out of use. Better collection of the taxes already owed is projected to raise a further NAX€30 billion, which funds a cut of the same amount in the tax on low earners. On the price side, in coordination with the Cost of Living Relief Act, 1760, the Act applies a reduced rate of value added tax of five percent to a basket of essential food and domestic energy, at a cost of NAX€75 billion met within the envelope by the strengthened direct taxes, so that the relief lowers the price of essentials without widening the deficit.

Against the scale of the economy the budget adds three further measures on the largest bases, together projected to raise NAX€320 billion and to bring the deficit below two percent of output. A financial transactions tax is laid, at one-tenth of one percent on dealings in securities and one-hundredth of one percent on derivatives, projected at NAX€105 billion. Two higher bands are added to the personal income tax, of forty-five percent on income above NAX€2 million and fifty percent on income above NAX€5 million, projected at NAX€130 billion. The carbon tax is raised, roughly doubling the price of carbon, projected at a further NAX€85 billion. These measures narrow the deficit to NAX€975 billion rather than fund new spending, and the envelope of appropriations is unchanged.

The taxation of great fortunes, the annual tax on individual wealth above a high threshold to which the Alliance for a Just Nouvelle Alexandrie is committed, is not enacted by this Act. It is referred to the Federal Budget and Costing Office for costing and design, to be brought forward in a later budget once its yield and its effects have been independently assessed. The design of a universal child wealth account, to build wealth for every child from birth, is likewise referred to the Costing Office, to be brought forward once its cost has been independently assessed. The Unified Alexandrium Resource Authority volume levy is held at NAX€65 a gram and its allocation among the funds and the Region of Alduria is unchanged, and the Federal Sovereign Wealth Fund contribution is held at eight percent.

Appropriations

The appropriations are recomposed toward the priorities of the coalition agreement, within an envelope that grows only modestly on 1758 AN. The larger shares go to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which rises by about a fifth to carry the housing program; to the Department of Social Security and National Solidarity for the cost-of-living measures and the widening of health coverage; to the Department of Education, Sports, and Culture; to the Department of Research and Development for the revival of the Frontera Program; and to the Department of Energy and Environment for renewable generation and the grid. These are funded within the envelope by the winding down of the recession's emergency spending, most of it in the Department for National Mobilisation and in a measure of restraint in the Department of Defense, rather than by an increase in the deficit.

Beside the money the budget sets out structural reforms of low fiscal cost. It makes part of the federal housing funds conditional on Regions that reform their planning to let homes be built, so that support for demand is matched by supply, in step with the National Housing Reform and Expansion Act, 1760; it directs the streamlining of clean-energy permitting and the reform of grid connection, so that the renewable-energy target is met by clearing delay and not by subsidy alone, with contracts for difference and guarantees to lower the cost of capital at no charge to the current budget; it ties the funding of skills to apprenticeships with employers rather than to open-ended training; and it directs a review of competition in concentrated markets to lower prices for consumers. The Act settles which sources count toward that target, counting the established renewable sources and keeping the combustion of biomass out of it, without disturbing the classification of sources by the Renewable Energy Development Authority, and it treats nuclear generation as a low-carbon source outside the target. It pilots sectoral collective bargaining, under which tripartite wage boards may set a floor of terms above the statutory minimum in a small number of low-paid sectors, subject to independent evaluation before the pilot is continued or made general. It funds the Department of Administrative Coordination and Efficiency to carry its modernization of government further, advancing the National Connectivity Initiative toward a single means of dealing with the Federation, a rolling review of departmental spending, and shared services. It also simplifies the federal permitting of enterprise and requires the prompt payment of small suppliers, with relief directed to small and medium enterprises and to firms that maintain employment in the Federation. The Act also refers a universal child wealth account for costing: an endowment opened for every child at birth, with more for those of fewer means, and locked until adulthood, drawn only for building wealth such as a first home, education, or a business, to be designed and costed by the Costing Office before it is brought forward.

The Act continues, under the standing budget, the two measures of the recovery Act that the coalition chose to keep: the work-sharing and short-time support that protects employment through the downturn, and the National Homebuilding Drive toward its target of 500,000 homes. It maintains in full the funding of the universal health system and of the New National Curriculum of Nouvelle Alexandrie, and it continues the direction of twelve percent of federal Alexandrium revenue to diversification under the Aldurian Economic Diversification and Recovery Act, 1755.

The fiscal framework

The Act turns the temporary fiscal rules of the recovery into a standing framework, but not the rigid one the recovery Act had used. The recovery Act's debt-brake, which restricted the Treasury's borrowing once gross public debt crossed a fixed ratio, is repealed and replaced by a fiscal framework built to protect investment: the Government balances its current budget over the economic cycle and may borrow to finance net public investment, compliance is judged on a cyclically-adjusted basis so that a downturn does not force cuts, and an escape clause allows the Cortes to suspend the rules in a severe shock. A medium-term anchor holds gross public debt to a return below sixty-five percent of output over time, without capping borrowing in any one year. A Federal Debt Review Board reports on the debt path, on compliance with the rules, and on the classification of spending as investment, and a Federal Budget and Costing Office costs the budget, attaches an evidence note to every major bill, and carries out the costing of the wealth tax and of the child wealth account.

On the reserve, the Act draws nothing from the National Fiscal Reserve and Emergency Fund, and directs a contribution of NAX€40 billion into it, the first of a series to continue in each budget until the Fund is restored to its pre-crisis balance of NAX€2,000 billion. It makes no contribution to the National Resilience Fund, the standing disaster reserve established in 1758 AN, whose first contribution falls due under the National Resilience Fund Establishment Act, 1758 only in the first year the Treasury certifies a surplus. The deficit is met by borrowing, permitted under the new fiscal framework as it finances the recovery's investment, and no part of it is met from the reserve.

Constitutional basis

The budget rests on the Proclamation of Punta Santiago. The Cortes Federales adopts the budget under Article 38 of the Proclamation, and national taxation is a power of the Federation under its Article 2; the Council of State introduces the bill under its Article 36, and it takes effect on the Royal Assent required by its Article 32. The Act's design follows its Article 16: the common contribution is shared according to ability to pay, every rate and threshold is set by the Act itself rather than left to regulation, and the transparency of the Federal Budget and Costing Office and the quarterly reports of disbursement by Region give effect to the citizen's right to know the uses to which taxation is put. The measures that touch the Regions, in housing and in the land taxes, are framed as federal support and cooperation and do not diminish the powers Article 2 reserves to the Regions.

Economic and fiscal outlook

The budget is constructed on the recovery assumptions of the Nouvelle Alexandrie Statistics Bureau. The Federation's economy is projected to return to growth in 1760 AN as the recovery broadens, with unemployment falling from its recession peak toward the natural rate and the Alexandrium price recovering toward the reference floor.

Economic assumptions underlying the 1760 AN budget

Indicator	Assumption
Real GDP growth	+2.1%
Nominal GDP	NAX€50,449 billion
Unemployment rate	6.2%
Inflation	2.4%
Alexandrium price	~NAX€2,109 per gram (near the EACO reference floor of NAX€2,150)
Population	527.2 million

The fiscal position improves against 1759 AN. Receipts recover as output returns and the strengthened direct taxes and the new transactions, income, and carbon measures take effect, the deficit narrows from the recession's widest point to about 1.9 percent of output, and the budget is balanced on the financing side without a drawing on the reserve. Gross public debt remains above the framework's sixty-five percent medium-term anchor but its rise slows, and the Federal Debt Review Board is charged with reporting on the path back below it.

Fiscal summary, 1760 AN (NAX€ billions)

Item		Amount
Total receipts		20,180.0
	of which general and tax receipts	19,930.0
	of which Alexandrium federal receipts	250.0
Total outlays		21,155.0
	of which departmental and fund appropriations	20,170.0
	of which debt interest	985.0
Overall balance		−975.0 (−1.9% of GDP)
Financing: National Fiscal Reserve and Emergency Fund drawing		none
Financing: net borrowing		975.0
Public debt, end of year		33,470.0 (66.3% of GDP)
National Fiscal Reserve and Emergency Fund, end of year		1,848.0

Receipts by head

Receipts are projected head by head at the rates carried forward from 1759 AN, together with the new taxes the Act introduces. The carried-forward rates follow the Schedule of rates of the General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1758, with thresholds indexed to earnings. The personal income tax and the social solidarity tax are the two largest sources, well ahead of the value added tax and the corporate tax. The eight percent Federal Sovereign Wealth Fund contribution is deposited directly into the fund and is excluded from operating receipts, as are the Aldurian share of the Alexandrium volume levy and the levy's per-gram fund allocations under the Alexandrium Sustainability and Strategic Management Act, 1750.

Projected federal receipts by head, 1760 AN (NAX€ billions)

Receipt head	Amount
Federal corporate tax	2,054.1
Corporate minimum effective tax (new)	90.0
Federal income tax	7,252.5
Federal income tax, higher bands (new)	130.0
Income tax credits	−890.0
Value added tax (standard rate)	2,093.0
Value added tax relief on essentials, for the cost of living (new)	−75.0
Customs and import duties	100.9
Social solidarity tax	6,944.3
Unemployment insurance tax	595.2
Gift and estate tax	420.0
Gift and estate tax, higher band (new)	35.0
Federal Sovereign Wealth Fund dividends	415.0
Alexandrium federal receipts	250.0
Idle lands tax	142.0
Idle lands tax, higher rate (new)	25.0
Financial institutions levy, for housing (new)	25.0
Financial transactions tax (new)	105.0
Carbon tax	98.0
Carbon tax, higher rate (new)	85.0
Petroleum tax	94.0
Documentary stamp tax	62.0
Tobacco tax	45.0
Real estate tax	42.0
Other receipts	42.0
Tax administration and compliance (new)	30.0
Tax relief for low earners (new)	−30.0
Total receipts	20,180.0

Alexandrium federal receipts comprise the NAX€65 a gram volume levy and value-indexed taxation of the sector at the recovered price. The measures marked new above are those this Act introduces or strengthens; the annual tax on great fortunes is not among them, having been referred to the Federal Budget and Costing Office for costing before it is brought forward in a later budget. The same Office is charged with the design and costing of the child wealth account.

Legislative progress

The Council of State introduced the bill on 2.II.1760 AN, tabled by Treasury Secretary Tomás Iñiguez. The Federal Assembly gave it a third reading on 14.IV.1760 AN and carried it by 466 votes to 297, with 38 abstentions; the Chamber of Peers concurred on 18.IV.1760 AN by 61 to 47, with 10 abstentions; and King Sinchi Roca II granted Royal Assent on 22.IV.1760 AN, on which day the Act commenced.

While the budget stood before the Cortes between its readings, the Government began to act on parts of it within its existing authority. The Secretary of Energy and Environment, Elena Lopez de Gautier, directed the National Energy Commission to shorten the certification and grid-connection times that held up new renewable projects, working the queue of stalled connections while the budget's renewable-energy target and clean-energy provisions were still before the Assembly.

Legislative progress

Stage	Date	Chamber	Action	Votes (Y-N-A)	Details
1	2.II.1760 AN	Federal Assembly	Introduction	-	Introduced by the Council of State; tabled by Treasury Secretary Tomás Iñiguez
2	-	Federal Assembly	Committee report	-	Budget and Finances Committee; no separate committee date is recorded
3	14.IV.1760 AN	Federal Assembly	Final division	466-297-38	Passed; sent to the Chamber of Peers
4	18.IV.1760 AN	Chamber of Peers	Concurrence	61-47-10	Concurred without amendment
5	22.IV.1760 AN	-	Royal Assent	-	Signed into law by King Sinchi Roca II; commenced the same day

Bill as submitted to the Hopper of the Federal Assembly, 1760 AN

General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760

THE READING OF
A
BILL
TO
appropriate funds and impose taxation for the operation of the Government of the Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie for the year 1760; to strengthen the direct taxes on the largest company profits, estates, and financial institutions while the taxation of great fortunes is referred for independent costing; to lay a financial transactions tax, to add higher bands to the personal income tax, and to raise the carbon tax; to replace the recovery's debt-brake with a standing fiscal framework, to continue and extend the Federal Debt Review Board, and to establish a Federal Budget and Costing Office; to continue the employment and homebuilding measures of the recovery; to provide a reduced rate of value added tax on a basket of essential food and domestic energy for the relief of the cost of living; to rebuild the National Fiscal Reserve and Emergency Fund; to define renewable generation for the purposes of the renewable-energy target; to pilot sectoral collective bargaining; to modernize the administration of the Federation; to simplify the permitting of enterprise and to require the prompt payment of small suppliers; to refer a universal child wealth account for independent costing; among other purposes.

General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760

Presented by the Council of State
Ordered, by the Cortes Federales of Nouvelle Alexandrie,
to be Printed, 2.II.1760 AN.

BE IT ENACTED by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Cortes Federales, in this present session assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:-

ARTICLE I
GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1: Citation.

1. This Act may be cited as the "General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760".

Article 2: Interpretation.

1. In this Act:
   1. "the Board" means the Federal Debt Review Board continued by Article 31;
   2. "the Costing Office" means the Federal Budget and Costing Office established by Article 32;
   3. "gross public debt" and "gross domestic product" are measured as the Nouvelle Alexandrie Statistics Bureau determines;
   4. "net public investment" means expenditure that adds to the capital assets of the Federation, as the Board determines;
   5. "the recovery Act" means the Economic Emergency and Recovery Act, 1758.

ARTICLE II
TAXATION

Article 3: Continuation of rates.

1. The tax rates, brackets, credits, allowances, and exemptions in force on the last day of 1759 AN continue in force for 1760 AN, except as this Act provides.
2. This Act imposes no new tax on the Regions.
3. A reduced rate of value added tax of five per centum (5%) applies to the basket of essential food and domestic energy defined by the Cost of Living Relief Act, 1760.

Article 4: Alexandrium taxation.

1. The Unified Alexandrium Resource Authority levy remains NAX€65 per gram of Alexandrium extracted, allocated as the Alexandrium Sustainability and Strategic Management Act, 1750 provides, and the reduced rates for recycled Alexandrium under that Act continue.
2. Sixty per centum (60%) of the levy revenue goes to federal programs and forty per centum (40%) to the Region of Alduria, as that Act provides.

Article 5: Federal Sovereign Wealth Fund contribution.

1. The Federal Sovereign Wealth Fund Tax remains eight percentum (8%). Its receipts are paid into the Federal Sovereign Wealth Fund and are not available for appropriation.

Article 6: Minimum effective tax on the largest company profits.

1. A company whose annual turnover exceeds NAX€750,000,000 must pay the federal corporate tax at an effective rate of not less than fifteen per centum (15%) on its profits.
2. No relief, deduction, or allowance may reduce that company's effective rate below that floor.
3. The Secretary of the Treasury must by regulation provide for the computation of the effective rate and for the treatment of company groups.

Article 7: Higher band of the gift and estate tax.

1. A higher band of the gift and estate tax is charged, at a rate five (5) percentage points above the existing top rate, on the portion of an estate or gift that exceeds NAX€10,000,000.

Article 8: Levy on the largest financial institutions.

1. An annual levy of one-tenth of one per centum (0.10%) is charged on the liabilities of a financial institution whose liabilities exceed NAX€100,000,000,000, excluding insured deposits and regulatory capital.
2. The receipts of the levy are appropriated to the housing program under Article 20.

Article 9: Idle lands tax and the shift to land value.

1. The higher rate of the idle lands tax is increased by one half.
2. The idle lands tax and the real estate tax shift toward the assessed value of land rather than of the buildings upon it. The Costing Office must design the shift and report to the Cortes.

Article 10: Financial transactions tax.

1. A financial transactions tax is charged:
   1. at one-tenth of one per centum (0.10%) on the consideration for a dealing in securities; and
   2. at one-hundredth of one per centum (0.01%) on the notional amount of a derivative contract.
2. The Secretary of the Treasury must by regulation provide for the administration and collection of the tax, for the dealings within its charge, and for the relief of market-making and of dealings within a company group.

Article 11: Higher bands of the personal income tax.

1. Two higher bands of the federal personal income tax are imposed:
   1. forty-five per centum (45%) on the portion of an individual's annual income that exceeds NAX€2,000,000; and
   2. fifty per centum (50%) on the portion that exceeds NAX€5,000,000.

Article 12: Carbon tax.

1. The carbon tax is charged on emissions of greenhouse gases at NAX€120 per tonne of carbon-dioxide equivalent, raised from the rate in force on the last day of 1759 AN.
2. On the first day of each year after 1760 AN the rate rises by NAX€10 per tonne until it reaches NAX€160 per tonne, after which it is adjusted each year by the increase in the general index of consumer prices.
3. The Secretary of the Treasury must by regulation provide for the emissions within the charge, for the measurement and reporting of emissions, and for the relief of energy-intensive and trade-exposed industry.
4. The receipts of the carbon tax are paid into the Consolidated Fund.

Article 13: Taxation of great fortunes referred for costing.

1. This Act imposes no annual tax on individual wealth.
2. The design and costing of an annual tax on individual wealth above a high threshold is referred to the Costing Office, which must report to the Cortes Federales not later than the presentation of the budget for 1761 AN.

Article 14: Administration and compliance.

1. The Secretary of the Treasury must make rules to implement this Part.
2. The Secretary of the Treasury must strengthen the administration and digital collection of the federal taxes, to collect revenue already due and to narrow the gap between taxes owed and taxes paid.

ARTICLE III
APPROPRIATIONS

Article 15: General appropriation.

1. The following sums are appropriated out of the Treasury, for the operation of the Government of the Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie for the year 1760 AN:

Overview of appropriations, departmental breakdown

Department	Appropriation (NAX€ billions)	% of total
Department of Treasury	452.0	2.1%
Department of Administrative Coordination and Efficiency	150.0	0.7%
Federal Sovereign Wealth Fund	147.0	0.7%
Department of Interior	778.0	3.7%
Department of State	381.0	1.8%
Department of Defense	2,545.0	12.0%
Department of Justice	342.0	1.6%
Department of Labor	2,740.0	13.0%
Department of Civil Works and Transportation	1,430.0	6.8%
Department of Education, Sports, and Culture	1,360.0	6.4%
Department of Social Security and National Solidarity	2,405.0	11.4%
Department of Energy and Environment	1,058.0	5.0%
Department of Research and Development	668.0	3.2%
Department for National Mobilisation	705.0	3.3%
Department of Trade and Industry	152.0	0.7%
Department of Housing and Urban Development	385.0	1.8%
Regional Budget	4,205.0	19.9%
Others	227.0	1.1%
Contribution to the National Fiscal Reserve and Emergency Fund	40.0	0.2%
Debt Repayment and Servicing	985.0	4.7%
Total	21,155.0

Article 16: Program priorities.

1. The appropriations to household support, to housing, to health and education, to skills, to research, to clean energy, and to the Regions are increased over 1758 AN, met within the envelope of Article 15 by the winding down of the recession's emergency spending and a measure of restraint in defense.
2. No appropriation to the universal health system or to the New National Curriculum is reduced by this Act.

Article 17: Cost of living and household support.

1. Within the sums appropriated in Article 15, provision is made to lower the cost of living for households, continuing the relief on the price of household energy and essential goods begun under the recovery Act.
2. The tax on the earnings of low-income workers is reduced, funded by the compliance measure under Article 14.
3. The Secretary of Trade and Industry must bring forward a review of competition in concentrated markets, and relief is directed to small and medium enterprises.

Article 18: Child wealth accounts referred for costing.

1. This Act establishes no child wealth account, but refers the design and the costing of a universal child wealth account to the Costing Office.
2. The account is to be opened by the Federation for every child at birth, endowed then and in each year of childhood, with a larger endowment for a child of a household of fewer means; held and invested on the child's behalf until the child reaches the age of eighteen (18); and drawn then only for the purchase of a first home, for education or training, for the starting of a business, or for a contribution to a pension.
3. The account, its endowment, and its growth are not to be counted against the child or the household in the assessment of any means-tested benefit.
4. The Costing Office must report to the Cortes Federales on the design, the endowment schedule, and the cost of the account, not later than the presentation of the budget for 1761 AN, and provision for it is to be brought forward in a later budget once its cost has been independently assessed.

Article 19: Enterprise and small business.

1. The Secretary of Trade and Industry must provide a single means by which a business may register and obtain the federal permissions it requires to begin and to operate, so that the permitting of enterprise is streamlined as the permitting of renewable generation is streamlined under Article 26.
2. A public authority of the Federation, and a large undertaking in its dealings with a small supplier, must pay a valid invoice within the period the Secretary of the Treasury prescribes by regulation.
3. The relief and simplification under this Article are directed to small and medium enterprises and to undertakings that maintain employment within the Federation.

Article 20: Housing.

1. Within the sums appropriated in Article 15, and together with the receipts of the levy under Article 8, provision is made for the housing program, including public housing, support for first-time buyers, and rent stabilization in the highest-cost markets.
2. A part of the federal housing funds is made available to a Region that lets conforming affordable housing be built as of right and allows greater density in its highest-cost markets. The planning power of the Region is not diminished by this Act.

Article 21: Health and education.

1. The funding of the universal health system is maintained and directed to the widening of coverage, to regional hospitals, and to mental-health care.
2. The funding of the New National Curriculum is maintained, and provision is made for the pay of teachers and the funding of schools.

Article 22: Skills and the science economy.

1. Provision is made for training and technical education, advancing the National Skills and Technical Education Act, 1757 and directed to apprenticeships tied to employers and to the science and technology economy.

Article 23: Sectoral bargaining pilots.

1. There is established a pilot of sectoral collective bargaining, under which a tripartite wage board, representative of workers, of employers, and of the Government, may be convened for a sector, drawing on the framework of the Chambers of Guilds and Corporations Act, 1715, to set minimum terms and conditions of employment for that sector.
2. The Secretary of Labor must convene wage boards for not more than three (3) sectors, chosen for low pay and for the weakness of bargaining at the level of the undertaking, and must make provision for their operation within the sums appropriated to the Department of Labor in Article 15.
3. A term set by a wage board has effect as a floor above the statutory minimum set by the Right and Standards at Work Act, 1706, and does not prevent more favorable terms agreed at the level of an undertaking.
4. The pilot expires at the close of 1762 AN unless it is continued by the Cortes Federales, and must not be continued or made general except on an evaluation by the Costing Office under Article 36 of its effect on employment, on wages, and on prices.

Article 24: Administrative modernization.

1. The Department of Administrative Coordination and Efficiency, under the Secretary of Administrative Coordination and Efficiency, is funded within the sums appropriated in Article 15 to continue and to extend its modernization of the administration of the Federation.
2. The Department must:
   1. advance, with the departments concerned, the National Connectivity Initiative toward a single digital means by which a person or a business may identify itself to, and transact with, the Federation;
   2. conduct with the Costing Office a rolling review of expenditure of not fewer than three (3) departments in each year, the savings of which are applied to the priorities of this Act; and
   3. extend the sharing of common administrative services among departments.
3. The Costing Office must evaluate the program under Article 36 and report to the Cortes on its results.

Article 25: Research and the Frontera Program.

1. Provision is made for the revival and expansion of the Frontera Program and for the research base of the science economy.
2. The Secretary of the Treasury may give guarantees, by the means and on the terms of Article 26, paragraph 3, to lower the cost of capital of enterprises expanding in the sectors of the Frontera Program and of the science economy, conditioned on their investment and their employment within the Federation; such guarantees are contingent and are not a charge on the current budget.

Article 26: Clean energy and the grid.

1. Provision is made to raise renewable generation toward sixty per centum (60%) of national generation and to modernize the grid that carries it.
2. The Secretary of Energy and Environment and the Secretary of Research and Development must streamline the federal permitting of renewable generation and reform the connection of new generation to the grid.
3. The Secretary of the Treasury may enter contracts for difference and give guarantees to lower the cost of capital of renewable generation. These are contingent, are not a charge on the current budget, and count against the fiscal rules of Article 30 only when they are called.
4. For the purposes of the sixty per centum (60%) target in paragraph 1, renewable generation is counted as the generation of electricity from solar, wind, water, geothermal, and tidal sources and from green hydrogen; the combustion of biomass is not counted toward the target. This paragraph governs only what counts toward the target, and does not alter the classification of any source by the Renewable Energy Development Authority.
5. Nuclear generation is a low-carbon source but is not renewable generation, and does not count toward the target in paragraph 1; the low-carbon nuclear sector continues under its own authority.

Article 27: Boriquén and regional equalization.

1. Provision is made for investment in the Region of Boriquén, for the legal protection of the Wakara language and Wakara culture, for equalization among the Regions, and for the continued direction of twelve per centum (12%) of federal Alexandrium revenue to diversification under the Aldurian Economic Diversification and Recovery Act, 1755.

Article 28: Continuation of recovery measures.

1. The emergency authorities of the recovery Act having expired at the close of 1759 AN, the work-sharing and short-time support and the National Homebuilding Drive toward its target of 500,000 homes are continued under the standing budget.

ARTICLE IV
FISCAL FRAMEWORK

Article 29: Fiscal objective.

1. The fiscal objective of the Federation is to bring gross public debt below sixty-five percentum (65%) of gross domestic product over the medium term. That figure is a medium-term anchor and not a limit on borrowing in any one year, and the fiscal rules of Article 30 are directed to it.

Article 30: Fiscal rules.

1. Article 17 of the recovery Act, which restricted the Treasury's borrowing once a fixed ratio was crossed, is repealed, and the following rules apply.
2. The current budget. The Government must balance the current budget, being expenditure other than net public investment, over the economic cycle, and may borrow to finance net public investment.
3. Cyclical adjustment. Compliance with paragraph 2 is assessed on a cyclically-adjusted basis.
4. Escape clause. On a severe economic shock or emergency, the Cortes Federales may by resolution, on the Government's motion and with the Board's assessment, suspend these rules for a stated period, together with a stated plan to return to them.

Article 31: Federal Debt Review Board.

1. The Federal Debt Review Board, established under the Public Debt Management Act of 1716 and independent of the Government, is continued, and its functions are extended to report to the Cortes at least once a year on the path of gross public debt, on compliance with the fiscal rules of Article 30, on the classification of expenditure as net public investment, and on the fiscal objective of Article 29.
2. The Board continues to be constituted as that Act provides. To secure its independence, a member of the Board holds office for a fixed term of six (6) years and may be removed only by a two-thirds vote of the Federal Assembly for cause, and the Secretary of the Treasury must lay each report of the Board before the Cortes.

Article 32: Federal Budget and Costing Office.

1. There is established a Federal Budget and Costing Office, independent of the Government, to cost each budget, to attach an evidence note to every major bill before the Cortes under Article 35, to carry out the costing referred by Article 13 and Article 18, and to evaluate the programs of the Federation under Article 36.
2. The head of the Office is appointed by the Speaker of the Federal Assembly on the recommendation of the Budget and Finances Committee, holds office for a fixed term of six (6) years, and may be removed only by a two-thirds vote of the Federal Assembly for cause; and the Office reports to the Cortes.

Article 33: National Fiscal Reserve and Emergency Fund.

1. No sum may be drawn from the National Fiscal Reserve and Emergency Fund in 1760 AN.
2. The sum of NAX€40,000,000,000 appropriated under Article 15 is paid into the Fund, and the Secretary of the Treasury must bring forward a like contribution in each subsequent budget until the Fund is restored to a balance of not less than NAX€2,000,000,000,000.

ARTICLE V
TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Article 34: Regional disbursement reports.

1. The Secretary of the Treasury must publish each quarter a statement of federal disbursements by Region, continuing the reporting undertaken under the General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1758 and the recovery Act.

Article 35: Costing and evidence notes.

1. The Costing Office must attach to every major bill before the Cortes an independent note estimating its cost and its effect, and must lay before the Cortes an independent costing of each budget.

Article 36: Evaluation of programs.

1. The Costing Office must evaluate the programs of the Federation by their results and report to the Cortes where a program does not achieve its purpose, in keeping with the Parap Principles.

ARTICLE VI
FINANCING AND DEBT MANAGEMENT

Article 37: Borrowing authority.

1. The Secretary of the Treasury may borrow on the credit of the Federation the sums necessary to finance the deficit under this Act, not exceeding NAX€975,000,000,000 in net new borrowing, consistent with the fiscal rules of Article 30.

Article 38: Debt service and repayment.

1. Of the sums appropriated in Article 15, NAX€985,000,000,000 services the interest on the public debt.
2. The Secretary of the Treasury must in addition conduct repayments of principal as debt-management operations, financed within the borrowing authority of Article 37 and not accounted as expenditure.

ARTICLE VII
COMMENCEMENT AND APPLICATION

Article 39: Commencement and application.

1. This Act applies to all of the Federation of Nouvelle Alexandrie.
2. This Act does not become law unless it has been given Royal Assent by H.M. King Sinchi Roca II, and must be published in the Federal Gazette within seven (7) days of the Assent.
3. This Act has effect for the whole of the year 1760 AN.
4. If a provision of this Act is held invalid or unenforceable, only that provision, and not the whole Act, is inoperative.

Amendments

Article 37(1) was amended by Article 4 of the Supplementary Appropriation Act, 1760, which commenced on 21.IX.1760 AN and raised the limit on net new borrowing for the year from NAX€975 billion to NAX€1,600 billion.

Voting record

Under the Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759 the three governing parties, together holding 448 of the 801 seats, were committed to vote for the budget, and the Federal Consensus Party supported the Government on confidence and supply for the term. On the final division of 14.IV.1760 AN the coalition held together and the budget was carried by 466 votes to 297, with 38 abstentions.

Federal Assembly final reading (14.IV.1760 AN)

Notable votes on the General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1760 AN

Deputy	Region	Party	Vote	Role/Notes
Tomás Iñiguez	North Lyrica	CGA		Treasury Secretary; tabled the budget for the Government of the Federal Accord
Marcos Ferreira Gonçalves	Santander	DSP		Premier; the budget was a government measure
José Manuel Montero	Wechua Nation	FHP		Leader of the Opposition; the Federal Humanists opposed the fiscal settlement
Fred Strong	North Lyrica	FHP		Former Vice-Premier and Secretary of Defense
Sumaili Humahuaca	Wechua Nation	FHP		Former Secretary of Justice
Yuiza Bohi'o	Boriquén	WPP		Leader of the Wakara People's Party, a coalition party
Francisco Gabaza	Santander	FCP		Leader of the Federal Consensus Party; supported passage under the Accord
Cao Qiang	Alduria	FCP		Special Counselor to the Council of State
Piti Gándara	Alduria	Independent		Led the thirteen independents who carried the Government's confidence

Vote summary by party

Federal Assembly final reading, 14.IV.1760 AN

Political party	Yes	No	Abstain/absent	Total	% Support
Democratic Socialist Party	232	0	0	232	100%
Wakara People's Party	28	0	0	28	100%
Civic Governance Alliance	95	0	0	95	100%
Federal Consensus Party	93	0	0	93	100%
Federal Humanist Party	0	293	0	293	0%
Republican Party of Oportia	0	0	10	10	0%
Independent	18	4	28	50	36%
Total	466	297	38	801	58.2%

Analysis

The three coalition parties voted as a bloc, as the Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759 bound them, and their 448 votes were themselves a majority of the 801-seat Assembly. The whole of the Federal Humanist Party opposition, 293 deputies, voted against, and no Humanist crossed. The Republican Party of Oportia, the regional party of Oportia, abstained. Of the fifty independents, eighteen supported the budget, four opposed it, and twenty-eight abstained; among the eighteen were the thirteen led by Piti Gándara who had carried the Government's confidence, the disciplined core of independent support that held across the Government's first program.

In opposition the Federal Humanist Party pressed the Government's reliance on administrative action while its bills were before the Cortes. José Manuel Montero, the Leader of the Opposition, dismissed the early orders and guidelines that opened the term: "A directive here, a committee there, a register they were always going to publish. This is a government filling the silence while its bills go nowhere, and it will be judged on what passes this chamber, not on what it announces to the newspapers."

Chamber of Peers

The Chamber of Peers, the appointed upper house, whose members sit for the most part as crossbenchers rather than by party, concurred in the budget on 18.IV.1760 AN by 61 votes to 47, with 10 abstentions. As a revising house the Chamber may delay or amend an ordinary bill but cannot block one, and a bill on which it takes no decision within sixty days is deemed passed. The Humanist peers were joined by enough crossbenchers to press the division without withholding concurrence.

Royal Assent

King Sinchi Roca II granted Royal Assent on 22.IV.1760 AN, and the Act commenced the same day, having effect for the whole of the year 1760 AN.

Aftermath

Its enactment brought the first budget of the Government of the Federal Accord into force and turned the emergency measures of the recovery, whose authorities had expired at the close of 1759 AN, into a standing settlement, with the strengthened direct taxes, the new transactions, income, and carbon measures, the standing fiscal framework, and the Federal Budget and Costing Office taking effect for the year. As the Act took effect, the second regular IOP/NBC News poll of the year, taken 20 to 22.IV.1760 AN, recorded the Government's net approval cooled to plus 7 from plus 16 at the turn of the year. Thirteen percent of voters named the public debt their leading concern, and for the first time in the year more of the country judged the Federation headed in the wrong direction than the right.

See also

• NBC Newsfeed/1760
• Federal budget of Nouvelle Alexandrie
• General Appropriations and Taxation Act, 1758
• Economic Emergency and Recovery Act, 1758
• Alexandrium Sustainability and Strategic Management Act, 1750
• Federal Accord coalition agreement, 1759
• Recession of 1757