Nation Name: Republik Brickland
Artist: Trio
Song: Da Da Da
Link to youtube: Link
Vote deliverer with their image linked: Christer Schauman
Link to your flag: Flag

Brickston rises from the dead temporarily
Special Edition
Yes, it has. But it'll probably vanish again.

Signed,
Robert M. Callaghan
Minister of External Affairs, Brickland

"It's time we understood the difference between illegal immigrants and refugees"

Reginald Green

The President in a press conference today commented on the harsh immigration policies brought about by the Lavoie Administration. On being asked about his harsh stance on immigration, he replied that it is about safety. "Our country's immigration system may seem harsh by European standards, but all we want to do is make sure the country is safe and does not degenerate. In many countries, thousands of illegal immigrants can waltz into their country without any legitimate documentation while claiming refugee status without legitimacy. It's really, it's a failure of the immigration system in those countries. We allow refugees into the country. We are not opposed to that in any shape or form. But we do not support illegal immigration, and that is a stance that will not change regardless of the administration. And it's not like we're opposed to immigration. This country is a nation of immigrants. But they have to come in legally."

Lavoie's speech has caused waves in the media and on the internet.

BREAKING NEWS

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Overhaul of the Tax System?/Reform des Steuersystems?

On request of the Briekish Government and the Presidential Administration
Talks about a new tax system replacing all current taxes is underway for the next economic year

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The President, his Administration, the Treasury, the Finance Minister, the Autonomous Economic Regions Authority, The Cabinet of Monetary Research, and the Foreign Minister, bring an important notice.

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Section 1:

[Der Neuordnung] New Tax System Referendum/[Der Neuordnung] Neues Steuersystem

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There will be a national referendum on the implementation of "Der Neuordnung", the new tax system proposed by many members of Parliament and endorsed by the President. The resolution has already passed in the Parliament. However, under guidelines issued by the Court of Justice, a nationwide referendum was deemed necessary. All details about the new tax system are given below in later sections of this article. The referendum voting process excludes [all date-based restrictions refer to the date 23/09/2023]:

• All under the age of 18
• All non-residents [excluding citizens overseas for less than 10 years]
• All individuals with proven criminal charges who are currently in legal confinement [prisons, house arrest, etc]
• All citizens overseas for more than 10 years

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Section 2

Benefits of Land-Value Tax over Property Tax

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(i): Property tax is the current taxation system used for taxing the ownership of property assets in Brickston. Property tax takes into account not only the value of the land which an individual owns, but also the value of construction, maintenance and renovation of the structures constructed upon it. This tax is currently collected on a yearly basis at a flat rate of 1.1%.

Property tax is a disincentive for landowners to develop the land that they own, hampering the country's development. It has led to thousands of structures being left in decay amidst the excruciatingly burdening system.

(ii): Land value tax, under this resolution, will replace property taxes entirely. Land value tax, unlike property taxes, taxes properties solely based on the land value and not on what is built on it. It is an incentive for landowners to develop their land and is seen as economically beneficial.

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Section 3

Abolishing of Corporate Tax & Capital Gains Tax

Under this proposition, the corporation tax will be abolished, meaning that corporations will no longer be obliged to pay the current 1% flat corporate tax for Briekish businesses, 2% for foreign businesses and 3% for all businesses selling alcohol or tobacco. Capital gains tax will also be fully abolished.

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Section 4

Proportion of taxes contributing to federal, provincial and county/regional governments

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A1: General Rules

(i): The treasury and the Ministry of Finance is responsible for allocating the federal budget of the state of mainland Brickston and all Overseas Territories, excluding Norden Isle.

(ii): The Federal Government will be responsible for allocating its budget to various sectors and services of the country.

(iii): The Federal Government cannot regulate the budget allocation/handling of provincial governments, but can set benchmarks that provincial governments may be obliged to follow.

(iv): The Federal Government can only set regulations for budget allocation for key services such as education, healthcare and law enforcement in county governments.

(v): Both the Provincial Governments and the County Governments will be obliged to provide its jurisdiction with a Department dedicated to overseeing budget allocation to see if it is adequate.

(vi): The courts of jurisdictions will be accountable to review the budget allocation process and the appropriateness of monetary handling by all individuals/bodies involved.

A2: Proportions for different taxes

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(i): Income Taxes

The following tax proportions apply to all provinces on the Briekish Mainland only. See external sources for other information.

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Federal Government: 47%
Provincial Governments: 30% [All goes to the province the individual belongs to]
County Governments: 21% [19% goes to the county the individual belongs to]
Municipal Governments: 1%
Special Economic Zones: 0.6%
Other: 0.4%

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(ii): National Insurance Contributions

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The following tax proportions apply to all of Brickston and its overseas territories.

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National Healthcare Service: 46%
Disaster Management Insurance: 17%
National State Pension: 14%
Debt Clearance Interest: 7%
Disability Benefit: 6%
Maternity Allowance: 5%
Bereavement Benefit: 2%
Other: 3%

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(iii): Land Value Tax

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The following tax proportions apply to only the Briekish mainland.

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Federal Government: 60%
Provincial Governments: 10% [All of this goes to the province the individual belongs to]
County Governments: 25% [All of this goes to the county the individual belongs to]
Municipal Governments: 5% [All of this goes to the municipal counties of the province an individual belongs to]

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(iv): Value-added Tax

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The following tax proportions apply to only the Briekish mainland.

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Federal Government: 27%
Provincial Government: 33% [All of this goes to the province the individual belongs to]
County Government: 40% [All of this goes to the county the individual belongs to]

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(v): Municipal Council Tax

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The taxes are only levied in municipal regions with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

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Municipal Council/Borough the taxpayer inhabits: 95%
Municipal Region the Council belongs to: 5%

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(vi): Inheritance Tax

The referendum will re-introduce inheritance tax on all of the Briekish Mainland.

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Federal Government: 99.99%
Other: 0.01%

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Section 5: Tax Brackets

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(i): Income Tax

Income Tax has no brackets, and is a tax imposed at a flat rate of 6%. Deductions will continue to exist [non-taxable income].

Deductions:

Type	Specifications	Maximum Amount held in Deductions (at exchange rate €1=D¥1.88)
Type A	Single Taxpayer	D¥3,600
Type B	Couple Taxpayer	D¥3,900
Type C	Veteran Taxpayer	D¥4,500

Income Tax:

Type	Specifications	Percentage
Type A	Single Taxpayer	6%
Type B	Couple Taxpayer	6%
Type C	Veteran Taxpayer	0%

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(ii): National Insurance Contributions

Type	Specifications	Maximum Amount held in Deductions (at exchange rate €1=D¥1.88)
Type A	Single Taxpayer	1%
Type B	Couple Taxpayer	1%
Type C	Veteran Taxpayer	0%

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(iii): Land Value Tax

Type	Specifications	Percentage of Land value/Value (at exchange rate €1=D¥1.88)
Type A	Land used for Agriculture/Pastures	7%+D¥1,200
Type B	Shop/Commercial Area	8%+D¥4,500
Type C	Council Housing/Elderly Housing	6%
Type D	Land owned by a veteran	7%
Type H	Heritage Estates	12%
Type G	General [All other]	16%

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(iv): Value-added Tax

Type	Specifications	Percentage Tax
Standard Rate	Most Goods and Services	8%
Reduced Rate	Essential Goods and Services [Food, clothing, etc]	2%

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(v): Inheritance Tax

Inheritance Tax, under this resolution, will be progressive taxation.

(i): System for Briekish Mainland excluding Himmeruckend, Norden Isle & Neue Amsterdamme

Tax Bracket	Range	Percentage Tax
Bracket A	0D¥-15,000D¥	1%
Bracket B	15,001D¥-100,000D¥	3%
Bracket C	100,001D¥-500,000D¥	7%
Bracket D	>500,000D¥	11%

(ii): System for Himmeruckend & Neue Amsterdamme

Tax Bracket	Range	Percentage Tax
Bracket A	0D¥-15,000D¥	1%
Bracket B	15,001D¥-100,000D¥	3%
Bracket C	100,001D¥-500,000D¥	5%
Bracket D	>500,000D¥	7%

(iii): System for Norden Isle

Tax Bracket	Range	Percentage Tax
Bracket A	0D¥-50,000D¥	0%
Bracket B	50,001-200,000D¥	1%
Bracket C	200,001-700,000D¥	2%
Bracket D	>700,000D¥	3%

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Berchtesgaden Airfield, Berchtesgaden, Brickland
23rd August, 2023

A typical Briekish Midlands summer afternoon. Chilly, yet overshadowed by the bright sun that did nothing to pacify the cold. Despite it being 13:00. The village of Berchtesgaden, having less than 100 inhabitants, had been insignificant until the airfield was built, specially for Presidential visits. The moment for it to shine had come, for President Lavoie was to be flown from there for a summer escape to Spain. The Presidential Plane, a new model modified by the Royal Air Force themselves, arrived at the airfield, waiting for the President's arrival.

Spain, much to the President's liking, had a particularly hot climate at that moment. He also sometimes considered Spain as his second home, perhaps understandable considering his roots were slightly Spanish, and he had a lot of friends and relatives there. He thus made elaborate plans for the summit to contribute on Brickston's part.

The Presidential car finally arrived at the airfield, with the President looking quite exceptionally delighted. Marchel, the Foreign Minister, immediately stepped out of the car and headed to the seating area, where many of the ministers attending were. President Lavoie meanwhile, read the Briekish Times newspaper, where the front page was predominantly an optimistic view about the summit, for which the President was glad.

Marchel was busy wandering about with many prominent ministers of the Finance Department, was interrupted amid a conversation regarding the reduction of tariffs for Spanish imports, by the President.

"It's time to go," said the President, following which they were escorted to the Presidential Plane which was to reach Madrid by 15:00. Marchel struggled with his 5 suitcases, for all "just in case" situations.

As the plane began its ascent to the skies, the President turned on the in-flight entertainment and waited for his arrival. Marchel meanwhile, to keep the tension low, decided to speak with the crew about his favourite Spanish restaurant in Portovo. It was only a matter of time before they arrived...

On behalf of Brickston Republik-Von, we vote FOR the neutrality motion.

James Marchel,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Brickston

On behalf of the Republic of Brickston, I vote AGAINST the act.

Jeremy Huntingdon,
Representative for the European Councillor of Brickston

I fully support the decision and believe that no one should interfere in this transformation.

James Marchel,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Brickston

Brickston votes AGAINST the amendment.

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Jeremy Huntingdon,
Representative for the European Councillor of Brickston

Most toilets in Brickston accessible to the public are government-owned and thus are free of cost to access. That being said, businesses have the right to independently establish their fees, payments or prices to use/purchase anything under the ownership of said business. Therefore, we are against this act from being passed under its current form.

Jeremy Huntingdon,
Representative for the European Councillor of Brickston

Briekish Achievements:
Largest FDI Investment [Current Fiscal Year]
Highest diversity of immigrants in the world [at least 100 residents from each country except 2]
Highest Median Wealth after taxes, deductions, living costs, etc by purchasing power parity
Triple A Credit Rating according to S&P
Universitat Neue Amsterdamme ranked as 3rd best university in the world
Strongest Surveillance and Cyber Intelligence
Highest Economic Freedom
1st in Ease of Doing Business Index
Highest percentage of those who have obtained tertiary education
One of the highest trade-to-GDP ratios
6th in Global Innovation Index
One of the highest Export to Import Ratios in Europe
2nd Lowest GINI Coefficient
Most number of urban public transport networks
Very low corporate taxes
8th highest life expectancy
Highest number of police officers per capita in Europe excluding microstates
Highest number of drones specifically for military usage per capita in Europe
Lowest House Price to Income Ratio
Most affordable Northern European country
0% poverty rate [considering those living with less than $6.85 a day]
8th by Purchasing Power Parity
4th highest number of patent holders per capita
Highest in Social Mobility Index

Economic Update:
Living Spending: 14%
Average Savings as % of Income: 30%
Government Spending in economy as % of GDP: 28%

Canton-Yormanes Belt to receive over 15 billion Dubbeh from West Brickland Development Authority

Sarah Goldsmith

Yormanes, the tech capital of Brickland

The West Brickston Development Authority has granted funding for the development of the Yormanes-Canton Belt of over 15 billion Briekish Dubbeh for investment on various projects that will further mobilise the region to be a strong competitor to other tech hubs around the world. The belt, especially the Yormanes Area, is best known for its significance in the technology sector, and is home to the headquarters for many Briekish and foreign multinational tech companies. The Canton region is better known for its contributions to trade, science and politics, but shall soon be designed to be a lucrative market for tech companies. Siemens Brickland, Oracle Corporation and Reyali Technology & Consultancy Services have partnered to further build a tech park at the outskirts of Yormanes near the meadows of Reigleansom village, whose authorities have permitted the construction of it.

The GDP of the belt altogether already surpasses that of the Himmeruckend Bay Area.

Canton Gateway Bridge, Canton Arrondissement

"That damned Labour Party. Always winning the Czebrik regions. This might change the status quo", President Lavoie thought to himself, while the Minister for Industrial Development, Haufer, was sitting next to him in the special edition presidential edition automobile, a true Briekish quality Mercedes Venedig 1986, modified for the President himself.

"Sad. Czechs are nationalising everything", remarked Haufer, "I always liked Czech beer".

"That's the first thing you thought of when you entered the car?" questioned Lavoie, who was laughing at the idea of Haufer having thought of that first.

"Well, in all seriousness, no. It just seems a bit hastily done. Just when I thought we could get them to liberalise like us, they did the polar opposite."

"I'm sure we can think of a reasonable deal," Lavoie said, now staring out of the window.

"I sure hope so," Haufer wished. "Won't this just hurt their FDI?"

"We run Brickston, not Czech Slavia. So we should try to ensure that we get a good deal which allows us to tap into the Czech markets."

"I don't think that's going to happen. When they say they're nationalising, they'll nationalise everything."

"You needn't worry. We've had talks over the phone. I'm quite sure we can let existing businesses stay in Czech Slavia at the very least."

"Just make sure they aren't commies."

To this, President Lavoie gave a very loud sigh.

They then approached the Prague Castle along with the fleet of security surrounding them.

Mainz, Portovo, view from Wertheimer Tower, the viewfront seen as the gateway of democracy

ELECTIONS: LAVOIE WINS

With the overseas votes having been counted, the Democratic Party has won undisputedly.
Harry Truman

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The votes on the Briekish Mainland, overseas territories and from overseas citizens of Brickston were released after a series of manual, mechanical and electronic checks and confirmations, which collectively produced a definite output, that being a great win for the Democratic Party led by the 2-terms serving current president, Okonkwo Cyryl Lavoie.

Briekish Mainland Votes
Party	Colour	Leader	Seats
Briekish Demokratiska Partiet	Light-blue	Okonkwo Cyryl Lavoie	171
Labour Partiet	Light-red	Henri Eierkuchen	53
Briekish Liberal Partei	Dark-blue	Victoria Marylene Schneider	45
Confederation Party Brickland	Brown/Black	Friedrich Aalders	12
Briekish Christian Union	Purple	Mark Wagner	6
Briekish Green Party	Green	Angela Padilla	5
Communist Partei Brickland	Dark-red/Maroon	Miguel Maduro	3
Briekish Defence League	Pink	Ingrid Petska	1
Other/Independent	All other colours	-	5
Total from Briekish Mainland and Isle Norden	-	-	301

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Overseas Territories of Brickston tell a different story.

Territories by party votes
Territory Name	Population voted	Winning Party
Makara	~466,500	Briekish Demokratiska Partiet
Canton Thalassa	~212,000	Briekish Labour Partiet
Millthorpe	~11,500	Briekish Liberal Partei
11 Islands [Kowo, Rodnie, Ilhalgh & others]	~1,200	Briekish Liberal Partei

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Again, overseas citizens residing in other countries tell a different story.

Overseas Citizen Vote by country
Country name	Number of voters	Dominant Party
United Duchies	750,121	Briekish Green Party
Svarna Surya	80,450	Briekish Demokratiska Partiet
Czech Slavia	45,876	Briekish Liberal Party
Elthize	34,216	Confederation Party
Leagio	12,000	Briekish Labour Party
Other	451,000	Briekish Liberal Party

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Over 40 million votes were counted from all across the world, with the voter participation rate of 65% on the Briekish Mainland and a surprising 87% turnout in overseas territories and 91% turnout of overseas citizens.

Languages with over 10,000 speakers within the Briekish Mainland [Excludes Norden Isle]

Language Name	Number of Speakers according to the Briekish Survey & Cartography Department
Briekish	55,640,000
English	48,180,000
Spanish	4,510,000
Hindi	4,500,000
French	4,310,000
Dutch	3,750,000
Hebrew	2,950,000
Czech	2,480,000
Tagalog	2,130,000
Italian	1,910,000
Swedish	1,690,000
Portuguese	1,440,000
Japanese	1,220,000
Turkish	650,000
Danish	640,000
Persian	640,000
Mandarin	640,000
Irish Gaelic	640,000
Tamil	640,000
Indonesian	630,000
Kannada	550,000
Russian	490,000
Polish	450,000
Arabic	410,000
Bengali	400,000
Telugu	390,000
Greek	350,000
Vietnamese	310,000
Punjabi	300,000
Thai	260,000
Romanian	240,000
Swahili	210,000
Korean	200,000
Ukrainian	90,000
Norwegian	80,000
Slovak	20,000
Marathi	10,000
Scottish Gaelic	10,000

The Long Haul: Briekish Mainland's overwhelming vote for Okonkwo; overseas votes yet to be verified

After the long wait due to security measures, all the votes have finally been counted
Sandra Davis

• Briekish Democratic Party in light-blue. South-western and the West Coast of the country overwhelmingly voted for the party. Himmeruckend was won by a landslide.
• Briekish Labour Party in red. Ruhtr Industrial Belt and Czebrik regions are Labour's stronghold. Urban centres of Ruhtr and Edgemorta are blue, however.
• Briekish Liberal Party in dark-blue. Although support is all over the country, major concentrations are around Yormanes and south of the capital.
• Briekish Christian Union in purple. Most support is in the districts of the East, particularly near the borders.
• Confederate Party Briekland in brown. Support scattered in different districts of the country.
• Briekish Green Party in green. Sees a considerable gain in seats compared to last election.
• Briekish Defence League in light-pink. Loses the seat in Durham to Labour.
• Briekish Free Party in yellow.
• Groningen Independence Party in orange.
• Other/White districts - independent or smaller parties. The largest one is in Norden Island; The Norden Union Party.
• Grey districts - excempted from elections due to election fraud.

The amendments you have made are more aligned with Briekish and EU interests; therefore I on behalf of the country propose no more arguments.

George Schmidt,
Briekish Economic Representative in S-Authority

Article 2, Section 5 is too harsh, considering there are certain industries where it is appropriate for there to be lesser than four private entities with more than 10% share. Although we do not oppose this, we suggest loosening it to 20-25%.

Article 3, Section 4 is quite vague, considering that "competition" is subjective. Even if it were to be well-defined, Brickston is against it, because entities may block/restrict products of "competing industries" on the basis of other grounds (1), and the internal activities of a private entity are not of the business of the state (2). Reason 2 applies to Article 3, Section 6 as well; which we also oppose.

Overall, the most important change we would like is a maximum market share much higher than 35% after which the government would intervene.

We support all other aspects of the legislation.

George Schmidt,
Briekish Economic Representative in S-Authority