#budget surplus

[indizombie]

The soaring cost of energy in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine has delivered windfall gains to Qatar which this year expects to earn about $76 billion in tax from its energy exports. Qatar's budget surplus last year, buoyed by energy exports, was 45 times bigger than the previous year. The UK's energy exports last year delivered tax revenue that was nine times higher than the previous year, after the Conservative government introduced an Energy Profits Levy to compensate consumers as domestic power bills soared. Despite intense lobbying and continued opposition from the oil giants, the UK lifted its headline tax rate for oil and gas producers to 75 per cent, from 40 per cent. And still the companies delivered record profits to shareholders. The UK government expects to pull in an average of 8.6 billion pounds ($16 billion) over the next six years, compared with a yearly average of just 800 million pounds ($1.5 billion) in the six years to last June.

Ian Verrender, 'Why Australia lags behind the rest of the world in taxing oil and energy giants’, ABC

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“MUNICIPAL 'NEST-EGG' SCHEME IS FORECAST,” Toronto Star. April 10, 1942. Page 2. ---- Owen Sound Is Given Permission to Budget for Surplus ---- Although municipalities are not permitted under the Municipal Act to budget for a surplus, Owen Sound was today given permission by the private bills committee of the legislature, to do so. It was indicated that general legislation might be introduced to give all municipalities the power to lay away a "nest egg" under supervision of the municipal board. 

"We propose postponement of certain work," said Mayor W. G. Case. of Owen Sound. "We want to budget for a surplus for the time. when we will want to take up the slack. It has been said that now is the time for municipalities to get the money, but it is not the time to spend it now."

The municipality is given authority to create a surplus amount- ing to one mill on the tax rate a year, provided the rate does not go over the present rate of 49 mills. 

A proposal to ban "plumping" in town elections was voted down.

The committee's chairman, A. L. Elliott (Liberal, Peterboro), took his seat in the uniform of a second lieutenant and was applauded. He said that Peterboro had an anti-plumping bill, providing that four candidates must be voted for.

"I would want the privilege of not voting for any candidate that I didn't want to vote for." Hon. T. B. McQuesten, minister of municipal affairs, stated.

The committee approved a bill authorizing the city of Stratford to buy a rink, built a few years ago for $135,000, at a cost of $25.000 and to spend $5,000 for improvements. The committee was told that the rink, the only large building of its kind in the city, was in danger of being torn down.

[intelligentchristianlady]

Lest we forget...

Also: Bush used the surplus he inherited to lower taxes rather than to pay down the debt (which increased during his administration).

[bleachbleachbleach]

Kubo has stated that there are tenure and merit increases to Gotei Captain salaries. So like, do you think Shinji, Kensei, and Rose got to come in at their old salary, or did Yamamoto make them take the pay cut and start at Captain Step 1 Base Salary all over again?

I don’t know why I’m asking this; it’s definitely Option 2!

[dykeseinfeld]

every time i read lee edelman's piece on reproductive futurity it's like i so get it especially in the context of the 1990s where children were being catered to so much more explicitly than ever before and the imagination of this queer disruption of lacanian self recognition reads to me as logically sound but also like. it's so clearly situated in the context of the post-cold war economic boom america where "politics" was literally only defined by nonsense cultural issues in the absence of any urgent existential problems you know.

[sherdnerd]

Irish politics really are fucky. We seem like we have a multi party system at first, and then you realise that we've been ruled by one of two parties for literally 100 years. And then you realise that those parties used to be the same one, they schismed for the civil war, and then didn't come back together despite holding near identical platforms. Like people say the American two parties are basically the same. No, the Irish two are the same. I genuinely have no idea which party the taoiseach (prime minister) is because functionally it doesn't matter. its definitely one if those two and it makes no policy difference!

[neonphoenix]

Ok I'm reviewing ao3's budget stuff right now and discovering that some of y'all are more insane than previously thought.

[fiercynn]

thank you @vertebrae for adding this on because yeah, no, otw does not need our money. their current surplus is enough to keep them running for five years without additional donations. most nonprofits have a reserve of six months to two years worth of operating expenses, but otw has enough for five.

not only that, but they are mismanaging the $2.5 million they do have - not only do they have no concrete plans for it, but only $10,000 of it is in an interest-bearing account, so in 2022, they only generated $90 USD in interest. i didn't forget any zeros, that number is ninety dollars. TOTAL. FOR THE YEAR.

so yeah they deserve to be held accountable for a fucking fundraiser during a genocide for money they stated they didn't even need because of the bump in donations they received this summer after the ddos attack. and if you're going to argue with me about this, please read these two posts first so that you have the necessary background information.

(also i'm sorry but there's another key difference between ao3 and things you pay for like hulu and netflix which is that hulu and netflix pay both their creators and their employees??? not enough, obviously, they are shitty-ass companies in this capitalist hellhole we live in. but ao3 running as an all-volunteer outfit does not actually make it Morally Better. i know they could never pay creators but they can absolutely hire paid staff instead of overworking and mistreating their volunteers, particularly their volunteers of color. so please get off your high horse about ao3 being our savior or whatever, even otw/ao3 should prove that they both need our money, and will use it properly, before they solicit it)

can i be real? i think ao3 should die for doing a donation pool for themselves with everything going on

[trustmeifyoudare]

....does

....does he even listen to himself

[kazifatagar]

Singapore's FY2024 Budget: Surplus Amid Investment Focus

Budget FY2024 in Singapore reveals an expansionary plan with a small surplus of S$0.78bn, focusing on balanced spending to support corporates, households, and the Forward Singapore programs. Unlike the previous year, this budget leans towards investment, incentivizing green transition, human capital, critical infrastructure, and high-quality Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Read More…

[fiercynn]

on ao3's current fundraiser

apparently it’s time for ao3’s biannual donation drive, which means it’s time for me to remind you all, that regardless of how much you love ao3, you shouldn’t donate to them because they HAVE TOO MUCH MONEY AND NO IDEA WHAT TO DO WITH IT.

we’ve known for years that ao3 – or, more specifically, the organization for transformative works (@transformativeworks on tumblr), or otw, who runs ao3 and other fandom projects – has a lot of money in their “reserves” that they had no plans for. but in 2023, @manogirl and i did some research on this, and now, after looking at their more recent financial statements, i’ve determined that at the beginning of 2024, they had almost $2.8 MILLION US DOLLARS IN SURPLUS.

our full post last year goes over the principles of how we determined this, even though the numbers are for 2023, but the key points still stand (with the updated numbers):

when we say “surplus”, we are not including money that they estimate they need to spend in 2024 for their regular expenses. just the extra that they have no plan for

yes, nonprofits do need to keep some money in reserves for emergencies; typically, nonprofits registered in the u.s. tend to keep enough to cover between six months and two years of their regular operating expenses (meaning, the rough amount they need each month to keep their services going). $2.8 million USD is enough to keep otw running for almost FIVE YEARS WITHOUT NEW DONATIONS

they always overshoot their fundraisers: as i’m posting this, they’ve already raised $104,751.62 USD from their current donation drive, which is over double what they’ve asked for! on day two of the fundraiser!!

no, we are not trying to claim they are embezzling this money or that it is a scam. we believe they are just super incompetent with their money. case in point: that surplus that they have? only earned them $146 USD in interest in 2022, because only about $10,000 USD of their money invested in an interest-bearing account. that’s the interest they earn off of MILLIONS. at the very least they should be using this extra money to generate new revenue – which would also help with their long-term financial security – but they can’t even do that

no, they do not need this money to use if they are sued. you can read more about this in the full post, but essentially, they get most of their legal services donated, and they have not, themselves, said this money is for that purpose

i'm not going to go through my process for determining the updated 2024 numbers because i want to get this post out quickly, and otw actually had not updated the sources i needed to get these numbers until the last couple days (seriously, i've been checking), but you can easily recreate the process that @manogirl and i outlined last year with these documents:

otw’s 2022 audited financial statement, to determine how much money they had at the end of 2022

otw’s 2024 budget spreadsheet, to determine their net income in 2023 and how much they transferred to and from reserves at the beginning of 2024

otw’s 2022 form 990 (also available on propublica), which is a tax document, and shows how much interest they earned in 2022 (search “interest” and you’ll find it in several places)  

also, otw has not been accountable to answering questions about their surplus. typically, they hold a public meeting with their finance committee every year in september or october so people can ask questions directly to their treasurer and other committee members; as you can imagine, after doing this deep dive last summer, i was looking forward to getting some answers at that meeting!

but they cancelled that meeting in 2023, and instead asked people to write to the finance committee through their contact us form online. fun fact: i wrote a one-line message to the finance committee on may 11, 2023 through that form, when @manogirl and i were doing this research, asking them for clarification on how much they have in their reserves. i have still not received a response.

so yeah. please spend your money on people who actually need it, like on mutual aid requests! anyone who wants to share their mutual aid requests, please do so in the replies and i’ll share them out – i didn’t want to link directly to individual requests without permission in case this leads to anyone getting harassed, but i would love to share your requests. to start with, here's operation olive branch and their ongoing spreadsheet sharing palestinian folks who need money to escape genocide.

oh, and if you want to write to otw and tell them why you are not donating, i'm not sure it’ll get any results, but it can’t hurt lol. here's their contact us form – just don’t expect a response! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[kinialohaguy]

Climate Tax

Aloha kākou. In Hawai’i, it has been said our state is business hostile and it really is. It’s easy to start a business in Hawai’i, but business taxes are very high. Both personal and business taxes are high. We have a sales tax on food, clothing, and anything that can be taxed is taxed. On a scale from 1 (best) to 50 (worse) Hawaii’s rating among states is 32. As a former business owner, I can…

[reasonsforhope]

Paywall-Free Version

"Massachusetts’ so-called “millionaires tax” appears primed to actually deliver billions.

State officials said Monday that the voter-approved surtax on high earners has generated more than $1.8 billion in revenue this fiscal year... meaning state officials could have hundreds of millions of surplus dollars to spend on transportation and education initiatives.

The estimated haul is already $800 million more than what Governor Maura Healey and state lawmakers planned to spend from its revenue in fiscal year 2024, the first full year of its implementation. Most of the additional money raised beyond the $1 billion already budgeted would flow to a reserve account, from which state policymakers can pluck money for one-time investments into projects or programs.

The Department of Revenue won’t certify the official amount raised until later this year. But the estimates immediately buoyed supporters’ claims that the surtax would deliver much-needed revenue for the state despite fears it could drive out some of the state’s wealthiest residents.

“Opponents of the Fair Share Amendment claimed that multi-millionaires would flee Massachusetts rather than pay the new tax, and they are being proven wrong every day,” said Andrew Farnitano, a spokesperson for Raise Up Massachusetts, the union-backed group which pushed the 2022 ballot initiative.

"With this money from the ultra-rich, we can do even more to improve our public schools and colleges, invest in roads, bridges, and public transit, and start building an economy that works for everyone,” Farnitano said.

Voters approved the measure in 2022 to levy an additional 4 percent tax on annual earnings over $1 million. At the time, the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a left-leaning think tank, projected it could generate at least $2 billion a year.

State officials last year put their estimates slightly lower at up to $1.7 billion, and lawmakers embraced calls from economists to cap what it initially spends from the surtax, given it may be too volatile to rely upon in its first year.

So far, it’s vastly exceeded those expectations, generating nearly $1.4 billion alone last quarter [aka January to March, 2024 - just three months!], which coincided with a better-than-expected April for tax collections overall...

State Senator Michael Rodrigues, the state’s budget chief, said on the Senate floor Monday that excess revenue from the tax could ultimately come close to $1 billion for this fiscal year. Under language lawmakers passed last year, 85 percent of any “excess” revenue is transferred to an account reserved for one-time projects or spending, such as road maintenance, school building projects, or major public transportation work.

“We will not have any problems identifying those,” Rodrigues said. “As we all know, [transportation and education] are two areas of immense need.”"

-via Boston Globe, May 20, 2024

[moonstruckme]

happy 7k angel and happy belated birthday✨️ may I please request apple pie & prompt number 1 with my beloved doctor!remus💌 love you lots

Thank you lovely!

¹⁾ cartoon-patterned plasters 

doctor!Remus x fem!reader ♡ 328 words

You were trying to do a nice thing by bringing Remus brownies at his work, but as soon as he saw the burn on your wrist he’d dragged you into an exam room. 

“You should have taken care of it as soon as it happened,” he mutters, smoothing ointment onto the small, angry burn with a gentle finger. 

“It’s not a big deal,” you try to placate him. “It’s tiny, I get ones worse than that all the time.” 

“I know.” He gives you an admonishing look. It’s immediately undercut by more tenderness as he raises your hand to his lips, kissing the scars of burns past. “I love your baking, sweetheart, but sometimes I wonder if it’s worth the cost.” 

“You can’t say that when I’ve just brought you brownies.” 

“No, I really can’t.” Remus smiles. He tries to hide it, but you catch a peek as he turns to rummage through one of his drawers. “Do you want Strawberry Shortcake or Scooby Doo?” 

You peer over his shoulder. “Why are they all cartoons?” 

Remus chooses for you, unwrapping a Scooby Doo themed plaster. “When we have a surplus in the budget, we spring for the fun plasters. Sometimes it puts kids in a better mood to choose their own.” He lays the padded part carefully over your burn, wrapping the ends around your wrist and smoothing them down with gentle fingers. 

“Is that why you offered me an option?” you tease. “I need to be put in a better mood?” 

This time he lets you see his smile, kissing you sweetly. “No. You’re perfect. Is that too tight? It shouldn’t rub on it very much.” 

You shake your head. 

“Take good care of yourself,” he reminds you. “Don’t touch it if it blisters, and please,” he gives you a pained look, “be more careful around the oven.” 

“I’ll try.” You ply him with another kiss. “Thanks for taking such good care of me.” 

“I do try.” 

[reality-detective]

Kamala Harris’s Campaign Implodes in $20 Million Debt: Begging for Donations After Her Crushing Loss, Exposed Links to Hollywood, Dark Money, and Dirty Political Sabotage!

Kamala Harris’s campaign isn’t just in debt—it’s a smoking wreckage of corruption, deceit, and manipulative power plays that expose the Democrats’ true agenda. Her humiliating defeat to Donald Trump wasn’t just about a flawed candidate; it was about America rejecting the dark forces trying to hijack democracy.

A week after her crushing loss, Harris’s campaign is groveling for donations, but this isn’t about covering debt—it’s about funding underground operations that reek of political sabotage, media collusion, and elite control.

The Harris Fight Fund: A Smoke Screen for Political Subversion

Emails from Harris’s team show their frantic attempts to rally funds under the so-called “Harris Fight Fund”. It’s not about recounts; it’s about deploying legal warfare to destabilize Trump’s victory and undermine democracy itself. The language used is a psychological weapon designed to manipulate her base into funding a losing cause.

Dark Money, Celebrity Puppets, and the Globalist Agenda

Where did Harris’s billion-dollar campaign fund go? The truth is shocking. Behind concerts and celebrity endorsements, lies a web of financial chaos. Oprah Winfrey received $1 million for a single endorsement. Why? To legitimize Harris in the eyes of the global elite, solidifying her as their puppet.

The $20 million spent on swing-state concerts wasn’t just a spectacle—it was a propaganda machine funded by dark money from Silicon Valley and Hollywood elites. This wasn’t about rallying votes; it was a distraction to cover up Harris’s incompetence and the sinister plans brewing behind the scenes.

The Real Purpose Behind the Debt

The $20 million debt is no accident—it’s a strategic calculation. By ending the campaign in debt, Harris’s team creates a pretext to siphon more money from donors. This money is being funneled into black budget initiatives aimed at destabilizing not just Trump’s administration but the entire American electoral system.

The Pennsylvania Power Grab

Bob Casey’s refusal to concede his Senate seat is part of a broader strategy to keep swing states under Democratic control. Whispers suggest that Casey’s fight is being bankrolled by foreign interests seeking to dismantle national sovereignty.

Trump’s Calculated Counterpunch

In a masterstroke of political strategy, Trump has offered to pay off Harris’s debt using his surplus funds. This move not only exposes Democratic incompetence but underscores the contrast between his success and their failure.

The Bigger Agenda

Harris’s campaign wasn’t just about losing an election—it was a testing ground for a much darker agenda. The spending, the manipulation, the covert operations—it’s all part of a coordinated effort to erode trust in the electoral process and prepare for even more insidious moves in the future.

Harris may have lost, but the fight for America’s soul is far from over.

Stay vigilant. 🤔

[20dollarlolita]

If anyone is wondering, this tutorial to make this skirt is still a method that works. Both those links are from wayback machine captures from a time before Photobucket betraying us all and deleting pictures.

Yes, I'm still mad about that.

Anyway, in the spirit of seeing if budget lolita was still doable in 2023, here we go with a cost breakdown:

>Main skirt fabric was a $10 walmart 4-yard precut; enough fabric to make waist ties not pictured here >Skirt is fully lined with a polyester bedsheet I got for $1 at a surplus store >The bow lace was part of a bulk purchase, ended up costing 21cents a yard. Skirt probably has 6-8 yards of lace on it. The little vertical strips were scraps from another project. Back shirring on skirt is 1/4" elastic, which covid conveniently made super cheap. >I didn't have the zipper on hand, so I had to buy one for $1 at walmart. As anyone who has been on Wawak knows, that's massively overpaying for zippers.

This skirt is 3" longer and a few sizes larger than the one in the post. I had to make a new cutting layout for the skirt, and it took a fair bit of additional fabric. In addition, to save on fabric width, the "side seams" on this are actually a little bit farther back than the side of the skirt. I cut the back of the skirt to full fabric width, and then added the adjustment for the fullness into the side front pieces. Clarice, who wrote the original tutorial, mentions that the person she made it for was very small, so I sized it up a little bit.

I make sketches like this as I go for personal reference, but maybe it'll be helpful.

In the spirit of livejournal, I "clarified" my sketch by making it more confusing in GIMP. (Your pieces you need to cut will be back: 44"x19.5", cut 1. Side Front, 22"x19.5", cut 2. Center Front, 15"x25.5", cut 1. Frills, 5.5"x44", cut 9 or 10).

So, when we get into it, yeah, if you have a good design (or can copy a good design) and you're willing to put some time into it, you can still do a budget lolita skirt for under $20 of materials, if you're careful. I'm mostly making this post to save which archive.org captures are the ones with working pictures.

(It also helps if you don't mess up on the waistband so many times that it slowly shrinks into a 1" waistband.)

Fun fact: the trim on the ends of the waist ties may or may not be because I hemmed them sloppily and the hem came up bubbly, and zigzagging some lace onto the bottom handily covered up the bubbling. One of the advantages about knowing a decent amount about lolita fashion is that you can look at things and go, "Yeah, if I added x here, it'd be fine," and knowing enough about sewing to go, "yeah, if I do x cheat here, it'll look better" and being able to put the two together and go, "hey, if I cheat here, it'll still look lolita!" It's a good feeling.

Anyway, if anyone else has ever used Clarice's tutorial to make a skirt, I'd love to see it! This is my second time using it, but the last time was almost a decade ago at this point, and I think I've improved a lot since then.