[PUBLIC] Finance Ministry, Term XIV

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"How come stay at home mothers don't get pensions?"
Woody asks to no one in particular. He drafts a potential regulation.
"This would be much easier if we still had mandatory pension programs, like we did before they gutted the workers rights."

Finance Ministry Notice 14-12

Public comment is invited on the following proposed regulation.

Pension Rights for Stay-at-home Mothers

Rationale: The enormous contributions of stay-at-mothers to our economy and our nation is rarely recognized financially. The mothers that choose to do so are foregoing paid employment during those years when they could have been making pension contributions. The purpose of this regulation is permit pension contributions on their unpaid labor and to reduce the gap between their pensions of those who worked outside the home.

Eligibility: Stay-at-home mothers whose only children are under 6 months of age are not yet eligible for this program, as they would normally be covered by a maternity leave from employment, if they had been working. Stay-at-home mothers collecting unemployment insurance are not eligible. Stay-at-home mothers with at least one child between the ages of 6 months and 5 years are fully eligible. Stay-at-home mothers with a child with a disability that makes them unable to attend school are fully eligible until the child's 17th birthday. Stay-at-home mothers with one child between the 6 and 16, inclusive, may participate in this program at 50% of the level of someone that is fully eligible. Those with two school age children participate at 75%, and those with three or more at 100%.

Restrictions: The potential pension contributions to a stay-at-home mother of families employing nannies is reduced by the pension contributions paid for the nanny. The participation of a stay-at-home mother from families employing out of home day care services is reduced by 20% per child receiving of 10 hours a week or more of day care.

Permissibility: A family with an eligble stay-at-home mother may contribute to the pension plan of the stay-at-home mother the amount that would have been contributed under the pension system prior to the Revised Worker's Bill of Rights Act for a worker at a minimum wage job for a number of hours per week equal to 40 times the particpation percentage as described in the eligibility section. This pension payment shall be treated as a reduction of the family taxable income.

Allocation: If a family does not make the pension plan contributions for an eligible stay-at-home mother as described in the Permissibility section above, the pension contributions of a working spouse up to the lesser of 50% of the contributions for that working spouse or the amount permitted in the prior section shall be transferred from the working spouse's pension account to the stay-at-home mother's pension account.

Effective Date: This regulation would be effective at the beginning of Term XV.

Comments should be sent in writing to this address by (RL 4/18).

 

[The_Hawk]

A letter arrives:

Per Minister,

I am writing in response to your invitation for public comment on your proposal entitled "Pension Rights for Stay-at-Home Mothers". I represent an organization dedicated to the healthy and above all responsible growth of the Eutopian family. While we find the goal of your proposed regulation laudable, we must take issue with its implementation. Specifically, we are concerned by the added benefits given to stay-at-home mothers based on the number of children they possess. It might be one thing if this funding scale benefitted the children directly, but it is the mother who enjoys her pension, not her offspring.

We are also concerned by the likelihood that a constitutional challenge will succeed against this regulation. The General Assembly has already expressed its will that the old Worker's Bill of Rights no longer control the pension system; using this means to circumvent that effort is obviously problematic.

Best regards,
Tyrell Watambo
Director, Eutopians for the Responsible Family

 

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Woody drafts a letter in response.

Tyrell Watambo
Director, Eutopians for the Responsible Family

Dear Mr. Watambo,

Thank you for your letter commenting on the proposed regulation entitled "Pension Rights for Stay-at-Home Mothers". I would like to clarify some aspects of the proposed implementation and explain more about some more about the rationale behind some of the choices in the proposed regulation.

Your letter indicated that your organization was "concerned by the added benefits given to stay-at-home mothers based on the number of children they possess." The Finance Ministry has no position on the ideal number children in a family, nor does it advocate or object to the goals of population growth limitation, as that is clearly out of the scope of our responsibilities. Rather, in the forefront of our mind was the benefits of cooperative child care for communities of lower income families, where, for example, three stay-at-home mothers, each with one child, can sometimes arrange to have two of those caring for the child return to work if the the third is compensated for providing child care, or all three to do so on a part time basis. The percentage participation continues to provide an incentive for the development of such arrangements where they are most efficient, when the family only has one, or to a lesser extent two, children. In addition, the normal pension contribution, under the pre-reform requirements was approximately 15% of the salary, so the marginal incentive for having a second or third child, is that after a wait of five years, an additional 3.75% of a minimum wage salary is to be gained. This does not appear to be enough of an incentive to have another child. The point of the regulation is to lessen the possibility that mothers who choose to stay at home will be left destitute in their old age, so as to avoid burdens on the welfare system.

Your point about the reference to old "Worker's of Rights" is an appropriate one, for which I thank your organization. It was merely a convenient and well understood means to refer to a particular level of pension contributions. It will be replaced by an explicit percentage in any final regulation to be adopted.

Your contribution to this process is too be applauded. If more people and organizations were like yours and did their civic duty to use the ability to comment on proposed regulations, this country would be better for it. Please feel free to write me or drop by the Finance Ministry if you would like to discuss this matter further.

Regards,

 

[Josephus I]

Per Finance Minister.

The Vandelft Amendment to the NBRA passed in the Assembly today.

This does directly effect your ministry, so I thought I'd let you know.

 

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Based on comments received a revised version is made available for additional comments, in accordance with the original release.

Finance Ministry Notice 14-12a

The following amended version of the following proposed regulation is hereby available for additional public comment.

Pension Rights for Stay-at-home Mothers

Rationale: The enormous contributions of stay-at-mothers to our economy and our nation is rarely recognized financially. The mothers that choose to do so are foregoing paid employment during those years when they could have been making pension contributions. The purpose of this regulation is permit pension contributions on their unpaid labor and to reduce the gap between their pensions of those who worked outside the home.

Eligibility: Stay-at-home mothers whose only children are under 6 months of age are not yet eligible for this program, as they would normally be covered by a maternity leave from employment, if they had been working. Stay-at-home mothers collecting unemployment insurance are not eligible. Stay-at-home mothers with at least one child between the ages of 6 months and 5 years are fully eligible. Stay-at-home mothers with a child with a disability that makes them unable to attend school are fully eligible until the child's 17th birthday. Stay-at-home mothers with one child between the 6 and 16, inclusive, may participate in this program at 50% of the level of someone that is fully eligible. Those with two school age children participate at 75%, and those with three or more at 100%.

Restrictions: The potential pension contributions to a stay-at-home mother of families employing nannies is reduced by the pension contributions paid for the nanny. The participation of a stay-at-home mother from families employing out of home day care services is reduced by 20% per child receiving of 10 hours a week or more of day care.

Permissibility: A family with an eligble stay-at-home mother may contribute to the pension plan of the stay-at-home mother an amount up to 20% of the salary of what a worker at a 40 hour per week minimum wage job would earn times the particpation percentage as described in the eligibility section. This pension payment shall be treated as a reduction of the family taxable income.

Allocation: If a family does not make the pension plan contributions for an eligible stay-at-home mother as described in the Permissibility section above, or makes a contribution of less than 15% of the salary of what a worker at a 40 hour per week minimum wage job would earn times the particpation percentage as described in the eligibility section, the amount by which the actual contributions, if any, is less than the lesser of 50% of the contributions for that working spouse or the contribution amount calculated using a 15% rate as described earlier in this section shall be transferred from the working spouse's pension account to the stay-at-home mother's pension account.

Effective Date: This regulation would be effective at the beginning of Term XV.

Comments should be sent in writing to this address by (RL 4/25).

 

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"Due the the implicit subsidization of Chinese goods from their foreign exchange policy, which prevents their currency from reflecting its true value and creates trade imbalances with their tradings partners as a while, a 5% countervailing duty on imports from the People's Republic of China will be imposed, effective tomorrow. To attempt to redress the impact that their subsidization has on our exports to markets in which we compete with them, the revenues from this tariff will distributed as a rebate to foreign purchasers of consumer, business, and industrial electronic products and components manufactured here in the United Provinces of Eutopia. The level of the rebate will be adjusted to reflect revenues from this program. While the actual figures may vary, depending on whether there is any import substitution or sourcing from other markets, the rebate is initially estimated at 15%, and so will be set at that level for the first three months. Any excess or shortfall between the actual and the estimate will be reflected in the future rebate level, on a basis so that difference would compensated for over the following year. For example, if 11% turns out to have been the level of the rebate that would have matched receipts, the rebate for the next quarter would be set at 10% (11% level from receipts less 1% to work off one-quarter of the accumulated shortfall).

I think this will increase employment in general and in the electronic sector in particular. Products assembled here of mostly imported components will be eligible for half the rebate."

 

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Woody makes some late night (due to the time difference) calls to some Korean electronics manufacturers he knows from some of his father's contacts. He explains the way the duty revenues are being used to support electronic and electronic components exports from the UPE.
"I think this might make it worthwhile to consider building a silicon wafer fabrication plant here in the UPE. Export sales would be supported and the local market should be growing as their exports will increase as well. You can get guaranteed political risk insurance through our FIPRA program and Eutopia is a very nice place for Korean expats to live, so I am sure the managers you send here will enjoy it."

 

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An announcement is distributed:

Finance Ministry Notice 14-12a Pension Rights for Stay-at-home Mothers having completed the additional comment period with no new substantial issues being raised, is hereby adopted as posted.