Vlud Laws
a.jpg)
The Vlud Laws are a series of laws, exemptions and regulations which were designed to increase competitiveness and incentivise growth in the financial industry in Vlud, the former capital and largest city of Vyvland. They include tax breaks and exemptions from regulations, and apply mostly within the boundaries of the city of Vlud, although a few apply throughout Vlud province. They have incentivised the growth of the financial industry in Vlud, with one of Esquarium's largest corporations, Vludbank, headquartered in the city, in addition to multiple other financial institutions such as investment bank Hester-DeWarre.
The laws are highly politically controversial within Vyvland, because of their encouragement of investment to one area of the country, which is alleged to have caused a concentration of wealth in Vlud and its suburbs in addition to harming the economies in other major cities. Supporters, however, say that the laws incentivise financial investment into Vyvland and create a financial hub. Generally, more right-wing parties, such as the Conservative Party, support the laws, with those on the left opposing them. Efforts were made to abolish some of the laws under Minke Selengborg's Socialist administration from 2005-2009, although this proved hard due to the considerable political influence of Vlud and its financial sector.
The Vlud Laws were developed and passed over a long space of time, with the earliest Acts being passed in the late 19th century. The laws most commonly referred to as being part of the Vlud Laws consist of:
- The Banking and Finance Act of 1889, which created a Banking Office for Vlud in addition to other major cities, but supplied only the Vlud office with government funds;
- The City of Vlud Act of 1897, which gave additional powers on the setting of taxes unrivalled by any other town to Vlud, enabling it to set lower business rates than the central government's then-minimum of 3% of profits;
- The Monetary Standards and Regulations Act of 1920, which exempted Vlud from falling under the authority of the newly-created Monetary Affairs Commission;
- The Finance (Vlud) Act of 1940, which established a corporation tax exemption to financial industries operating in Vlud province;
- The Banking Incentives Act of 1961, which reduced the amount of capital which banks in Vlud were obliged to hold;
- The Financial Industry Expansion Act of 1979, which deregulated investment banks operating in Vlud, allowing trading in futures, far lower commission charges for traders and changing the method of trading to electronic trading. In 2005, most of the provisions in the Act were extended to the whole country.
- The Investment and Retail Banking Act of 1981, which meant that investment and retail banking operations of banks had to be split so that they were not financially liable to each other, but exempted Vlud from this provision.
- The Financial Capital Gains Act of 1998, which decreased the amount of capital gains tax which those earning money from share sales in the Vlud Stock Exchange had to pay.