Office of Bounties and Factorage

Office of Bounties and Factorage
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Jurisdiction:	Shireroth
Headquarters:	Shirekeep
Commissioner:	Ludovic Verion comes sacrarum largitionum and Chief Factor
Functions:	Taxation, economic oversight and factorage
Subordinate Agencies:	Clerk offices

The Office of Bounties and Factorage is an Imperial Office under the Ministry of the Interior. It is tasked with overseeing the economy of the Imperial Republic, the collection of taxation, the reward of the Imperial Officers and acts as a mercantile fiducary on behalf of the Kaiser. The Office is precided over by the Comes Sacrarum Largitionum (Count of the Sacred Bounties) who also serves as the Chief Factor. The first and current officeholder is Ludovic Verion.

Ministry of Trade

Prior to the creation of the Office of Bounties and Factorage, the office was known as the Ministry of Trade. Probably the least important and least successful of Shirerithian ministries, the Ministry of Trade appeared to be under some sort of curse preventing it from ever developing a successful economy.

Early Function

The first Shirerithian to serve in a Minister of Trade-like capacity was Tony Au, although it is not certain that he actually held the modern-day title. He worked with a straightforward supply-side economic system in which he paid officials' salaries and expected the money to create an economy. Although there were some attempts by people to create companies and buy stocks, the money did not change hands often enough to create a functioning system, and certain loopholes in the plan's design allowed some individuals to accumulate massive hoards of money with little effort. The crown of Au's economic effort was the Intermicronational Currency Exchange Organization, which allowed Shireroth's currency, the Erb, to be easily exchanged with that of other nations. Unpopularity with local merchants, however, prevented the success of this project.

Minister Erik Mortis was the next person to make a significant contribution to the Ministry when he created the Bank of Shireroth. While this made the economy more efficient, it did not change the lack of a functioning system. Kaiser Los II, introduced a gift economy in which citizens were encouraged to give monetary gifts as rewards to citizens who helped the country. This functioned for about half a century. Afterwards, Shireroth's economy returned to a mercantilist system.

A clerk of the Office of Fixed Taxes at work for the glory of Shireroth

It returned to the old methods of salary, taxation, and calculation, and suffered from the same flaw the old methods had revealed in the old days it was regarded as intrusive by the Shirithian population.

Later Function

After a Revival of the Ministry of Trade, Mors V was succeeded by Hasan I. One of the achievements of Hasan's reign was the restoration of the economy and of the Minitrade. Under the guidance of Minister Andreas the Wise and by joining the Small Commonwealth United Economy (SCUE) the economy became more or less stable. However, in the late 5th millenium, the SCUE became unpopular with the Shirithian nobility and population, feeling that it restricted international trade more than it encouraged.

Under Kaiser Verion I, the Ministry of Trade was abolished and the powers of taxation were returned to the Imperial State. Although the financial powers were once again resumed by the Imperial Government in the decades following, the Ministry of Trade was not re-opened.

comes sacrarum largitionum

In 1641 AN, Shireroth withdrew from the moribund SCUE currency union. At the same time, the cost of undertaking the reconstruction of Shirekeep, combined with the burgeoning rearmament programme undertaken by the Imperial Forces began to place a strain on the public finances, to the point that even Malarbor began to take a morbid delight in making loud oracular prognostications of an impending catastrophe to any unfortunate mortals who came within earshot. By 1643 it was apparent to all that the debt burden could no longer be met through the traditional public revenues and Kaiser Dominus instructed the MinInt to bring in the Lord of Blackstone as Count of the Sacred Bounties and Chief Factor in order to save the Imperial Republic from a humiliating default.

As such, the comes sacrarum largitionum became a figure of tremendous influence. He was responsible for all money taxes, examined banks, mints and mines everywhere, watched over all forms of industry, and paid out the budgets of the many departments of the state, the upkeep of imperial palaces and other buildings, supplied the Courts with clothing and other items. To accomplish these many tasks, he was aided by a large central staff and field force.