No, let's not introduce our first tax loophole before the laws are even in place. You're making too many assumptions and projecting some of your Frenchness onto this issue. Not all Dragons are going to want to heavily invest in earning treasure the non-traditional way (non-traditional based on what their eons old instincts and the Dragon Dream tell them). They also don't have a habit of turning their vast accumulated wealth toward controlling large extraplanar empires like we fear happening with quasi-immortal Humans. They just like to look at it, catalog it, and sleep on it.
5% is already really high, dude. I would rather have Dragons living within the Imperium as content citizens instead of choosing to live beyond the fringes so that we don't steal their hoards. That's how you end up with Dragons who decide your nation is a suitable candidate for plundering.
EDIT: We might not have many Dragon citizens at the moment, but I would like that to change in the future.
5% is high, but manageable by anyone with the wits and resources to get that rich. You could tax Besos 5% on his properties and he'd still get endlessly richer every year, you know. I'm afraid that a mere 5% would fail to stop our main problem of immortals eventually hoarding everything. Sure it would help with inequalities and whatnot, yeah, but would it really prevent the worst-case scenario?
I edited my post to add in this "EDIT : And if you classify something as a hoard and then sell it or profit from it outside of a direct national crisis (invasion, etc), you're retroactively taxed 5 years all at once and there's an audit performed on your stuff."
This would basically mean it's not a tax loophole anyone would really want to use : you can't use it (so no castles or personal magic items here) or make money from it (so no investments, shares, etc), and then when you sell it or start making money from it you're taxed 5 years all at once meaning you risk selling it for less than you bought it for... So it's money in an emergency, but certainly not a valid business strategy.
Would that fix it? It allows for Dragons and such to amass a pile of gold and items to sleep on and keep in their lairs, but doesn't allow others to use it to invest, or to buy personal stuff.
5% is high, but manageable by anyone with the wits and resources to get that rich. You could tax Besos 5% on his properties and he'd still get endlessly richer every year, you know. I'm afraid that a mere 5% would fail to stop our main problem of immortals eventually hoarding everything. Sure it would help with inequalities and whatnot, yeah, but would it really prevent the worst-case scenario?
I edited my post to add in this "EDIT : And if you classify something as a hoard and then sell it or profit from it outside of a direct national crisis (invasion, etc), you're retroactively taxed 5 years all at once and there's an audit performed on your stuff."
This would basically mean it's not a tax loophole anyone would really want to use : you can't use it (so no castles or personal magic items here) or make money from it (so no investments, shares, etc), and then when you sell it or start making money from it you're taxed 5 years all at once meaning you risk selling it for less than you bought it for... So it's money in an emergency, but certainly not a valid business strategy.
Would that fix it? It allows for Dragons and such to amass a pile of gold and items to sleep on and keep in their lairs, but doesn't allow others to use it to invest, or to buy personal stuff.
No, that doesn't fix it. As loopholes go, it's clumsy and completely unnecessary.
5% is already far too high, but I can deal with it. 10% is pants on head crazy, dude. It's so ridiculous that it's starting to put me in a bad mood just thinking about it.
No one, regardless of how rich they are, should have to scramble to generate at least 11% of their entire net wealth on an annual basis just to break even.
@TalonofAnathrax I think Goldfish has a point here on the property tax 10% yearly is rather high, since I am the GM here I will say that in my conception of the world and it's economy a 5% property tax would not be easy to get around. Hopefully that helps us reach a compromise (ultimately the precise numbers are not that improtant to this quest as narrative)
Adhoc vote count started by Goldfish on Dec 24, 2019 at 6:00 AM, finished with 118 posts and 20 votes.
[X] The new Inevitables -[X] Inheritance : --[X] PREAMBLE : In the public preamble of our law, we explicitly explain the long-term economic and social issues linked to Reincarnation, immortality and wealth concentration we're seeking to avoid, and we proclaim the following long-term objectives : ---[X] Long-term objective : Avoid monopolies and overly large private private businesses or trusts. ---[X] Long-term objective : Taxation is to be progressive, to an eventual soft-cap disincenvitizing hoarding. ---[X] Long-term objective : Limit appointments to high-level posts in the administration to try to stop a single group from having too much influence in one area if possible. Efficiency remains paramount, of course. ---[X] Long-term objective : Encourage the development of new colonies, avoiding the family domination of some Shaitan colonies. ---[X] Long-term objective : Guarantee a basic standard of living for all to limit unrest. This is to be done through sound economic policies as well as a government safety net for tasks that cannot be met by the market and that currently rely solely on rather disorganized charity. ---[X] Hidden long-term objective : Not indicated in writing anywhere, but shared with Companions. We hope to create an artificial Heaven and/or to fix the old one. -[X] All exiting taxes are to be reassessed and revised to remove impediments to trade, innovation, setting up new businesses, travel, and taxes that are regressive. Some taxes on specific goods or practices can be maintained as incentives towards certain behaviors, or to fund the costs such activities entail for local authorities. However these taxes are to be as universal as possible : we seek to minimise variations in tax laws between parts of our Empire as much as possible. This goal is publicly announced, and local Lords who must raise additional taxes are advised to follow it as much as possible. -[X] Tax collection : Local Lords remain in charge of collecting taxes, and their own tax obligations to the Crown ("the Crown's share") are unchanged, although they may have to pay personal taxes depending on their own wealth and holdings. However, in case of repeated problems or if the Lord desires, the Crown can provide tax collectors at cost. It is strongly suggested that tax farmers be paid a regular wage and not allowed to take as much as they desire. Should the Crown's share be waived or reduced in a specific area in times of crisis, it is not to be collected. -[X] Raising local taxes : Local Lords can still raise extra taxes. However, they are not to tax goods listed by the Crown as fundamentally essential (bread, water, etc - first list to be listed soon). Should the list change in the future, all new changes must be announced a year before they come into effect. However, the Crown may rule such extra taxes unlawful, and new taxes may be appealed by anyone who pays them. -[X] Paying taxes : Taxes may be paid in kind, or in service for those who cannot pay in kind. Tax collectors can offer to collect taxes in service at their discretion, but refusing and paying in kind or coin remains an option. However, Lords must pay the Crown's share in coin. Transporting the Crown's share can be done by the Lord, or the Lord may ask the Crown to collect it in times or war or crisis in which its safety would not be guaranteed on the roads. -[X] Income Tax: --[X] An Income Tax will be applied to all legal entities (private citizens, guilds, merchant consortiums, companies, etc) operating within the Imperium which are not wholly owned and operated by the state, with annual rates determined by the income generated by each entity. Income-based tax brackets and the rates associated with them are subject to periodic adjustment in response to various economic factors, though such adjustments must be announced at least one year in advance of implementation. Significant changes to the median income must be followed be a reevaluation of tax brackets, whose findings (even should the tax brackets remain unchanged) are to be made public. ---[X] Income Brackets & Annual Tax Rates ----[X] Income below Imperial Median = 0% ----[X] Imperial Median to +70% Median = 20% ----[X] +71% Median to +80% Median = 25% ----[X] +81% Median to +100% Median = 30% ----[X] +101% Median to +500% Median = 40% ----[X] +501% Median to +5,000% Median = 45% ----[X] +5,001% Median to +50,000% Median = 50% ----[X] +50,001% Median to +500,000% Median = 55% ----[X] +500,001% Median to +1,000,000% Median = 60% ----[X] +1,000,001% Median to +10,000,000% Median = 65% ----[X] In excess of +10,000,000% = 70% -[X] Property Tax: --[X] A Property Tax will be levied against the holdings of all legal entities (private citizens, guilds, merchant consortiums, companies, etc) operating within the Imperium which are not wholly owned and operated by the state. --[X] This tax is to be progressive, and regularly reviewed in case of economic changes. The first detailed brackets will be published once general land and property valuations for a Province are complete, but the principles leading to the establishment of such a tax and the general guidelines of the brackets are laid out here : ---[X] There will be no property tax for those whose properties are worth less than 1 000 IM. ---[X] A 1% property tax rate will be applied to those within the first bracket. This aims to include extremely prosperous cityfolk, or very prosperous farmers. Wealthier people will be in further brackets. ---[X] The uppermost tax bracket will have a 5% rate, and will only apply to the richest of individuals. If Illyrio Mopatis were not a traitor to all mankind, he would be partly affected by this bracket. --[X] This tax information is publicly available. All cadastral maps and land value estimates are to be shared with the Crown and must be publicly available to citizens. Some properties may be considered militarily significant and therefore cannot produce income, and can therefore be ignored for the purpose of taxation at the Crown's discretion. Furthermore, owners of properties which cannot produce income may petition the state to defer or waive taxes, or even to buy their properties should they serve the public good but fail to produce income. -[X] Inheritance and Reincarnation Taxes: --[X] Upon Reincarnation not sanctioned by the Imperium*, 80% of the value of one's estate is to be distributed to one's heirs after any outstanding debts have been settled. ---[X] In instances where the Reincarnated subject and his or her heirs are unable to agree upon the division of non-monetary assets, an impartial mediator will by appointed by the Imperium to oversee arbitration between the involved parties. Mediators will have binding authority to divide non-monetary assets should arbitration fail. ---[X] The assets a Reincarnated subject retains or accumulates after Reincarnation are not subject to further division among previous heirs, though any heirs produced following the latest Reincarnation do so benefit. --[X] Upon Reincarnation not sanctioned by the Imperium*, 20% of the value of one's estate is to be paid as a tax to the Imperium should the Reincarnated subject have no living heirs. ---[X] Upon subsequent instances of Reincarnation without an heir, the rate of taxation will increase in 20% increments, to a maximum tax rate per Reincarnation of 80% of total assets. --[X] *State-sanctioned Reincarnation includes any instance of an individual being Reincarnated after falling in service to the Imperium as part of their assigned duties. -[X] Clarification of Inheritance: --[X] An individual's children, both those legitimately born within the bounds of a marriage contract and those illegitimately born outside of such a contract, but who were later officially recognized, are considered their legal heirs. This ruling extends to any children one may have legally adopted into their family, but who do not share significant ties of blood relation. ---[X] Additionally, an individual has full control over the disbursement of their worldly assets to legal heirs, including the designation of a primary heir to receive inheritable titles of nobility.
[X] Gather all books on law and taxation and Miracle them into an Inevitable. -[X] Send it as an envoy to The Lady of Pain in Sigil and ask for her hand in marriage.
If I earn 50 IM, I have to pay 10 IM for income tax.
But I also have to pay 10 IM for the property tax.
So, considering that the return on investment was 5%, and you ended paying 20 IM over a profit of 50 IM, the de facto tax becomes of 40%.
What I propose is that his actual income is 50(total income) - 10 (property tax) =40 IM x20%= 8 IM
Because you need the capital to earn money and this becomes relevant at higher numbers.
This is done like this nowadays, because otherwise you are calculating a tax over another tax. And that's something that qjite a lot of people will complain about.
If I earn 50 IM, I have to pay 10 IM for income tax.
But I also have to pay 10 IM for the property tax.
So, considering that the return on investment was 5%, and you ended paying 20 IM over a profit of 50 IM, the de facto tax becomes of 40%.
What I propose is that his actual income is 50(total income) - 10 (property tax) =40 IM x20%= 8 IM
Because you need the capital to earn money and this becomes relevant at higher numbers.
This is done like this nowadays, because otherwise you are calculating a tax over another tax. And that's something that qjite a lot of people will complain about.
Ah, I see. Sorry, I assumed that was what was already being done (in my country IRL many taxes are taken directly from your pay, but now that I think about it of course our administration can't do that) and that you were asking to deduct one tax from the other on top of that. But yeah, taxation reduces your income and therefore you should pay less income tax...
Any suggestions on how I should word it?
Ah, I see. Sorry, I assumed that was what was already being done (in my country IRL many taxes are taken directly from your pay) and that you were asking to deduct one tax from the other on top of that. But yeah, taxation reduces your income and therefore you should pay less income tax...
If this was the intent, then I guess it will be done. It might seem something obvious to do.
But I also live in a country where, at some point in history, these things didn't happen and the economy had some perverse mechanisms to cope with that.
We eneded up with fixed percentages for juridical persons (instead of the physical ones) and so no matter your income you would pay the same for the income of that entity you partially own. All of this bevause it was easier to tax, for example, Coca Cola than random shareholder #32441.
So we have to be mindful of this.
Right now, the system will produce lots of figureheads that will hide the wealth and income of others. It is inevitable, but that will happen in a tiered system as long as it is profitable. Not that I'm complaining though, excessive wealth is terrible for a society in general.
[] Have Bloodraven!Varys get all of the Dragonbone outside of the Red Keep and into our possession and replaced with fleshforged fakes so that they can't be ritually used against the resurrected dragons.
[] Have Bloodraven!Varys get all of the Dragonbone outside of the Red Keep and into our possession and replaced with fleshforged fakes so that they can't be ritually used against the resurrected dragons.
[] Have Bloodraven!Varys get all of the Dragonbone outside of the Red Keep and into our possession and replaced with fleshforged fakes so that they can't be ritually used against the resurrected dragons.
[] Have Bloodraven!Varys get all of the Dragonbone outside of the Red Keep and into our possession and replaced with fleshforged fakes so that they can't be ritually used against the resurrected dragons.
Actually, @Crake, is there anyone we really don't like, of whom we can get a just a bit of genetic material?
Growing it into bone via fungal pods would be eez, and it would get us full deniability.
Just imagine Lannisters casting a bunch of curses trying to bring the dragons down...
Only for X to implode gorily.
Adhoc vote count started by Goldfish on Dec 24, 2019 at 6:00 AM, finished with 118 posts and 20 votes.
[X] The new Inevitables -[X] Inheritance : --[X] PREAMBLE : In the public preamble of our law, we explicitly explain the long-term economic and social issues linked to Reincarnation, immortality and wealth concentration we're seeking to avoid, and we proclaim the following long-term objectives : ---[X] Long-term objective : Avoid monopolies and overly large private private businesses or trusts. ---[X] Long-term objective : Taxation is to be progressive, to an eventual soft-cap disincenvitizing hoarding. ---[X] Long-term objective : Limit appointments to high-level posts in the administration to try to stop a single group from having too much influence in one area if possible. Efficiency remains paramount, of course. ---[X] Long-term objective : Encourage the development of new colonies, avoiding the family domination of some Shaitan colonies. ---[X] Long-term objective : Guarantee a basic standard of living for all to limit unrest. This is to be done through sound economic policies as well as a government safety net for tasks that cannot be met by the market and that currently rely solely on rather disorganized charity. ---[X] Hidden long-term objective : Not indicated in writing anywhere, but shared with Companions. We hope to create an artificial Heaven and/or to fix the old one. -[X] All exiting taxes are to be reassessed and revised to remove impediments to trade, innovation, setting up new businesses, travel, and taxes that are regressive. Some taxes on specific goods or practices can be maintained as incentives towards certain behaviors, or to fund the costs such activities entail for local authorities. However these taxes are to be as universal as possible : we seek to minimise variations in tax laws between parts of our Empire as much as possible. This goal is publicly announced, and local Lords who must raise additional taxes are advised to follow it as much as possible. -[X] Tax collection : Local Lords remain in charge of collecting taxes, and their own tax obligations to the Crown ("the Crown's share") are unchanged, although they may have to pay personal taxes depending on their own wealth and holdings. However, in case of repeated problems or if the Lord desires, the Crown can provide tax collectors at cost. It is strongly suggested that tax farmers be paid a regular wage and not allowed to take as much as they desire. Should the Crown's share be waived or reduced in a specific area in times of crisis, it is not to be collected. -[X] Raising local taxes : Local Lords can still raise extra taxes. However, they are not to tax goods listed by the Crown as fundamentally essential (bread, water, etc - first list to be listed soon). Should the list change in the future, all new changes must be announced a year before they come into effect. However, the Crown may rule such extra taxes unlawful, and new taxes may be appealed by anyone who pays them. -[X] Paying taxes : Taxes may be paid in kind, or in service for those who cannot pay in kind. Tax collectors can offer to collect taxes in service at their discretion, but refusing and paying in kind or coin remains an option. However, Lords must pay the Crown's share in coin. Transporting the Crown's share can be done by the Lord, or the Lord may ask the Crown to collect it in times or war or crisis in which its safety would not be guaranteed on the roads. -[X] Income Tax: --[X] An Income Tax will be applied to all legal entities (private citizens, guilds, merchant consortiums, companies, etc) operating within the Imperium which are not wholly owned and operated by the state, with annual rates determined by the income generated by each entity. Income-based tax brackets and the rates associated with them are subject to periodic adjustment in response to various economic factors, though such adjustments must be announced at least one year in advance of implementation. Significant changes to the median income must be followed be a reevaluation of tax brackets, whose findings (even should the tax brackets remain unchanged) are to be made public. ---[X] Income Brackets & Annual Tax Rates ----[X] Income below Imperial Median = 0% ----[X] Imperial Median to +70% Median = 20% ----[X] +71% Median to +80% Median = 25% ----[X] +81% Median to +100% Median = 30% ----[X] +101% Median to +500% Median = 40% ----[X] +501% Median to +5,000% Median = 45% ----[X] +5,001% Median to +50,000% Median = 50% ----[X] +50,001% Median to +500,000% Median = 55% ----[X] +500,001% Median to +1,000,000% Median = 60% ----[X] +1,000,001% Median to +10,000,000% Median = 65% ----[X] In excess of +10,000,000% = 70% -[X] Property Tax: --[X] A Property Tax will be levied against the holdings of all legal entities (private citizens, guilds, merchant consortiums, companies, etc) operating within the Imperium which are not wholly owned and operated by the state. --[X] This tax is to be progressive, and regularly reviewed in case of economic changes. The first detailed brackets will be published once general land and property valuations for a Province are complete, but the principles leading to the establishment of such a tax and the general guidelines of the brackets are laid out here : ---[X] There will be no property tax for those whose properties are worth less than 1 000 IM. ---[X] A 1% property tax rate will be applied to those within the first bracket. This aims to include extremely prosperous cityfolk, or very prosperous farmers. Wealthier people will be in further brackets. ---[X] The uppermost tax bracket will have a 5% rate, and will only apply to the richest of individuals. If Illyrio Mopatis were not a traitor to all mankind, he would be partly affected by this bracket. --[X] This tax information is publicly available. All cadastral maps and land value estimates are to be shared with the Crown and must be publicly available to citizens. Some properties may be considered militarily significant and therefore cannot produce income, and can therefore be ignored for the purpose of taxation at the Crown's discretion. Furthermore, owners of properties which cannot produce income may petition the state to defer or waive taxes, or even to buy their properties should they serve the public good but fail to produce income. -[X] Inheritance and Reincarnation Taxes: --[X] Upon Reincarnation not sanctioned by the Imperium*, 80% of the value of one's estate is to be distributed to one's heirs after any outstanding debts have been settled. ---[X] In instances where the Reincarnated subject and his or her heirs are unable to agree upon the division of non-monetary assets, an impartial mediator will by appointed by the Imperium to oversee arbitration between the involved parties. Mediators will have binding authority to divide non-monetary assets should arbitration fail. ---[X] The assets a Reincarnated subject retains or accumulates after Reincarnation are not subject to further division among previous heirs, though any heirs produced following the latest Reincarnation do so benefit. --[X] Upon Reincarnation not sanctioned by the Imperium*, 20% of the value of one's estate is to be paid as a tax to the Imperium should the Reincarnated subject have no living heirs. ---[X] Upon subsequent instances of Reincarnation without an heir, the rate of taxation will increase in 20% increments, to a maximum tax rate per Reincarnation of 80% of total assets. --[X] *State-sanctioned Reincarnation includes any instance of an individual being Reincarnated after falling in service to the Imperium as part of their assigned duties. -[X] Clarification of Inheritance: --[X] An individual's children, both those legitimately born within the bounds of a marriage contract and those illegitimately born outside of such a contract, but who were later officially recognized, are considered their legal heirs. This ruling extends to any children one may have legally adopted into their family, but who do not share significant ties of blood relation. ---[X] Additionally, an individual has full control over the disbursement of their worldly assets to legal heirs, including the designation of a primary heir to receive inheritable titles of nobility.
[X] Gather all books on law and taxation and Miracle them into an Inevitable. -[X] Send it as an envoy to The Lady of Pain in Sigil and ask for her hand in marriage.
"This is going to look like greed to a lot of people, even the ones that end up paying less tax," Tyene notes. "Sure you are taking more taxes from those that have the most, but that's just the deepest well having the most water as it were. I would be surprised it anyone save Alinor and a handful of professors at the university is going to see the reasoning from glancing at the tax code. It's going to need a legal preamble, something that at least the well off burgher can wrap their heads around..."
"You would be surprised what people from humbler roots can reason out. We are getting more and more of them in the Scholarum," Lya interjects. "I don't think there is a difference in the capacity for abstract thought at all or long term planning. With respect to Praecelonious and his Principia Logica, I think he may have been a bit too in love with his supposed ascension over people who did not have the advantages of a fine education and the funds to pursue it."
"Even so, it will be a long time before a majority of the realm's citizens have the advantage of that education," you sigh. "It's easy to look out the window at Sorcerer's Deep and think our job half done, but there's a whole other world out there where people have only just had their slave collars struck off. They are swelling, the city's ranks, but it is my hope and the purpose of this tax code that some day they will not feel they need to."
In simple straightforward terms you underline the reasoning of the tax on reincarnation and extraordinary lifespans. Firstly you wish to avoid creating economic power blocks too large to compete against and limit hoarding of both wealth and high level power in the administrative apparatus, the likes of which you had seen far too much of in Tyrosh, Lys and Myr, though not at the cost of barring the paths of advancement to the skilled. The sheer scale of your rule compared to the local elites should help, distance and the possibility of new opportunities in other lands should keep up a flow of people between the provinces which should hopefully lead to a dynamic equilibrium where no single group can exert power over the Empire as a whole.
Speaking of far reaching opportunities, colonies should allow for some of the fastest and most productive growth in the realm, not only to distant places like Sothoryos or the Basilisk Isles but also the old lands of the Rhoyne. You make particular mention of keeping them from falling under economic monopolies, privately sighing in relief that most lords do not have the skills or the inclination to try something like that when they are given lands to rule over.
Lastly you make a commitment to guarantee some sort of basic livelihood for those who for some reason or another find themselves in the worst of financial straights. Prisons as they existed in most parts of the world before your reforms were actively harmful to everyone, debtors prisons are a travesty of justice that most certainly do not help get anyone's debts cleared. People are going to need jobs to cope with a a changing world and may of them are going to need training to get those jobs, and someone is going to have to pay for their keep in the meantime else unrest is practically inevitable. Charity alone cannot cover that nor should it be expected to. They are citizens under the protection of the crown no less than any other.
PREAMBLE
Avoid monopolies and overly large private private businesses or trusts.
Taxation is to be progressive, to an eventual soft-cap disincentivizing hoarding.
Limit appointments to high-level posts in the Administration to try to stop a single group from having too much influence in one area if possible. Efficiency remains paramount, of course.
Encourage the development of new colonies, avoiding the family domination of some shaitan colonies.
Guarantee a basic standard of living for all to limit unrest. This is to be done through sound economic policies as well as a government safety net for tasks that cannot be met by the market and that currently rely solely on rather disorganized charity.
"You know, I don't think anyone's worries end in death, even if they don't come back," Dany sighs.
"We'll..." you had been about to say 'fix it', but the memory of the vast void in the sky, the shattered mountain of heaven looking down over sterile sands makes the words stick in your throat. "Build something new to see to those souls the gods do not already take into keeping."
After that had been settled you take lunch privately with your family and those of your companions interested in such matters as well as Alinor, knowing that you will need both your mother's counsel on how the Lords of Westeros are likely to react to such a comprehensive change in taxation and Alinor's thoughts on how much time and coin it will take to actually implement. The reactions are about what you had expected.
"If you were any other king, at any other time, even one with dragons in the sky, this would be madness, allowing lordly taxes to be challenged before the Crown by anyone who pays them..." you mother shakes her head. "Not even grandfather Aegon would have imagined such a notion, but I can see the justice of it. After all, seeking royal audience for redress of specific injustices has a precedent and such an injustice does not become fair if it is repeated again and again. King Jaehaerys made that clear when he outlawed the First Night."
"It's going to take a while to put all this in place, Your Grace," Alinor says running over the proposal, food had long since been replaced with parchment on the table. "It's the most ambitious purely administrative project I have ever seen and unlike with the infrastructure there are no 'numbers fey' to help out, not any enchantments to bridge the gap in understanding."
"I appreciate the fact and truth be told if it were not for the miracles your departments are managing I might not even have considered the notion." Your face slips in what you suspect is a rueful smile. "You know what they say about the rewards of good work..."
More work Alinor has indeed, the work of weeding out what is and is not a useful tax, of deciding which goods are essential and should not be taxed at all, of ensuring there is a unitary and robust system to check for abuses and fraud, all this with a system that has in many places been in place for less than a year and which is practically non-existent in others. One could likely count the number of clerks in Balon Swann's lands on the fingers of one hand. Still, you have faith that the system that results will at least be functional and flexible enough to improve further as required.
All exiting taxes are to be reassessed and revised to remove impediments to trade, innovation, setting up new businesses, travel, and taxes that are regressive. Some taxes on specific goods or practices can be maintained as incentives towards certain behaviors, or to fund the costs such activities entail for local authorities. However these taxes are to be as universal as possible: we seek to minimize variations in tax laws between parts of our Empire as much as possible. This goal is publicly announced, and local Lords who must raise additional taxes are advised to follow it as much as possible.
Tax collection: Local Lords remain in charge of collecting taxes, and their own tax obligations to the Crown ("the Crown's share") are unchanged, although they may have to pay personal taxes depending on their own wealth and holdings. However, in case of repeated problems or if the Lord desires, the Crown can provide tax collectors at cost. It is strongly suggested that tax farmers be paid a regular wage and not allowed to take as much as they desire. Should the Crown's share be waived or reduced in a specific area in times of crisis, it is not to be collected.
Raising local taxes: Local Lords can still raise extra taxes. However, they are not to tax goods listed by the Crown as fundamentally essential (bread, water, etc - first list to be listed soon). Should the list change in the future, all new changes must be announced a year before they come into effect. However, the Crown may rule such extra taxes unlawful, and new taxes may be appealed by anyone who pays them.
Paying taxes: Taxes may be paid in kind, or in service for those who cannot pay in kind. Tax collectors can offer to collect taxes in service at their discretion, but refusing and paying in kind or coin remains an option. However, Lords must pay the Crown's share in coin. Transporting the Crown's share can be done by the Lord, or the Lord may ask the Crown to collect it in times or war or crisis in which its safety would not be guaranteed on the roads.
Next comes consideration of the deceptively simple income tax, while the concept of paying more if you have more is intuitive enough, the foundation upon which that 'more' is biased, the median income is anything but clear. Wide sample analyses as applied to a state as new and as varied as that which you have brought under your crown shall doubtlessly be daunting task. At Alinor's suggestion you add a year's grace period before making any changes to the tax code once implemented, whether these changes are to the brackets or the median income so that both the state and the taxpayer can work through the numbers.
Income Brackets & Annual Tax Rates
Income below Imperial Median = 0%
Imperial Median to +70% Median = 20%
+71% Median to +80% Median = 25%
+81% Median to +100% Median = 30%
+101% Median to +500% Median = 40%
+501% Median to +5,000% Median = 45%
+5,001% Median to +50,000% Median = 50%
+50,001% Median to +500,000% Median = 55%
+500,001% Median to +1,000,000% Median = 60%
+1,000,001% Median to +10,000,000% Median = 65%
In excess of +10,000,000% = 70%
The property tax is the one that gives you all the most trouble deep into the night as this is the one which requires the most exceptions, not only to keep it from affecting people it is not supposed to, which is to say the vast majority of citizens who possess less than a thousand marks of property, but also to exclude those lands which are of paramount military importance but not particular worth to the one holding them. One cannot expect Jon Redfort to make much silver of the still wild and untamed Painted Mountains. Still, you have no doubt it is an exception that many lords and magisters will try to take advantage of. You expect the courts to see many instances of phantom 'bandits pirates or raiders' that exist only in someone's ledgers.
A Property Tax will be levied against the holdings of all legal entities (private citizens, guilds, merchant consortiums, companies, etc) operating within the Imperium which are not wholly owned and operated by the state.
This tax is to be progressive, and regularly reviewed in case of economic changes. The first detailed brackets will be published once general land and property valuations for a Province are complete, but the principles leading to the establishment of such a tax and the general guidelines of the brackets are laid out here :
There will be no property tax for those whose properties are worth less than 1 000 IM.
A 1% property tax rate will be applied to those within the first bracket. This aims to include extremely prosperous cityfolk, or very prosperous farmers. Wealthier people will be in further brackets.
The uppermost tax bracket will have a 5% rate, and will only apply to the richest of individuals. If Illyrio Mopatis were not a traitor to all mankind, he would be partly affected by this bracket.
Thus the discussion comes at last full circle to the matter of reincarnation, or rather unsanctioned reincarnation, you cannot force the passing on of one's worldly assets to those who fell in the service of the Wmpire. "There will be a lot of old men looking for dangerous royal tasks," Ser Richard half-grumbles. "Still, if even one in ten of them are as useful as Crowsfood or Grazdan I'll count that a good bargain."
"The courts will need expansion, significant expansion," Malarys points out looking up from the papers. "Oh, not from fools who do not have the whit to come to an agreement about the dispensing of their titles upon taking up a new life, the convergence of enough resources to make use of the spell and not enough wits to do so effectively is likely to grow smaller with each year, but tax related cases are likely to increase significantly."
Upon Reincarnation not sanctioned by the Imperium*, 80% of the value of one's estate is to be distributed to one's heirs after any outstanding debts have been settled.
In instances where the Reincarnated subject and his or her heirs are unable to agree upon the division of non-monetary assets, an impartial mediator will by appointed by the Imperium to oversee arbitration between the involved parties. Mediators will have binding authority to divide non-monetary assets should arbitration fail.
The assets a Reincarnated subject retains or accumulates after Reincarnation are not subject to further division among previous heirs, though any heirs produced following the latest Reincarnation do so benefit.
Upon Reincarnation not sanctioned by the Imperium*, 20% of the value of one's estate is to be paid as a tax to the Imperium should the Reincarnated subject have no living heirs.
Upon subsequent instances of Reincarnation without an heir, the rate of taxation will increase in 20% increments, to a maximum tax rate per Reincarnation of 80% of total assets.
*State-sanctioned Reincarnation includes any instance of an individual being Reincarnated after falling in service to the Imperium as part of their assigned duties.
"As long as the cost is less than what the taxes will bring in I will, like Ser Richard, count myself well content," you declare, raising a wine cup that had somehow survived the siege of parchment in a toast. "To a better realm for all."
What do you do next?
[] Offer a sacrifice to the Old Gods to empower the Well of Souls
[] Have a personal meeting with the Chosen of Smith
[] Speak to the Mallery brothers and see if you can contact Mother Earth through the younger of the two
[] Find and deal with the wisps that caused you headaches in the Braavosi swamps
[] Write in
OOC: Well here we are, over two and a half thousand words including the vote summary in spoilers, it was not the most exciting part of the quest, but I think an interesting one born of open discussion and solid compromise.
[X] Have a personal meeting with the Chosen of Smith.
-[X] Extensively divine irregular points of interest about him and his works - just in case, since one favored by Smith can prepare far more of a trap than a regular cleric.
--[X] Check his supply routes, from where he gets the materials for enchanting - and the people he interacts with along the way, including those he gives the items to, and who gave him the order of Dragon-slaying weaponry. Such spell as Hindsight may come especially in handy if he interacted with someone protected by Mindblank, giving us at least a clue to investigate.
--[X] With Chosen of Crone having been helping him, also try to affect the same general points about her and сompany she keeps.
---[X] Learn the interests and priorities of Chosen of Crone, the people they keep company with - a usual thorough investigation in search of clues for a possible trap.
-[X] If no suspicious activity is detected via divination, meet with him - the focus of the meeting is to set up at least mild relationship with the Chosen, and ensuring he focuses on bigger threats to people of Westeros than us.
--[X] Sharing with him our wast array of Lore on Enemies of All (Devils, Demons, Daemons, Others, Illithid, Fey, Rakshasa, Tiamat, etc.-) is a big aspect of this. There is also the potential of directly sponsoring him (see: Warrior's Chosen) if all goes well...
The point to all of this, ahem, extensive preparation, is that Smith's Chisen was acting suspicious AF last we divined them.
They may not have a Mindblank themselves, but we really can't rule out someone with one I teracting with him to set up a trap for us - Stranger's Chosen being a distinct possibility.
Ergo, we divine details one would usually not, since a spell we now have access to would make glaringly obvious holes in those details if someone unscryable passed by.
Reasons for this interaction are obvious enough. We want them to not fuck around, and long as we can diplomance them to act such, all the better.
