"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 if 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 burghers 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, nor in long term planning ability. 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. 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. There 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, and 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 Rhyone. 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, and 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 changing world, and many of them are going to need training to get those jobs. Someone is going to have to pay for their upkeep 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 disincenvitizing 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 seen in some Shaitan colonies.
Guarantee a basic standard of living for all to limit unrest and hardship. 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 the Heavens 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. You know 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..." your 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 injustice 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 practice of First Night."
"It's going to take a while to put all this in place, Your Grace," Alinor says, reading over the proposal once more. 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, nor 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 lips twitch 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 uniform and robust system to check for abuses and fraud, all this with a system that has in many locales 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 existing 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 will be publicly announced, and local Lords who must raise additional taxes will be 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 basis upon which that 'more' is based, 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, is anything but easy. At Alinor's suggestion, you add a one year 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 in 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 off 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.
Thus matters come at last full circle, to the issue 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 empire. "There will be a lot of old men looking for dangerous royal tasks," Ser Richard half-grumbles. "If even one in ten of them are as useful or as skilled with a weapon 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. Not yet edited.
[X] egoo
I'm hesitant to actually sponsor anyone who is highly likely to be our enemy by virtue of the oaths they've sworn, but it'd be silly not to look into him and at least have a conversation.
We had an entire conversation about tax law without significant derails into irl politics, even when bits of it came up through implication or example. I can't even pull that off at the dinner table with my extended family.
Whatever each of us thinks of the results, that seems like the sort of Christmas miracle that burns exp.
Thoughts regarding the Scholarum, Clerics, and Westeros :
Currently the Mysterium has been folded into the Scholarum, but the Red Priests in Volantis aren't training any new apprentices on the sheets (although their existing ones will indeed level). @DragonParadox, would we require an action to get them to take batches of 100 aspirants like Scholarum branches do, or an action to have Zherys let them be a part of the Mysterium? Should I just add them to the Mysterium sheet for convenience, but in fact they'd be running their own Cleric-only school in the Red Temple in Volantis? Most provinces don't separate Divine and Arcane schools, but Volantis is weird.
In Westeros, mages and the Seven are growing more and more interconnected. However once we conquer the place, assuming they didn't all die fighting us, we'll be in charge of centers of magical learning which are full of Paladins, Clerics of the Seven, and pious spellcasters. @thread, shall we scatter them around and bring in non-religious Scholarum branch directors? Shall we let them continue as they are, because no matter how religious they are they're still a part of the Realm and we didn't work to undermine the Red Priests in such a way?
We now systematically spread Philosopher's Trees in every Scholarum branch. It's amazing and good policy, but I wonder how the more religious Scholarum branches (where many teachers follow the Seven or the Red God) will react to such trees and Leshy teachers?
Thoughts regarding the Scholarum, Clerics, and Westeros :
Currently the Mysterium has been folded into the Scholarum, but the Red Priests in Volantis aren't training any new apprentices on the sheets (although their existing ones will indeed level). @DragonParadox, would we require an action to get them to take batches of 100 aspirants like Scholarum branches do, or an action to have Zherys let them be a part of the Mysterium? Should I just add them to the Mysterium sheet for convenience, but in fact they'd be running their own Cleric-only school in the Red Temple in Volantis? Most provinces don't separate Divine and Arcane schools, but Volantis is weird.
In Westeros, mages and the Seven are growing more and more interconnected. However once we conquer the place, assuming they didn't all die fighting us, we'll be in charge of centers of magical learning which are full of Paladins, Clerics of the Seven, and pious spellcasters. @thread, shall we scatter them around and bring in non-religious Scholarum branch directors? Shall we let them continue as they are, because no matter how religious they are they're still a part of the Realm and we didn't work to undermine the Red Priests in such a way?
We now systematically spread Philosopher's Trees in every Scholarum branch. It's amazing and good policy, but I wonder how the more religious Scholarum branches (where many teachers follow the Seven or the Red God) will react to such trees and Leshy teachers?
Just keep in mind we're currently dry on Day of Change items if you want new Philosopher's Trees. Please push for a profitable raid on the Efreeti to restock, and then we can garden to our heart's content.
Thoughts regarding the Scholarum, Clerics, and Westeros :
Currently the Mysterium has been folded into the Scholarum, but the Red Priests in Volantis aren't training any new apprentices on the sheets (although their existing ones will indeed level). @DragonParadox, would we require an action to get them to take batches of 100 aspirants like Scholarum branches do, or an action to have Zherys let them be a part of the Mysterium? Should I just add them to the Mysterium sheet for convenience, but in fact they'd be running their own Cleric-only school in the Red Temple in Volantis? Most provinces don't separate Divine and Arcane schools, but Volantis is weird.
Zherys put his own subordinates to work towards making a smooth transition between mysterum and Scholarum educational model. It will not require and action from Viserys though it will take one more month of work at least.
We had an entire conversation about tax law without significant derails into irl politics, even when bits of it came up through implication or example. I can't even pull that off at the dinner table with my extended family.
Whatever each of us thinks of the results, that seems like the sort of Christmas miracle that burns exp.
Oh no, no, no. The earlier Update is indeed, without a doubt, a miracle. When doing things that are as delicate as Diplomacy, Economy, or Politic. It is, sadly, indeed could deviate into a blaming-game of sorts.
'Tis a miracle that we do not deviate from our earlier path.
What I meant by 'not being a good enough Christmas Present' is that I have yet see those Bravosi Swamp Fey being turned into a Christmas Tree whilst Amrelath is lighting up the top of the tree which Viserys soon Crystalized using Miracle.
Oh no, no, no. The earlier Update is indeed, without a doubt, a miracle. When doing things that are as delicate as Diplomacy, Economy, or Politic. It is, sadly, indeed could deviate into a blaming-game of sorts.
'Tis a miracle that we do not deviate from our earlier path.
What I meant by 'not being a good enough Christmas Present' is that I cannot ser those Bravosi Swamp Fey being turned into a Christmas Tree whilst Amrelath is lighting up the top of the tree which Viserys soon Crystalized using Miracle.
I wish we could have a Yuletide festival of sorts where we decorate the Weirwoods. @DragonParadox, maybe this can be an annual celebration when we finally defeat the Others?
I wish we could have a Yuletide festival of sorts where we decorate the Weirwoods. @DragonParadox, maybe this can be an annual celebration when we finally defeat the Others?
Thoughts regarding the Scholarum, Clerics, and Westeros :
Currently the Mysterium has been folded into the Scholarum, but the Red Priests in Volantis aren't training any new apprentices on the sheets (although their existing ones will indeed level). @DragonParadox, would we require an action to get them to take batches of 100 aspirants like Scholarum branches do, or an action to have Zherys let them be a part of the Mysterium? Should I just add them to the Mysterium sheet for convenience, but in fact they'd be running their own Cleric-only school in the Red Temple in Volantis? Most provinces don't separate Divine and Arcane schools, but Volantis is weird.
In Westeros, mages and the Seven are growing more and more interconnected. However once we conquer the place, assuming they didn't all die fighting us, we'll be in charge of centers of magical learning which are full of Paladins, Clerics of the Seven, and pious spellcasters. @thread, shall we scatter them around and bring in non-religious Scholarum branch directors? Shall we let them continue as they are, because no matter how religious they are they're still a part of the Realm and we didn't work to undermine the Red Priests in such a way?
We now systematically spread Philosopher's Trees in every Scholarum branch. It's amazing and good policy, but I wonder how the more religious Scholarum branches (where many teachers follow the Seven or the Red God) will react to such trees and Leshy teachers?
1) I think they should be integrated, if slowly, rather than allowing them to continue to function as a separate entity. The longer we delay this, the more difficult it will be in the future.
2) Definitely scatter them and dilute their influence by appointing secular directors. Maybe, as a balm to their chapped religious backsides, we can allow a single large Seven-based institution of Clerical instruction? Old Town would be a good place for it. It would serve as a gathering place for the most outspoken and radical of Sevenites, so it would in turn be easier for our people to monitor them for dangerous activities.
3) I would hope they can adjust their world views enough to accept the Trees as a helpful part of life, but by all means, let them reject their use. Those folks will gradually fall behind and lose influence as the non-biased continue to benefit from using the Trees in the coming years.
I wish we could have a Yuletide festival of sorts where we decorate the Weirwoods. @DragonParadox, maybe this can be an annual celebration when we finally defeat the Others?
Sure, it could work as a celebration of having short regular seasons again. The certainty that summer will come again after a set number of months will certainly be a wonder to this world.
Sure, it could work as a celebration of having short regular seasons again. The certainty that summer will come again after a set number of months will certainly be a wonder to this world.
T'was the night before Drakemas, when all through the swamp
Not a fairy was flitting, not even a lamplight of Wisps
Unfortunate for them, because not even Mindblank would help
Oh no, no, no. The earlier Update is indeed, without a doubt, a miracle. When doing things that are as delicate as Diplomacy, Economy, or Politic. It is, sadly, indeed could deviate into a blaming-game of sorts.
'Tis a miracle that we do not deviate from our earlier path.
What I meant by 'not being a good enough Christmas Present' is that I have yet see those Bravosi Swamp Fey being turned into a Christmas Tree whilst Amrelath is lighting up the top of the tree which Viserys soon Crystalized using Miracle.
Do you think the wisps remember that incident and are a little freaked out about it? It's like learning you cut Rambo off in traffic on his way to wrestle Godzilla. Probably not, but the idea of these sprites assuring each other that we've forgotten them by now is pretty funny.
Wisps: "he can't possibly remember us, let alone hold a grudge, it was just a bit of fun, and he surely has better things to do"
Viserys: *sips glass of wine ominously while looking out over the Bravosi swamps*
Adhoc vote count started by egoo on Dec 24, 2019 at 9:02 AM, finished with 23 posts and 11 votes.
[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...
