Friday, October 5, 2007

Monarch's Cut Taxes - Players Win

If you have not been keeping track, there are currently two kingdoms in Tiny Empires, Wessex and Camelot (A third may be coming soon). Wessex when founded set it's tax rate to 25% of that paid by those not under a King or Queen, while Camelot set it's taxes at 30%.

Wessex then decided it could reduce taxes even more to allow it's subjects better growth, cutting down to 20%. Camelot announced a one time tax free weekend to counter, at least for 2 days, their higher taxes the rest of the time. If you don't understand how all this works here is a short explanation:

The Emperor demands 25% of the profits in a kingdom for the year from a King or Queen. The monarch can choose to take more gold than that from it's subject's, such the 30% rate where 25% of that pays the emperor, and the extra 5% goes into the monarch's pockets. If the monarch charges all subjects 25%, that is basically a break even point, gold is collected and passed on to the Emperor. At 20%, there is a 5% shortfall in collections, so the monarch must pay that amount out of their own pocket. This is subsidizing the subjects so that they keep more gold to buy land, make offers to get subjects, buy improvements on land, and pay the mysterious trader more easily.

Whats all this mean? That citizen's win of course, as they reap the benefits. They get to go under the best tax environments as they see it, and grow faster toward the day they establish their own kingdom. Others will choose to stay within a tax reduced kingdom rather than create a new kingdom, because it suits their Tiny Empires priorities. Some will choose to stay in a full tax rate lineage out of other motivations, so as it should be, the choices in your Tiny Empires adventure are many. As always, play the game as you would have it, and keep your sights on having fun, whichever way you choose.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great work.