I've always promoted baliffs as soon as I can... I try to avoid raising war taxes unless it is necessary to raise the needed funds for the war as it also increases inflation. With pretty much every nation, land research should be the priority over anything else as thats what the other nations will be doing. Also if you have most of France and England then you should be able to run at between -2 and 0 and still make a good profit, at least thats been working for my Milan empire. If you have the Ile de France trade centre then I would concentrate on that one, not Flanders as that will disappear at some point to be replaced by a new Dutch one later on. Also Anglia should be a priority. Lately I've avoided trade centres unless I own them as in a war an advanced nation can block your access.