[Col] Tax Evasion

[dalgo]

It is possible to have a tax rate of 0% for the whole game, but it does take a bit of management. Obviously it is necessary to take the ‘Boston tea party’ option at each attempted tax increase. The goods chosen for this option are only those in stock in a port city. This means you can regulate the item chosen by removing valuables such as tools and guns etc just before the tax increase is announced. Fortunately this comes at regular intervals so you can plan ahead. At Viceroy difficulty the tax rate increases every 14 turns starting in 1534. For Governor it is 1524 then every 16 turns and for Conquistador every 18 turns starting in 1528. You can either move the goods you don’t want to lose into a wagon or ship, or use them to make pioneers, soldiers etc. Leave behind just one ton of the goods you can most afford to lose.

If you wish to follow a zero tax strategy you will find it easier to do with few ports and most of your colonies inland. The choice of goods you allow to be boycotted is up to you but usually food, timber and raw materials that you don’t want to trade in Europe are best. If you do find you need to buy or sell goods that have already been boycotted you can pay to have that boycott lifted, and of course putting Fugger in Congress lifts all current boycotts.

There is one other aspect to the management of a zero tax strategy, and that concerns the Trade Route bug. When any of your goods are boycotted in Europe your wagons on automated trade routes will not unload those goods in your colonies (although they will pick them up). So if you know for example that you want to move cotton and ore between colonies automatically then don’t allow those goods to be boycotted.

It may seem a lot of work, but it does pay off when you get a message like this:

‘Treasure fleet laden with 6100 gold arrives safely! Crown takes 0% share. 6100 gold added to your treasury’

 

[Tristan_C]

thanks for revealing the turn intervals on the taxes. I had been thinking it was random. It helps to mention that another big benefit of tax evasion is that the King's army remains small. He funds additional units for the army from the procedes of commodity taxes, his share of booty, and the back taxes to lift boycotts. Pay off for a boycott if you absolutely MUST... such as your mention of the trade route bug, but try to leave as many boycotts in effect as possible so you don't end up paying for the kings army. I once played a game where I let the tax rate climb to 40% and payed off several boycotts as well, and still did tons of business selling stuff and paying those massive taxes. The REF climbed up to 125 infantry

 

[deedl]

The problem is, that once you have no goods left in your stores that are not boykottet, the king will raise taxes without you having a choice to avoid it. so you always need some non-boykottet goods to party with. So the more different goods you have in your warehouses, tho more chances for a party you have.

But often you do not produce every sort of good.

Now if your colony e.g has no cotton and also no cloth, you have no chance to party with those. But if you buy one cotton and one cloth in europe, you have two more occasion to party. So fill your warehouse with at least one ton of each good until most goods are partied with. now get fugger to stop boykotts and do it all over again.

Since there are 16 goods, and you party with each good once for and once after fugger, you have 32 partyoccasions. Plenty of time to trade without paying single $

 

[Sir_Lancelot]

0 tax - awesome. It's been about 15 years, but I vaguely remember a tax rate of 60%.

I played the Amiga version of the original game. I don't know if other than the original version of Col exist.

 

[ATC1983]

Thanks for clearing this up - was just going to post about my trade routes not working, when my wagons won't unload goods. Now I've got to go and unload them all manuall which is a total drag. Although when I get this to work I'll be rich.

 

[tuga2112]

i though i may add my share of tax evasion information.

my current game i pay 75% tax... apart from the fact i never pay tax.

why 75% ? well as far i can remember one of the ministers increases the liberty bell output by the current tax rate. extra 75% bells anyone?

so i reckon tax evasion is not "always" preferable but just a matter of aproach to your current game.

bet you all are wondering "you said you got 75% tax and said you dont pay tax" thats where the beauty of your ministers is. you can trade with other european colonies and the natives. these alternative trade options come at a cost. most things you sell to other europeans they will pay less than the crown, however sometime they may pay more. same with indians. however from my experience indians usually pay well in the first few times you trade with them and then theyr offers start going downhill that is no longer profitable to sell to them. but other europeans are the way forward.

the major dificulty i have with this approach is to get rid of my good fast enough. since trading this way i can only get rid of 100tons per wagon/ship per turn instead of everything you got.

i garantee this approach works fine in the easy mode of playing i am not sure how it will work in harder modes. however im not the kind of player that likes to be chalanged by the AI. i like to chalaenge my old score and tbh im just not as skilled as most other players =)

btw thanx for the tips i wasnt aware of the time gaps betwen tax increase were pre-determined. and now i undestand why sometimes when i need to evacuate my excess stock to the crown and the kind ends up adding more and more units to the army.

any more tips on the subjects are welcome. i like to learn from other and is always nice to contribute

 

[covok48]

Yeah the max I've seen on a number of games is 75% then I start trading with natives and try to get De Witt to trade with Europeans.

Speaking of taxes.

When you trade with natives/ Europeans are the gold amounts they offer comparable to your market prices including your current tax rate?

 

[tuga2112]

My experience is that is fairly random, usually trading wwith europeans is better than selling to the crown, but from my experience if the product is less than 600 in europe the european nations offer really bad deals.

The natives are very random but a rule of the thumb is that the more you trade the same resource the less valuable it becomes, at a much quicker rate than europe changes its prices.

 

[dalgo]

Speaking of taxes.

When you trade with natives/ Europeans are the gold amounts they offer comparable to your market prices including your current tax rate?

If you trade with most native villages you will struggle to get paid the going rate in Europe. However trading with the capital village of each tribe is much more lucrative. They will pay huge prices for trade goods, tools and especially tobacco, and they will continue to pay well for the whole game.