dalgo
Emperor
It is possible to play a whole game with zero tax. The key is to use plenty of inland cities and limit your ports. (I usually have about 3 inland cities for each port). You need to have enough wagons/ships in each port to store your valuable goods. The tax years are fixed - at viceroy it is every 14 years starting in 1534, so you can prepare in advance.
At tax time store everything in port except one ton of a single item, then choose the 'Boston tea party' option. Obviously start with food, timber, sugar etc and hide your rum and muskets. When you run out of goods to throw in the harbour put Fugger in Congress and start again. Once you have Custom houses it gets easier because you can afford to lose your main export goods (they can still be traded at the Custom house).
This does involve an extra layer of management, but I do like seeing 'govt takes 0 gold (0% tax)' when I cash in my 7000 Cibola treasure.
At tax time store everything in port except one ton of a single item, then choose the 'Boston tea party' option. Obviously start with food, timber, sugar etc and hide your rum and muskets. When you run out of goods to throw in the harbour put Fugger in Congress and start again. Once you have Custom houses it gets easier because you can afford to lose your main export goods (they can still be traded at the Custom house).
This does involve an extra layer of management, but I do like seeing 'govt takes 0 gold (0% tax)' when I cash in my 7000 Cibola treasure.