Re: Prax tax from Kevin Rose on 1996-10-31 (Glorantha Digest Vol 03)

From: Kevin Rose <vladt_at_interaccess.com>
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 1996 12:57:37 -0600 (CST)

Neil Smith said
>
> Prax Tax
> ========
> The continuing discussion on the taxation policy in the Lunar Empire
> has persuaded me to introduce it into my campaign. But what is a
> reasonable tax rate? What levy would the Lunars impose on a typical
> Praxian clan living in Prax?
>

I have significant doubts that they could tax the nomads, or would even try. The only nomads that are within Prax proper are the Sable riders and Morocanth. The Sable riders are the allies of the Lunars and provide service to them. If they tried to tax them the Sable riders could just leave. There are a hell of lot of angry bison and impala riders who would love the opportunity to retun to Prax and "liberate" it.

I doubt the Lunars really want to try to collect taxes from the morocanth, who are probably the best ambushers and guerilla fighters in Prax and the wastes. Maybe the Lunars will take taxes in the form of captured soldiers returned to them?

Most societies organized in the way that the nomad clans are organized are not held togther by force but follow the khan because he is proven warrior and leader. When he starts suggesting that they provide tribute to the chaos worshipers I would suspect the people of the clan might start reconsidering their following of the khan. This is also indicated in the Praxian description in book 3 of GCotHW.

> Of course, those clans that have not sworn allegiance to the Lunar
> Way will be taxed more heavily (double?), and contributions to the
> Seven Mothers are tax-deductable!
>
> In an attempt to answer my own question, if we assume the "standard"
> tax rate is 10% of income, the average Praxian ends up paying about
> 60L per year, or about one food animal. Does that sound reasonable?

It is really hard to tax people who consider themselves warriors and are totally mobile. They kill your tax collectors and leave. If you send massive forces they can never catch the taxpayers to be. You could try to get them when they stop at an oasis, but then you need to have enough firepower to handle a small horde of nomads who decide to either: just not pay the taxes, or kill all the troops and take all the taxes that others had paid.

Probably more efficent to tax transaction with the nomads. This you can collect from the merchants of Pavis.

But your Glorantha may vary

Kevin