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<blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 5620627" data-attributes="member: 8835">Unlike land, which is generally considered immobile and has a history of being well tracked on who owns it, items are a bit more nebulous.With magic items, you have to know I have them to tax them.&nbsp;&nbsp; The logistics to track that gets a bit more complex.&nbsp; Yes, a wizard could be involved to hold person on me, scan me with detect magic.&nbsp; But I could also hide/disguise some of my gear, or otherwise avoid it.&nbsp; When would you tax it?&nbsp; What happens if I discover a new sword next week in the dungeon?&nbsp; If you only check on specific days, I'll be making sure to &quot;find&quot; that new sword after the check.tracking individual items increases the amount of data that has to be handled.&nbsp; Maintaining a list of people and a list of property ownership seems well within the means of bookkeeping for the period.&nbsp; tracking item ownership scales the data significantly.&nbsp; And since items are more likely to change hands, that's more documentation.&nbsp; And all of it is on paper.&nbsp; Envision the work to maintain your character's inventory on paper, but for potentially every NPC.&nbsp; And then ponder just how the government would get such information reliably.Ultimately, I see government taxing things at chokepoints.&nbsp; Seaports, gates at mountain passes and land ownership.&nbsp; Because those are places that are relatively hard to avoid, and easy for the tax man to do an assessment without a lot of special work.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Janx, post: 5620627, member: 8835"] Unlike land, which is generally considered immobile and has a history of being well tracked on who owns it, items are a bit more nebulous. With magic items, you have to know I have them to tax them. The logistics to track that gets a bit more complex. Yes, a wizard could be involved to hold person on me, scan me with detect magic. But I could also hide/disguise some of my gear, or otherwise avoid it. When would you tax it? What happens if I discover a new sword next week in the dungeon? If you only check on specific days, I'll be making sure to "find" that new sword after the check. tracking individual items increases the amount of data that has to be handled. Maintaining a list of people and a list of property ownership seems well within the means of bookkeeping for the period. tracking item ownership scales the data significantly. And since items are more likely to change hands, that's more documentation. And all of it is on paper. Envision the work to maintain your character's inventory on paper, but for potentially every NPC. And then ponder just how the government would get such information reliably. Ultimately, I see government taxing things at chokepoints. Seaports, gates at mountain passes and land ownership. Because those are places that are relatively hard to avoid, and easy for the tax man to do an assessment without a lot of special work. [/QUOTE]

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