How much money should a small town generate per month?

[Gort]

So, my tenth level rogue-turned-lawful decided that as a reward for preventing the countries of Angland and Montagne from going to war, she'd like to be given lands.

So, I've decided on giving her a Ladyship, which includes the small town of Rhennes and the surrounding lands.

It is a reasonably prosperous town of 1600 inhabitants, the centre of the outlying farmlands. It contains all sorts of businesses, from the mundane to magical.

So, naturally the city guard need to be paid, the roads need to be maintained, imperial taxes have to be paid, and so on and so forth. So, given reasonable taxation, (a 10% income tax, perhaps?) how much money should the town be producing for her Ladyship per month?

 

[Whisper72]

Hmmm IIRC then in the old DMG1 there was a note that said that commoners on your land (i.e. read simple farmers and small simple storeowners) had to pay about 1sp per month in taxes per head.

So that would be at least 1600 sp per month.

On top of that, there would prolly be taxes on 'import/export' where merchants with more expensive stuff (i.e. things other then basic foodstuffs) or large quantities of goods would be taxed to be brought to market. Assuming the daily wage of the average sod be 1sp per day (also DMG1) and a spending of about 20% on 'luxuries', this would imply a dayly market turnover of 320 sp, double that for the richer ppl who buy some more expensive stuff, to make a total of about 1000 sp total market / shop turnover per day. Assume a taxation of 10% and 6 days of operation per week, 4 weeks tot the month, makes a total of 2400 sp per month of taxes on import/export.

Total revenue comes to 4000 sp per month. Considering that the DMG1 used a conversion of 20 sp to the GP, this would mean in 3.5 DnD terms 200 GP per month on income...

 

[comrade raoul]

I recall reading somewhere that a typical laborer earns about one gold piece for a day's work. A small minority of citizens in the town will earn substantially more than that; some might earn less. So let's use double that amount (2gp) for the mean daily earnings for an inhabitant of Rhennes. So that means that the total daily earnings is 3,200 gp; the total annual earnings (GDP?) is 1,168,000 gp. So a 10% tax rate yields 116,800 gp for the town government (her Ladyship).

I'd suggest that half of that rate be assumed to go to the costs you mention -- administration, guards, roads and other public goods, imperial taxes. That means her Ladyship gets 58,400 gp from her town per year, or about 4865 gp from it a month.

(This amount seems like a nifty, but reasonable, amount for a major reward for a 10th-level character.)

 

[drnuncheon]

Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe would be perfect for your needs.

J

 

[Gort]

You're quite right, Doc. I think I'll give them my ten bucks.

 

[Psion]

Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe would be perfect for your needs.

I just dropped by this thread to say just that...

 

[Gort]

It's downloading now. Expeditious Retreat Press no doubt appreciates your salesmanship

 

[diaglo]

I just dropped by this thread to say just that...

ditto

 

[drnuncheon]

And in case you're wondering, Magical Society: Ecology & Culture is well worth it, too.

J

 

[blargney the second]

Just to add my little ditto on MMS. It's amazing!

-blarg