D&D 5E Taxes, and the people who have to pay them.

[Istbor]

So an odd thing happened while reading through the discussion thread about the prices on slaves in the Underdark. What about taxes?

My player's characters are all citizens of an established empire. Presumably, taxes are levied against said citizens.

Why does this matter you ask? Well for a few reasons actually. I like my world to be believable and appear to be a functioning place. Travel time in this quite large empire take a long time, and I am hoping that my players will want to explore the different regions and take advantage of 'off time' activities and goals. All told, this could mean years pass in game time, so a citizen would experience all the things that should happen in that time frame in this place. Adventurers have a lot of wealth. I mean... a lot. How would a functioning government not take advantage of this? And finally, since I have thought about it, I can't unthink it. I need to know.

I even thought an interesting and funny hook for an adventure or campaign could be the tax collectors laying down the business on the player(s) to recover back-taxes on all their unclaimed dungeon loot.

My question then is this. Has anyone made any sort of system or rules or even had thoughts about this besides me? Should I just put on my comfiest straight-jacket and calm down?

 

[iserith]

In Eberron, you have to buy a letter of marque or something like that to be a licensed adventurer. I want to say it cost around 500 gp, but that was in 3.5e money, so 10 years later it has to be somewhere around 10,000 gp if my math is correct. If you're adventuring without the proper documents, I assume the various kingdoms put you in a cage.

 

[guachi]

My thoughts about this went far enough as to tell my players there were taxes and they had no choice but to pay them as I wasn't going to run a campaign based on running from the IRS.

Not that I inherently reject the idea. It could be really fun, especially in a more urban-centered campaign. An A-Team/Leverage type game where the PCs do good but hide from the law could (and probably would) be a cracking fun game I'd love to play or DM at some point.

 

[schnee]

Yeah, lifestyle expenses have a way of going up in real life, so it should here - characters just earning and earning and never spending money is unrealistic.

I'd levy them on characters that hoard and don't spend money on 'in-character thematic' things that don't benefit their combat prowess. So, stuff like a Cleric tithing to build a shrine, a Fighter training/arming a force to protect a village, a Rogue investing in a bunch of shadow business endeavors to get a bunch of eyes and ears, stuff like that.

Characters that don't take much in the first place due to character reasons should get something else - renown, good karma, something like that. I'd have to think about it.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Adventurers have a lot of wealth. I mean... a lot. How would a functioning government not take advantage of this? And finally, since I have thought about it, I can't unthink it. I need to know.

An adventurer who is successful enough to disrupt the economy is an adventurer powerful enough to overthrow a government. Adventurers capable of casting Teleport and Earthquake are not people you want as enemies.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Yeah if I tell my group that they have to pay taxes the reply will be, "yeah let those thieves come get the money....we rolling initiative?"

 

[jgsugden]

Think about what has been said above from the perspective of PCs and NPCs. We call those story hooks.

What does the paladin do when the official government tells him 75% of his spoils from adventuring are due in taxes? Are the tax collectors corrupt, or just very much socialists? What if the taxes are stolen? Will the government negotiate for taxes they think are due, or go to war with the PCs if they refuse to pay?

 

[LordEntrails]

First of all you have to think of how a government can practically collect taxes (or fees).

Sales taxes like we have today are... iffy and rely upon the goodwill and honesty of the merchants. I mean if everything you do is in cash (gold) and you don't have receipts and records are hand written (duplicate books anyone?) So, imo, sales taxes will never work.

Property or resident taxes work. You can send tax collectors into an area to levy taxes once a year (or whatever interval) and simply collect from every residence and everyone they can catch, using an arcane mark or just ink to mark those who have paid. So, this works for commoners and nobles, not so good for adventurers.

Import/Export taxes work. Basically any wagon or goods that go in or out of the city gate, or go across any given boarded get assessed a tax (5%). This works somewhat better for adventurers. But of course a bag of holding can carry a lot of stuff that can easily be hid.

Income taxes don't work, because you have no way to corroborate wages or income.

But, before you go too far, what fun is this going to add to your game? It adds some chances for roleplaying, especially import/export style taxes, but will probably become boring and stale pretty quickly (again, unless it becomes part of the campaign).

 

[BookBarbarian]

Interesting thoughts, but I can't help but put this thread in the category of "I'm glad we don't think about this stuff in my games"

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

If I was doing an urban campaign I'd think of stuff like this, I can picture a short story about Grey Mouser weaseling/stealing/killing his way out of taxes that are depleting his wenching and drinking funds. But in the OotA game or a regular dungeon bashing game it wouldn't add much.