THE ECONOMY: HOW TO NOT DIE OF STARVATION

As you may have realised by now, the Audian economic system is not exactly... thriving. This is as a result of many things. Mostly taxes.

General overview:
Auda would be a capitalist economy if it weren't so crippled by the taxes that the government imposes upon it for entirely selfish reasons. the result is a struggling...nearly defunct capitalist system with far too much leaning on the government for things that it does not actually provide.

Currency:
The standard monetary unit in Auda is the rectangle, which if one was to convert by value would be worth 15 cents in America. However if one was to convert simply based on whatever was actually being handed to you, it is entirely possible to have one rectangle be worth 100 dollars, since it could be in fact, a 100 dollar bill. Rectangles are most frequently bills from assorted countries on Earth- so their actual Earthian value is dependent on whatever the bill actually is. ...It's KINDA confusing. Don't think about it too hard.

TAX INFORMATION:

This is the cheat sheet for all of the taxes in Auda. Incomes where necessary were listed in order. (Incomes are calculated based on the Audian government's standard payment plans for a five step ranking system. If you are employed independently of the government, then your income may not fit neatly into one of these designated slots, but I expect that as a scenario arises for such a thing I will devise protocols and whatnot to deal with it.)

Income tax: 60% of income.
Income --> Income after tax
Highest grossing jobs: 1,140 --> 456
1,000 --> 400
900 --> 360
800 --> 320
Lowest grossing jobs: 700 --> 280

(Note: In the Audian government the lowest monthly wage you can be assigned is 500 rectangles. This is because anything lower than that is recognised by the government to be 'impossible to subsist on'. This does not mean that jobs outside the government will not pay you less.)

Penalty:
If you are taking a government job it is impossible to shirk this tax, because it gets automatically deducted from your paycheck prior to you actually receiving any cash. If you are employed outside of the government, you and your employer would be thrown in cellblock three at least for your crimes.

Food tax: 25% of price of food.
Food in this instance has been simplified for ease of use. Ordinarily content also factors into it, and so anything with meat content can have the price driven up quite high... and relatively perishable goods are also somewhat costlier...but as a general rule for this use go with the below values.

Expired cans: Untaxed- 4 Taxed- 6
Unexpired cans: Untaxed- 12 Taxed- 16

Penalty:
For not charging food tax in your establishment- immediate sentencing to cellblock three, and may be upgraded to four or higher. For refusing to pay the establishment the food tax- immediate sentencing to cellblock 2. Movement from there will be handled on a case by case basis.

Duct tape tax: 16% of price of duct tape.

Assume that duct tape in this instance is worth ~15 rectangles.

Penalty:
All duct tape related incidents will be handled out of cellblock two. Exceptional extenuating circumstances can have it upgraded to cellblock three, however these must be very interesting sets of circumstances.

Internet warehouse withdrawal charge: 15% of value of object.
(For more information on the Internet... see here.)

Penalty:
Avoiding this tax also involves theft, and so it would technically incur a double sentencing. Cellblock three is considered to be generous in this situation.

Property tax: 25% of value of lot.
As with many other things this is being simplified down so tat you don't have to calculate your lot size in metric crap units and from there derive the worth of your lot and then do all kinds of mathematics on stuff and....yeah.
Brownstones: priced at 800 --> 200 rectangles monthly to taxes
Burnout district: priced at 400 --> 100 rectangles monthly to taxes
Cardboard Slums: priced at 200 --> 50 rectangles monthly to taxes

It should be noted that taxes are in addition to whatever pending payments you have to pay to the original owner of the house (if they are still alive) or to the housing department of the government. Property tax is also a perpetual thing, in that you continue to pay it even if you have payed of your house completely.

Penalty:
Property tax is the only tax that has a death penalty directly associated with it, under the title: Incendiary Tax Collection. If you default on your property taxes, you will be tied into your house and then you and your house will be burned to the ground, so that the government may reclaim its property.

DEPENDENTS, EXEMPTIONS, AND OTHER CLAUSES:

People living in your house can be considered dependents, and you can actually file tax returns as a result of them. Granted, they have to be the correct kind of dependents... but still.

Dependents that could get you deductions:

Family:
If you happen to reside with a minor (age in this case is irrelevant so long as they are under the age of 18, which is technically legal adulthood under this law, but not not under any labour laws should they be found to exist.), and you happen to be the only income provider of the family, you can take up to 7% off of your food taxes, depending. All other taxes remain unchanged, and as with all deductions, you would have to actually be capable of writing that fact into your tax statements because simply paying 7% less at the food store would just get you arrested.

If you happen to reside with an unemployed, able bodied adult, you are not eligible for exemptions, due to the fact that that family member should be able to contribute to whatever food taxes are incurred. In otherwords, the high unemployment rates are frequently ignored as an issue of the people, not an issue of the system.

Non-familial unemployed people:
If you are residing with an ex-vagrant, or some other form of person who does not actually fall under your immediate family, then despite your living under one roof, you are filed as separate individuals sharing a housing unit instead of taxed as one unit. This means that you are only taxed for yourself instead of being taxed for the both of you. Property tax is split 12.5% per person. This is actually one of the more advantageous ways to live.

The moment you and your co-habitant become a single unit (I.E. express any kind of romantic interest in one another, form a civil union, or behave in any way that would cause a relationship status change in the book of faces, etc.) your property taxes immediately increase, and your taxes are calculated as a family.

Vagrancy:
If you are homeless, you obviously do not pay property tax. You are not exempt from any other set of taxes.

More information will be added as necessary.