CHANGE TO TAX RULES

The tax rules have changed, with immediate effect. The taxman will no
longer seize all your excess groats, but will instead take 20% of the
excess once a day, the first time you log on after the game resets. The
limits remain the same.

So if an Adventurer logs on with 580,000 IG in her bank account, the
taxman will substract the limit of 500,000 IG leaving an excess of
80,000 IG, then take 20% of that sum - 16,000 IG.

Why this sudden change? What made the taxman become so much less
rapacious?

Everybody hates the taxman, from the lowest workthing to the highest
bureacrat. Nobody likes to give any of their hard-earned groats to the
government, and since the Galactic Administration was formed, one of
the favorite pastimes of all the denizens of Fed DataSpace has been
grumbled about the onerous tax burden imposed by the revenue men.

Usually, this grumbling amounts to no more than the discontent people
aim at the weather, but recently, as the taxman has tightened his grip,
the unrest has increased. The fact that the taxman confiscates such a
large amount of money outrages people; they consider that it removes
the incentive to work hard, since any groats they make above the
artificial limits set for each rank are just stolen away by the Internal
Revenue.

Finally, the unrest became so great that the Galactic Administration
was forced to take notice. They set up an official inquiry to examine the
operations of the Internal Revenue, and an inside source has told us
they were shocked by what they discovered. They concluded that the
revenue had amassed far too much power, thanks to the enormous
sums of money the organization was raking in. The natural rivalry
between different departments of the government was set aside, and the
other ministries united to condemn the activities of the Internal
Revenue. The chief taxation officer has been removed from his position
and may face criminal charges; the whole taxation organization has
been scaled down, throwing many bureaucrats out of work; and the way
tax is levied on citizens has been changed, much to the relief of groat-
earners everywhere.

Of course, this hasn't stopped the grumbling about tax; nobody likes to
pay tax. But it has made it harmless grumbling again.