Actions

Property and Taxes in Anaxas

From ThornsWiki

Revision as of 21:04, 23 April 2019 by Thornswiki (talk | contribs) (Thornswiki moved page Property and Taxes to Property and Taxes in Anaxas without leaving a redirect)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

Inheritance

Galdori can inherit property directly from their family by means of a will. The oldest child of either gender usually inherits the lion's share of property, so the younger children remain under the thumb of the eldest child when their parents pass away. Property usually includes an estate, all belongings, all savings - and all the family debt. It can be a mixed blessing.

Humans and wicks have no real system of inheritance. Some humans write wills by which to pass on their earthly belongings to their children, but many are simply too poor and are afraid that tying their children down to a will would merely saddle them with their debt and problems. Matters of inheritance are usually solved casually and unofficially.

Property Ownership

The government owns all property in the country. Land can be leased from the government by galdori, who pay no taxes on it once the original purchase is made. Land is generally passed down through family lines, and it's "the family's land" in that no one is likely to take it away from them, but it's still technically the government's.

Families can sell their property back to the government, and the government will usually pay them what they estimate the property is worth. The families can "sell" the property to someone else by selling it back to the government and recommending a new owner in the transaction; in exchange the new buyer usually pays the previous owner a little extra on the side. In this way, the process works a little bit like capitalism, but not exactly.

Galdori families own a good percent of business property, and the government owns the rest. When a galdori family owns the land, they usually contract out the operation of the factory/store to a human tenant, who takes a fraction of the total gain as wages and pays his employees directly. When the government owns the land, it works in much the same way. Humans generally say they are the "owner" of such places, but they never are. In many cases, large factories are operated by galdori; in smaller stores, the galdori owners merely oversee and occasionally inspect their tenants' businesses. This is why it's relatively unusual to find a galdor working in retail.

Taxes

Taxes are levied in three places: property taxes, income taxes and general taxes. Property taxes are paid by the tenant of the property to the owner of the property; income taxes are taken from employee salaries. General taxes are paid yearly by all citizens of Anaxas (except galdori citizens, who pay no taxes at all).