Matrix Games Forums

I've been analyzing the economic data of a PBEM game for four distinct periods, using figures and information compiled from various in-game reports. A crucial piece of this economic puzzle is the Sales Tax, set at 25%. However, a particular scenario has left me scratching my head regarding the transition from T24 to T25, where a significant debt appears seemingly out of nowhere.

To give you a brief overview, let's look at the economic standing of T25:


Initially, there was no debt by the end of T24. Come T25, the private sector decides to invest in the Light Industry II Asset, amounting to 2500 Cr (see table above).


Moreover, the population made several purchases across different resources like food and metal from Traders totaling 1661 Cr. (see screenshot above)

Here’s a quick breakdown of the calculations:

2338 Cr (Initial Private Funds) + 384 Cr (Earnings) - 2683 Cr (Spending) - 1661 Cr (for goods bought from Traders) = - 1662 cr (Debt)

What confuses me further are the following points:

1. The Debt to Traders skyrockets to -2744 Cr, a figure much higher than anticipated -1661 Cr. How does this discrepancy arise?

2. The Sales Tax Debt is noted at -1111 Cr. Considering the sales tax is 25%, how do we arrive at this figure? Again, it is much higher than it should be.

3. Additionally, it puzzles me why the Sales Tax Debt is attributed to the population when tooltips indicate it's a tax paid by traders upon selling goods to the populace.

It's possible I'm overlooking some mechanics or there are additional factors at play within the game's economic system. Or is it a bug?

My understanding is that debt is incurred when traders price are high. Then the goods are bought anyway but the difference between market price and price paid goes into debt.

Here for exemple metal has been sold at 3 cr a piece. I don't know about your game but it's really rare to see metal sold at that price.

As for who pays taxes, it's not unheard of that sellers increase prices when taxes increase. So while in theory traders are taxed, it's actually the buyer that pays the tax or that's how I make sense of it.

Emx77,

I think the issue is the way your calculating the Expenses and Tax; some of the calculations are off. Furthermore, the game has a tendency to round off the numbers being presented to whole number, while the fractional numbers are used to determine the finial number. Don't expect to get the exact numbers due to rounding.



Sales Tax Calc (all trades taxed based on your notes above)

Private Econ Spend 2,683
Purchase of Goods 1,662
Food to Traders 60
Hidden Economy 29
Total Sales 4,434

Total Tax of 4,434 (@25%) = 1,108.5 (with rounding error this would be approx to 1,111 )




Private Sector Debt

Private Income +384
Private Economy (Spending) -2,683
Population Purchases (Food, metal) -1,662
Tax -1,096 (remove tax paid by traders)
Total Private Balance -5,057

Private Prior Funds +2,338
Debt (to Traders) -2,719 (close to Debt to Traders of -2,744)

Regards,
Bell

Sales Tax Calc (all trades taxed based on your notes above)

Private Econ Spend 2,683
Purchase of Goods 1,662
Food to Traders 60
Hidden Economy 29
Total Sales 4,434

Total Tax of 4,434 (@25%) = 1,108.5 (with rounding error this would be approx to 1,111 )

Bellrock, I think you could be on the right track here but with a few corrections. Taking the whole amount of Private Economy Spending is inappropriate. Pay attention that the amount of 2,683 includes Service Tax, Income Tax, and Debt Repayment. I don't see the logic behind paying Sales Tax (@25%) on already paid taxes or debt annuity. Even food sold to traders is not subject to Sales Tax because it is subject to Income Tax. Zone Reports says: "Population sold 270 Foods to traders for 60 credits. IncomeTax over that: 18 credits."

Don't forget that the Manual (and in-game tooltip) defines Sales Tax as tax "Paid by Traders when they sell Food or other Items to the Population".

I also found this in the 1.21e patch notes:

"Revisions made to the spending of Credits by Population with the Traders when buying “luxuries” and Assets. Item Market Prices now impact the cost of Asset construction and luxuries buying. Also the Sales Tax now also impacts the cost of Assets and luxuries buying. New semi-hidden values of Private Trade Debt (to Traders) and Private Tax Debt (to Regime) make this possible."

According to the above, the only items subject to Sales tax in this example are the purchase of goods (1,662 Cr). Luxuries (3 Cr) and maybe the purchase of the Light Industry II asset (2,500 Cr). That would give us the following Sales Tax:

1,662 + 3 + 2,500 = 4,165 (@25%) = 1,041 credits. It is close to 1,111 credits from the in-game report.

Still, the question remains as to why this is attributed to the population and not to traders. Maybe the following line from the patch note gives the answer:

"Note that Traders will sell at lower prices if market prices are really high as sales are often made to private families and enterprises that are partially controlled or in the same family as traders. (there is a fuzzy boundary between traders and population, traders actually exist somewhere halfway between free folk and population)."

Maybe this Sales Tax Debt is attributed to the Population just as a notification as there is no dedicated text for traders?

Private Sector Debt

Private Income +384
Private Economy (Spending) -2,683
Population Purchases (Food, metal) -1,662
Tax -1,096 (remove tax paid by traders)
Total Private Balance -5,057

Private Prior Funds +2,338
Debt (to Traders) -2,719 (close to Debt to Traders of -2,744)

The above calculation however does not make a lot of sense. The private economy started with prior funds of +2,338 Cr and earned +384 Cr during the turn.

The total available funds are: 2,338 + 384 = 2,722 Cr
The total spending is: −(2,683 + 1,662) = −4,345 Cr*
Difference (Debt to Traders) = 2,722 − 4,345 = −1,623 Cr
Total Debt = Debt to Traders + Tax Debt = −(1,623 + 1,111) = −2,734 Cr**

Notes
* We didn't include Sales Debt (1,111 Cr) as it is reported separately. See the attached screenshot.
** Close to the in-game report of −2,744 Cr for Debt to Traders.


However, the game reports the Total Debt to be −3.855 Cr. It looks like the game report added Sales Tax twice instead of once: First time in item "Debt to Traders" = −2,734 and then separately as "Tax Debt" = −1,111 which in total gives:

−2,734 + (−1,111) = −3.855 Cr

It seems like a bug to me.