Dear Whiskers,
I am the Duke of North Castle and it is my great pleasure to write to you little ones about how our Great Kingdom works. Ours is a Kingdom of peace. Ours is a Kingdom of fairness. And above all, ours is a Kingdom of duty.
Under the King’s Graceful Guidance, we have lived in peace between our races for all of known history. Our Kingdom provides Whiskers with protection, jobs, and purpose. In exchange we ask only that you contribute your loyalty, honesty, and fealty. You demonstrate this honesty by earnestly paying your taxes on time and without complaint, as do all working class members of our Kingdom.
The Benefits of Taxation
When you pay your taxes, the resources collected by our Tax Collecting ships are brought back to the Kingdom mainland where they are sold to the operators of Royal Factories. These factories employ Whiskers who would otherwise be aimless. The factories in turn produce the goods which supply the greater part of the Kingdom’s consumption.
The Gold revenue generated from the sale of your island resources to our factories is called the Colony Contribution. This Colony Contribution is distributed in turn as stipends to the nobility of the Kingdom, and the Kingdom’s own Departments. For example: Nobility who, through no fault of their own, might have lost the majority of their Whisker labourers due to weather or disease, may receive a stipend from the state to support their estate’s needs. Meanwhile, Departments which do not have the capacity for direct revenue generation (either through factory operations or labourer taxation), receive a majority of their Staff Stipends from the Colony Contribution.
Revenues from the Colony Contribution are never stockpiled, and historically have not made up the majority of the revenue required to support even the Nobility stipend. In recent years – thanks to the wisdom of our King, the expansion of the Royal Factories, and the establishment of new Colonies – we have been able to support a majority of the Kingdom’s financial needs through the Colony and Labourer taxes.
A Warning for Tax Cheaters
In the past, certain Whisker colonies saw fit to cheat on their tax obligation. They made up excuses on why their contributions were underpaid. We saw these excuses for what they truly were: greed. When Whiskers get greedy, they start prioritizing their own personal desires over the needs of the Kingdom. They build homes instead of mines. They run bathhouses instead of cotton fields.
The gall of these greedy Whiskers, relaxing in a bath when they could be generating value.
The most egregious of these tax cheaters have even resorted to establishing their own factories and smuggling the high tier goods they produce to other colonies and nations. This is a travesty of the highest order – one that robs the Royal Factories of their King-given right to be the exclusive suppliers for all colonies. An independent, self-sustaining Whisker colony is a violation of the Kingdom’s values and undermines the balance by which our Kingdom has thrived for so long.
Let me make the warning clear: these tax cheaters have paid the ultimate price for their greed and their transgression. Our vast Naval fleet made sure they are no longer with us in this mortal realm.
You would be wise to learn the lessons their folly teaches: Pay your taxes on time and in full.
Do not cheat the King.
Under the King’s Graceful Rule,
The Duke of North Castle
More Whiskerwood Dev Diaries
In case you missed them, be sure to check out our other dev diaries for Whiskerwood:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2489330/view/658207707628569427
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2489330/view/515221043692962197
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/2489330/view/523104697900335294
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