Playing about public finances

In itself roleplaying as a planetary ruler, or running a faction, may seem alluring at first glance but there is usually much more going into role-playing a planetary ruler than what most writers usually think. (Public finances can be a motivation for a character to oust a planetary ruler ICly) Now, there are several reasons why doing this exercise for interstellar factions would be foolhardy at best, so I'll just list the reasons why Chaos ruled out any galaxy-wide economic systems. It was even compared to telling a medieval peasant about globalization.

• Many players have poor grasp of economics
• A galaxy-wide economy would be too complex for virtually any writer to understand
• NPCs contribute too much of a share of economic activity
• Canon is widlly inconsistent in its treatment of economics (even though canonical treatment is better than Chaos')

For this reason it is best to keep any and all discussion of public finances to the level of a single planet, because then there would be no need to drag the entire galaxy along with it. I would like to credit [member="Darth Vitium"] for making the first part of this guide a reality. Just the right level of detail to get a sense of where the IC consequences of one's actions as a planetary ruler lie, to the level expected of IC newspapers. Worked examples will be provided afterward: Azure pre-Omega and Azure post-Omega (it can also be used as a stand-in for a pre-Omega Dulvoyinn, also with 2M population). These examples are workable because my alt [member="Cathul Thuku"] took an abandoned planet and rebuilt it as governor of Azure, so the population is low enough for the process to work. (It will not work on ecunemopolises like Empress Teta, Hosnian Prime, Coruscant) The process is rather lengthy so I understand if it can rebuff all but the most advanced players. Operating on averages will work better on larger planets above roughly 1 million in population or so: it will save you a lot of work at the early stages of the process.

1. Determine an individual average gross income
2. Determine an unemployment rate (5-8% is considered normal; remember that it will fluctuate more wildly over time the less population a planet has)
3. Determine the number of personal tax brackets and tax rates in each bracket
4. Calculate the personal tax revenue from that
5. Determine the number of corporate tax brackets and tax rates in each bracket
6. Calculate the corporate tax revenue from that
7. Decide on all other sources of revenue for your planet's government
8. Add up the revenues from steps 4, 6 and 7
9. Determine the cost of collecting revenue (~3-5% is pretty standard: more sources, higher percentage)
10. Determine the cost of other government programs (education, healthcare, law enforcement, and so on, so forth)
11. Determine whether your planet has a standing army, and, if it does, its cost
12. Determine whether your planet has public debt, and, if it does, its cost
13. Subtract from the revenues calculated at step 8 the costs calculated at steps 9-12

The end result of the 13 steps above will determine whether your planetary government runs a deficit or a surplus for the financial IC year.
One final word of advice: please, do read real-world government budgets for inspiration if you choose to go that route.

Worked example #1: Pre-Omega Azure (population: 40,000, ca. six IC months into Cathul's tenure as Governor of Azure; the budget was ICly forecast for an average population of 40,000 for year 1 of operation)

1. Average individual income: 20,000 credits
2. Unemployment rate: 6.2%
3. 1 individual tax bracket: 15%
4. 40000*0.938*0.15*20000=112.6 million
5. 4 corporate tax brackets: 15%, 20%, 25% and 30%
6. 37.4 million
7. Property taxes: 0.3% for residential properties, 0.7% for commercial properties and 1% for industrial properties: 15 million, and royalties on offworld exports of salt, seafood and void stones: 60 million
8. 225 million
9. 7 million
10. Education and culture: 25 million, healthcare: 55 million (thank the Force for Cathul being a Force-healer), law enforcement (including industrial regulations), fire service: 3 million, sanitation, water and sewage: 6 million, other bureaucracy: 4 million, terraforming and building social housing: 120 million, spaceport upkeep: 2 million
11. No standing army
12. 50 million in public debt at 6%: 3 million
13. Balanced budget (no surplus or deficit)

Worked example #2: Post-Omega Azure (population: 2 million, her sixth annual budget during Cathul's tenure as Governor of Azure; pre-Omega Dulvoyinn also had very similar economic data). However tempting that it is to just multiply the above by 50, it just couldn't hold: the financial benefit of Cathul as a Force-healer is pretty much negated in a balance sheet, and the cost of subsidized construction is negated also. But the cost of a military with 2 starfighter squadrons, 1,000 men, as well as other costs whose per-capita share tends to increase the larger the planet's population is, are also factors.

1. Average individual income: 25,000 credits
2. Unemployment rate: 7.6%
3. 3 individual tax brackets: 15%, 25% and 35%
4. If 20% are on the lowest bracket (0-10k), 79% on the middle bracket (10-100k) and 1% on the top bracket (100k+), the lower bracket (avg. income within the bracket is 7000) brings in 388 million in tax revenues, the middle bracket (avg. income in the bracket is 25,000) brings in 9.125 billion, and the top bracket (avg. income in the bracket: 300k) thus brings in 1.940 billion
5. 4 corporate tax brackets: 15%, 20%, 25% and 30%
6. 5.507 billion
7. Property taxes: 0.3% for residential properties, 0.7% for commercial properties and 1% for industrial properties: 1 billion, and royalties on offworld exports of salt, seafood and other products: 2 billion
8. 20 billion
9. 800 million
10. Education and culture: 3 billion, healthcare: 6.75 billion, law enforcement (including industrial regulations), fire service: 250 million, sanitation, water and sewage: 500 million, other bureaucracy: 400 million, unemployment benefits: 1 billion, spaceport upkeep: 60 million, public works: 3.7 billion, social security: 1.5 billion
11. 2 squadrons of tanks, 2 squadrons of starfighters (6 million purchase cost, 6 million upkeep cost), 900 infantry (upkeep cost, pay and equipment: 20 million), base upkeep cost: 5 million, bureaucracy cost: 3 million = 40 million total
12. None
13. 2 billion surplus

That's 2 billion that can be used for the maintenance of Clan Lok's military and other activities. Hence for any Mandalorian clan with the ability to control planets, the main source of its funding comes from the operation of their planets.