High taxes or higher population growth? Which one is better?

[Saikx]

Until now I raised the taxes as high as it's okay for the people in the towns (max. yellow), but recently I wondered if it wouldn't be more effective if I try to let the taxes be on a normal level (or even lower) and let the population grow faster.
Because more people -> more people who can pay me taxes. As I remember from my last playthrough a higher population comes with more dissatisfied people in my towns (atleast I had the feeling it becomes more difficult to handle sometimes), but with taxes on a normal level I think this shouldn't be an issue. But is that so?
Will I earn more money by letting the population grow faster, than I would by setting the taxes on high or very high (I'm talking about the result after some/many rounds. Of course my income will be in any case at first be lower)
Or is my idea wrong and the way I played until now is in the end the better way?

[Gigantus]

I usually let the AI tax my cities - very effecient, I must say. AFTER I have put a reasonable level of farms and markets in place, that way there is still a population increase with an above averge tax income.

[Inardesco]

Originally posted by Gigantus:

I usually let the AI tax my cities

Really? I never let the AI manage my settlements.

Growth v taxation is more or playstyle thing imo. With the right governour however, you can have +2,5% growth on Very High Tax Rate with 180+ order.

Problem with quick growth = squalor. It'll stifle your growth in the long run and also causes unrest.
Problem with high taxation = slow population growth meaning that you're not getting the new town/cities/castles/fortresses quickly.

It also depends on how needed the cash is. If you're strapped for cash and have the ability to increase taxes and still maintain order and growth, go for it. If you can't however, then that can be a problem in regards to pay for units.

[Tacticus Winter]

High growth has always been my style of play. and having each city governed with a decent governor as well. It's always worked for me.

[Armchair Civilian]

High growth and investment in farming and health til you've got a full set of Huge cities and Citadels, then tax the pips according to the number of squeaks they make once you've got there :)

[Gigantus]

Originally posted by The Winking Skeever:

High growth and investment in farming and health til you've got a full set of Huge cities and Citadels, then tax the pips according to the number of squeaks they make once you've got there :)

It migth sound silly, but the AI does an excellent job taxing the last drop of blood out of your pop - I never let it do anything else (totally brainless when it comes to building or recruiting), there is an option to choose taxing only.
The advantage is that the AI recalculates the highest possible tax level every round - meaning if the happiness goes down too much it will lower taxes again (and up if happiness improves). It does take away a lot of micro management when you have two dozen settlements or more.

[DirtyVaderDaddy]

The best balance is to alternate building your economic and Order buildings. As long as your population is happy you'll be growing and you can max out your tax rates. Then when you run out of buildings to build then you drop your tax rate for a few turns.

[The Wrath of Santa]

As an avid micro manager, I've always loved growing/managing the economy and city building in the early TW games. First ten turns taxes are usually quite high across all my settlements to finance construction of roads, ports, markets and other economic assets. Once these start to come on line, it then allows me to tweak tax levels.

I keep taxes high in the larger population settlements and slash taxes in the lowest ones. When I'm doing this in the low pop towns it's usually in order to quickly enable port construction, got to get the old trade flowing. As the population rises and these small towns are upgraded into cities the tax levels will gradually nudge up.

If I want to get higher tier guild buildings such as the Assassins Guild HQ asap, I'll cut taxes in the largest settlement that has an inn that I'm recruiting the majority of my assassins from.

For a large capital city like Constantinople the tax level usually remains at the two highest levels throughout the game. Also don't leave the family crooks and embezzlers with sticky fingers in charge of your cities, it's important to check those character traits.

[jefrada194]

Originally posted by Saikx:

Until now I raised the taxes as high as it's okay for the people in the towns (max. yellow), but recently I wondered if it wouldn't be more effective if I try to let the taxes be on a normal level (or even lower) and let the population grow faster.
Because more people -> more people who can pay me taxes. As I remember from my last playthrough a higher population comes with more dissatisfied people in my towns (atleast I had the feeling it becomes more difficult to handle sometimes), but with taxes on a normal level I think this shouldn't be an issue. But is that so?
Will I earn more money by letting the population grow faster, than I would by setting the taxes on high or very high (I'm talking about the result after some/many rounds. Of course my income will be in any case at first be lower)
Or is my idea wrong and the way I played until now is in the end the better way?

I usually do this:

VILLAGE= low
TOWN=medium
LARGE TOWN=high
CITY+=high/very high.

This way its very balanced. Besides, putting "very high" taxes on a village barely makes 20 florins more, so its not worth it in the early stages of a settlement.

[The Wrath of Santa]

Yeah same here jefrada194 that's my usual sp early game. Only really lower taxes in larger settlements early game if I have specific plans for a particular settlement ie fast tracking higher tier buildings/facilities.

My tax policies are not rigid and are not a one size fits all one. They are always tailored to the specific settlement and my construction plans for it. They can fluctuate throughout the game.

[Ahodori]

There is no need for taxes if you have few dozen ports and markets for trade

[Inardesco]

You will need to rely on taxes once the plague comes since plagued cities won't trade.

[Average AMD neanderthal]

to be honest. all you need is growth. growth, growth, growth. keep the taxes foremostly on low or normal. sometimes you might need a little extra cash to fund a building, a war or battle the tax loss from the plague, but in overall gameplay its just growth for the majority of settlements. every city should have lvl 2 farms atleast for the growth. then a good church for the public order+ health bonus. and then get some markets going. port cities should always get a port upgrade after getting the farms. if the city is near metal ores, build a mine to make hundreds. and thousands when further upgraded. using this strategy your economy will experience "growth spurts" every few turns. rather than increasing the taxes to get more money but never actually get wealthier till you get big economic buildings. wich is bad in a long war because if you are losing/equal to the enemy then you wont have the financial growth to turn the tide till you get LOTS of economic buildings. dont forget to buy wall upgrades when they become available so you can get more population. or the heavy squalor will almost nullify or even get your growth in the negative. the more trade you have going and the more cities you own the bigger that gets. if you were to play as england and own strictly the entire UK, you could already have a 10-25k income.
near africa are also the most valuable resources that will help you earn a few thousand more if you can get some merchants there by boat.

more people=more taxes. once your settlement hits 25-30k population, you can set the tax to whatever you can afford relative to public order. because usually the growth will go down drastically then. and the only income increases will be new ports, markets and higher taxes. you can use governors and additional public order buildings to help battle public order loss from squalor, religion or whatever the cause is. especially when you up the taxes with a big population.

[Inardesco]

growth = squalor = negative growth and publico order problems
high populations also tend to f*ck you up regions with high unrest (levant/northern italy) and having other religion

Couple that with spies and distance to capital and you'll have sh*t public order even with low taxes.

[Gigantus]

Originally posted by Inardesco:

You will need to rely on taxes once the plague comes since plagued cities won't trade.

taxes will get screwed as well - only merchant income is unaffected.

[Inardesco]

The main reason taxes go down is due to a population that goes down.