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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ Question to all nitpicky players

Posted by: Traks Oct 3 2003, 06:55 AM

One player wanted to legalise part of his shadow income, so he can buy legally things which cost more than 1000 nyens.

How high are taxes in Seattle? Logically he must pay taxes from income,
so if anyone knows please post it here. My knowledge is lacking in this field.

Posted by: thunderchild Oct 3 2003, 12:05 PM

the way i used to work it is that the government skims 1% of every nuyen placed onto a legal sin.

That way they get to skim that cred OVER and OVER and OVER again.

yes there are ways you can claim it back at the end of the year, but shadowrunners arent big fans or reciepts.

Posted by: Backgammon Oct 3 2003, 01:27 PM

Taxes are covered in lifestyles. Not officially, but logically they are.

Posted by: Traks Oct 3 2003, 02:22 PM

Yeah, but if player wants to convert his shadow money into normal, he must pay some price

Ahh damn, I'll use 10% tax for such a conversion.

Posted by: Siege Oct 3 2003, 02:29 PM

Or pay a commission to a money-launderer. Less chance of you getting audited.

Unless I missed a section in the social book, if you have a fake SIN, a character should be able to make legal purchases.

Granted, the higher you go the more likely your SIN will need to pass inspection...

-Siege

Posted by: Backgammon Oct 3 2003, 05:19 PM

QUOTE (Traks)

Yeah, but if player wants to convert his shadow money into normal, he must pay some price

Ahh damn, I'll use 10% tax for such a conversion.

Ah, you're talking about money laudering. I tried to come up with some rules a while back, but it's just too complicated and I don't know enough about this stuff.

I recommand you do as was suggested and have the player simply pay an NPC to wash his money and take care of everything, and take away X% of the cash as various fees. Make it a black box system. And it's not taxes he's paying, cause you can't just go to the governement and say "here's 100k, i'll pay taxes if you promise not to ask where it came from, ok?". PAying taxes is just one part of the laundering process.

http://www.amurgsval.org/shadowrun/money.html a link to some work the fine folks of Twilightrun came up with. Should be helpfull.

Posted by: Traks Oct 3 2003, 07:23 PM

Mucho thanks.
Added that page to my favorites.

No more questions tonight

Posted by: Nindaru Oct 3 2003, 08:02 PM

Traks, I live in Seattle. There is no local tax, nor is there a state tax; just federal taxes. There are property taxes, sales taxes and such.

The sales tax depends on the county and area within the county

It is approx 8.5-8.9% in what would be the Everett, Snohomish districts.

8.2-8.8% in the Tacoma, Ft. Lewis, Puyallup districts.

8.4-8.8% in Downtown, Redmond, Bellevue, Renton and Auburn

This may not have been what you are looking for, but I hope it helps. =)

Posted by: Bira Oct 3 2003, 10:33 PM

Laundering money, at least in a few movies and Willian Gibson stories, is a big deal. The money has to go through hundreds of different hosts and ghost corps before it can be considered truly clean. This means you can really rip off your players by charging outrageous percentages for laudering their money.

Start at 30% and go up. The more they charge, the more reliable they are (so going through a Yakuza money-laudering operation might take away 60% of your cash).

Posted by: Dragoonkin Oct 3 2003, 11:00 PM

Isn't certified cred suitably "laundered"? I mean, I thought it was no-strings-attached this-is-the-money-in-your-hand-with-no-history-to-it, rathermuch like physical cash minus serial numbers.

Posted by: Kesh Oct 3 2003, 11:29 PM

True, certified cred is like cash. However, the sticks are only good for a certain amount of money, and you're *going* to attract attention when you put your down-payment for the house in as a pile of certified sticks.

Also, you can't just put it in to a bank account. Red flags would go up all over the place when Joe Nobody drops 100,000¥ into his bank account, when the balance has been 30¥ for the past year or more. Even if he puts it in using small increments, he has no W2 from any job to show where said cash came from... can you say 'audit' boys 'n girls?

So, laundering is the best way, because it not only fakes legit sources for the money, it prevents flagging systems when lots of cash is suddenly made available to you.

Posted by: Dragoonkin Oct 3 2003, 11:49 PM

I'm too used to thinking/playing SINless...I didn't even consider actual honest-to-god bank accounts. Or purchases NOT made through a Fixer.