What kind of city is it without taxes? Well, for the citizens it is the perfect city, no doubt. It’s not the best option for you as mayor, after all. Taxes are collected to fill the city budget, and the city budget is used to benefit all citizens.
If you have played Cities: Skylines for a long time, this addictive simulation game, you know that economy is an essential factor for quality city management. With the help of the Economy menu, you can find out how much it costs to run your city and adjust taxes, budget, and also take loans.
Cities: Skylines is a game in which players must build a city with all its facilities necessary for the quality of life of its citizens. Players choose the city map of their choice, or they can create a custom map themselves. On the map, they will be able to build roads, add various objects and prepare everything necessary for people to start inhabiting the city.
People need to be provided with jobs, places to live, and a tidy and clean environment in order to keep their health at a high level. You will discover much more if you download this game and create your own city.
Today’s topic is taxing in Cities: Skylines. Below, you will find out how the tax system works in the virtual world and how your city can benefit from tax collection.
Also Read: How to Change Road Direction in Cities: Skylines?
How Do Taxes Work in Cities: Skylines?
If you are a beginner in this game, you may find it complicated how paying taxes works in your virtual city. But don’t despair; you’ll soon realize that it’s actually very easy to take care of taxes, especially when you learn how you can increase your city’s budget with taxes.
At the very beginning of the game, the taxes in your city will be relatively small, but as the population in the city increases, you will be able to increase the tax rate and thus get more money in the city budget. But be careful not to overdo it with the tax rate as this will cause dissatisfaction among your citizens. The optimal advice is to maintain a tax rate between 11 and 13%.
If you increase the tax rate above 13%, your citizens will start leaving the city due to dissatisfaction. And you know that the more citizens you have, the more money you will have in the city budget. Precisely because of this, do not abruptly raise the tax rate and try to keep it below 13%.
The economy tab will be unlocked when your city has a minimum of 40,000 inhabitants, and only then will you be able to set taxes. Then you will win the Little Hamlet milestone at the same time. Under the Economy tab, you will have tax rates for the zones that have been unlocked in the game so far.
As we have already said, if you put a tax rate above 20%, for example, you will be able to see how citizens all over your city are upset and resentful about the excessive tax rate.
You can adjust tax rates for all zones in your city. Residential, commercial, and industrial zones may have different tax rates if you wish, but you must be careful that your citizens are not dissatisfied with the amount of the tax rate. However, if you want a quick influx of money, you can do so by raising the tax rate no matter how angry your citizens are; just be careful not to reach the highest level of anger because then they will leave the city. So, increase the tax rate until you raise some extra money and then return the tax rate to a level below 13%.
Furthermore, unlocking some of the unique buildings will require the tax rate to be below 5%, which will cause you to lose money from the budget, but once you unlock these unique buildings, you will be able to return it to a level above 5%.
Check for taxation policies, you can apply them to any zone of your city, and taxation policies can boost or reduce your taxes.
| Policy | Unlocked | DLC | Effect | Upkeep/Drawback |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tax Raise for Low Density Residential | Big Town | – | Increases the tax rate by 2% for low density residential. | |
 Tax Raise for High Density Residential | Big Town | – | Increases the tax rate by 2% for high density residential. | |
 Tax Raise for Low Density Commercial | Big Town | – | Increases the tax rate by 2% for low density commercial. | |
 Tax Raise for High Density Commercial | Big Town | – | Increases the tax rate by 2% for high density commercial. | |
 Tax Raise for Offices | Big Town | – | Increases the tax rate by 2% for offices. | |
 Tax Relief for Low Density Residential | Big Town | – | Lowers the tax rate by 2% for low density residential. | Decreased tax income from low density residential buildings in affected area. |
 Tax Relief for High Density Residential | Big Town | – | Lowers the tax rate by 2% for high density residential. | Decreased tax income from high density residential buildings in affected area. |
 Tax Relief for Low Density Commercial | Big Town | – | Lowers the tax rate by 2% for low density commercial. | Decreased tax income from low density commercial buildings in affected area. |
 Tax Relief for High Density Commercial | Big Town | – | Lowers the tax rate by 2% for high density commercial. | Decreased tax income from high density commercial buildings in affected area. |
 Tax Relief for Offices | Big Town | – | Lowers the tax rate by 2% for offices. | Decreased tax income from offices in affected area. |
 Let Go of Leisure | Big Town |  | Leisure specialized areas get a hefty boost in their entertainment and attractiveness values. | No tax income from leisure specialized buildings in affected area. |
Also Read: How to Make a Perfect Roundabout in Cities: Skylines?
Taxes Helper Mod for Cities: Skylines
When we want to spice up our game, we will use mods. Luckily for us, someone came up with a way to create a mod that helps players handle taxes even better. With this mod, there is a new set of controls in the Economy tab and Taxes tab. With these new controls, you will be able to save and restore tax values.
To save current tax values as a preset, you will have to open the Economy tab, then choose the Taxes tab and press one of the buttons with arrows (<<).
To set the tax values from a preset, again open the Economy tab and select the Taxes tab. After that, just press one of the buttons with numbers.
As you can see, this mod will make it easier for you to deal with tax values, and you may understand the principle of taxes much better than the default tax settings in the game itself.
Warning: Downloading and installing mods are at your own risk. Mods are not part of the official version of the game, and therefore no one but you is responsible if the mod in any way negatively affects your game. By downloading the mods, you allow the mod’s creator to have access to your data. To download this mod, visit the Steam Workshop, where you can also find additional mods for your city.
Also Read: How to Curve Roads in Cities: Skylines?
Final Thoughts
A prosperous city is not possible without a certain amount of money, and that same large amount of money comes from its citizens. How? By taxes, of course. Cities: Skylines game is not much different from the real world regarding tax collection. The point is to keep tax values below 13% because otherwise, you will be stuck with dissatisfied citizens who will move out of your city one by one, and you don’t want that.
We have already mentioned how you can increase tax values. When it is acceptable, you can experiment with these options until your citizens reach the highest level of dissatisfaction.
We want to hear how you handle taxes in your city, so please share your tips with us.
