Chapter 31.6- The Seadragon's Roar

Runciter could hear Darklyn’s whistle as he picked up the parchment. He began his own examination and could see why. The numbers looked correct. He would have to get his scale to check them over later, but from what he could see, this man had modeled the Crown’s incomes for the next decade with present taxation and growth, and then he had proposed a series of tweaks to the present tax policy that saw the Crown taking in nearly as much money— only a 5% reduction— while reducing most taxes. Most.

“Yes, Lord Beesbury. I understand that. But I assure you that the affected Houses bar one will come to see the necessity of the present policy. And you did what I asked, yes?”

“Yes, Lord Hand. For Houses Redwyne, Manderly and Hightower, the only others to be substantially affected by the new taxes on shipbuilding and importation from Essos, I included a few special benefits. Reductions in taxes on wine should see the Redwyne books break even, and the same should hold true for House Manderly when it comes to shellwork, pearls, and fish, but I can not assure more than that without an in-depth look at their individual finances.”

“But you think the numbers are sound?”

“I think their tax burden to the Crown will remain within the same range, but like I said, taxation can have all manners of knock-on effects that we can not predict.”

“And like I said, this is for the good of the realm. They will understand. I will see to it that they do”

“As you say, Lord Hand.”

“This would cripple any house” Strong said.

“No. I highly doubt that some increased taxes would cripple Velaryon. Maybe make them bend those stiff backs of theirs a bit but nothing of value will be lost” Darklyn chuckled. Strong, despite his concerns, did not object further. And so the provisions were passed and would be placed before the King for assent. Something that he was sure the Hand would secure.

And so the war between the Crown and House Velaryon would begin, Runciter wrote in his journal that night. First would come the King’s First Tax revisions. A series of taxation policies that would see the taxes lighten on near every house in the realm, while near doubling on House Velaryon-related interests.

Not so overtly as to be obvious, but the tax burden on industries dominated by the Velaryons would be increased— five dragons in tax per ship built was one such increased tax. While taxes from everything from produce to wine would be reduced slightly enough that the Crown would hardly feel the loss, but the individual houses would feel their burdens lighten. House Velaryon would protest the new policy, but they would find themselves alone in that fight.