Lucky Coin has always been an avid worker. When he’s told to jump, he says “how high?” When told to fill out form A38, he asks “how fast?” And when told to apply heavy sanctions on a struggling widow who forgot to declare a purchase she’s made half a decade ago, Lucky ensures that it’ll be his absolute pleasure.
It’s with this kind of go-getter attitude that Lucky secured himself the prestigious and heavily sought-over position as the new liaison between the Equestrian Revenue Bureau and the municipality of Ponyville. The catch? After rifling through the new files he inherited, much to his shock, he winds up uncovering the fraudulent background of an Element Bearer.
What can be done when criminal activities originate from a pony with diplomatic immunity? Can the Bureau find a loophole to hoofcuff the perpetrator? And if so, will Equestria stay safe with one of their protectors wasting away behind bars? Is this bureaucratic maelstrom and its many political ramifications even worth the hassle?
For Lucky Coin, the answer couldn’t be clearer: The law supersedes everything. It’s up to him to set this mess straight.
Fun story, I can't imagine a more deserving jackass of a character deserves to get proper narrative retribution with cosmic justice. Looking forward to see more of this.
the part that the worst is that he is not entirety wrong. The money is need especially in a hard currency government. But he also wrong in that the law are not right and they have used their power to make everything worse and the break away from the Princess is only making them worse.
Interesting, funny, and dark, count me in.
This story is gonna be really really good I can already tell.
A user not too long ago said that stories involving taxes are surprisingly popular for some reason, and I was like nah, but here we are.
And I unironically don't get it, can someone explain what is the appeal?
And here I was thinking that Equestria didn't have literal demons... I mean tax collectors
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To me personally, I just like seeing different perspectives of Equestrian life. It fleshes out the whole setting and gives it even more lore ... even if it is "only" the take of a fan. Also while taxes or law enforcement may not be the most interesting topic, the drama they create certainly is, the family featured in this chapter is a good example of that.
Oh and also it is something relatable and helps identify with the characters if you, at one time in your life, had to deal with taxes and their repercussions (Being from the country with the most tax laws I can easily sympathize with anyone having to deal with them).
Finally, stories written on the topic of taxes are mostly pretty well written and have interesting characters, both kind of being a necessity of the rather dry subject matter. It is much easier to just have your chosen characters gallop off to a new adventure than to make a rather mundane subject interesting, so you find that the stories are mostly done by authors who at least have an inkling of what they are doing.
To the story itself: An interesting start, I'm quite looking forward to what is going to happen to our lead who has quickly joined the rank of others like Blueblood and Zephyr Breeze in the category of characters that I like because I dislike them. After all, we already have our fair share of good and bad guys, it's great to get more in between, especially if they get served their comeuppance at some point.
Okay, so the repayment plan for the back taxes owed is actually insane and pointless. Sounds like they are trying to wring blood from a stone. It is why things like payment plans and such are a thing, because more than anything, the tax service wants to be paid in full, and you can't pay off your debt if you can't work or are dead. Did an outside agitator come up with this system? I'd say it sounds like it came from the depths of hell but one pays the devil his due, not his due plus 60%.
Also, overstating your income on your taxes only benefits the tax service. You pay your taxes throughout the year. This fraudulent income filing would add money that has not had taxes paid for it yet, which would actually reduce any tax return or even cause this guy to owe the ERB.
Oh, also https://youtu.be/xmWybnLOPnA?feature=shared
Whenever I see taxes in a pony fic I think of Nepotism Adventures.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=573zsc6ZuhQ
It certainly seems LC has been following the philosophy of Littlefinger.
Chaos is a Ladder.
This looks hilarious lmao
I fucking love this character.
Truly, bureaucrats are the best.
Banger
Okay yeah I need more of this immediately
When it comes to tax collectors, the only question to be asked is the old TV Trope, "Why don't we just shoot them?"
11936469 We're all hoping Celestia drops the Sun on the tax collectors.
Are we sure this guy isn't secretly allied with the changelings
This may be one of the most punchable OCs I have ever seen. Outstanding work in making someone so comprehensively reprehensible. And while there is some truth to the necessity of taxes, I have to wonder how much total revenue the ERS reforms have actually provided the nation, as opposed to feeding back into the offices, staff, and lobbying the revenue service has used to ensure that the bureaucracy keeps growing to meet the needs of the growing bureaucracy.
Also, there is the not-inconsiderable political weight of Celestia's personal student to consider once Lucky starts making threats in Ponyville. No amount of lobbying in Equestria will keep the princesses from weighing in when tax collectors start interfering with matters of national security.
Here's looking forward to more and hoping that the entire service gets optimized to within an inch of its life by Twilight. I imagine she has some thoughts on the matter.
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The question is whether his superiors are. Cultivating this kind of lockstep loyalty to the letter of the law rather than the spirit seems like the first step of a much more sophisticated plan than Chrysalis's, to say nothing of establishing dominion over the home of those who topple the queen.
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Mate, who do you think employs tax collectors? Maintaining a fancy castle and feeding a cake addiction are not things that pay themselves.
11937397 Interesting point I'd like to see him attempt to audit Discord that might be a punishment for someone
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The idea was to portray the system as unfair and unforgiving. Showing the example by kicking down a few ponies – “this could happen to you if you don’t follow the law flawlessly” kind of deal! ‘Sides, money can always be found somewhere. The father in the first section has furniture he can pawn for a few extra bits, for instance. While not ideal, it’s still better than jail time.
As for the overstated income, where I’m from, when you do your taxes, a percentage of your salary is given back to you up to a certain threshold. The more you earn, the bigger the return. If you claim more than you’ve earned last year, you get a bigger boon. That ain’t bueno if you get audited.
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Heh, danke! You know what they say about jerkass characters: They’re ripe for some good ol’ character growth. And as his friend warned, Lucky’s bound to be very lonely in life if he doubles down on his narcissism, his inflated ego, and his inability to realize that he may be sometimes wrong. The boy has to learn to be more opened to different perspectives.
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Discord would probably slap his knee seeing ponies using laws, structure, and order to accidentally bring chaos. Aka, the one thing they try to avoid the most is what they end up causing. That’s comedic genius for him.
Form A38?.. is this a reference to The Place That Sends You Mad?
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You betcha it is! I grew up reading a lot of Asterix and Obelix, so making a story about bureaucracy, I just had to plug a reference to The 12 Tasks of Asterix. :]
This is the kind of individual that you love as your friend and hate as your foe. I need more of this a quickly as you are able to provide.
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Love as a friend? Please. Individuual like that will turn on you the moment you slightly step out of the line.
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Ha! Here's hoping that's some foreshadowing.
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So far, he seems to be teetering between socio- and psychopath. Thinking the former, seeing how much glee he gets from the suffering of others.
Either way, I'm aboard for the ride, driver.
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It certainly is effective!
As for the tax situation, I'm not sure if that explanation makes sense. My point is that if you earn 50,000 bits at an effective tax rate of 50%, where the standard deduction is 10% of your annual income (for a tax return of 2,500 bits), but state you earned 100,000 bits in order to recieve a return of 5,000 bits, the ERB would see that you've only paid 25,000 bits in tax for that fiscal year to date, and would say that you owed the buero an additional 25,000 bits. Of course, your standard deduction would be factored into this, which would mean your total tax return would be -20,000 bits. This is why I am saying overstating your income doesn't make sense.
Also, just want to take a moment to appreciate the absurdity of discussing the reasonablness of hypothetical tax fraud in fantasy pony land.
Such a great starting chapter to such an inherently silly idea, you gave so much room to build a character that has a sour core. So much so that I hardly believed he actually did think he was doing the right thing or that he cared he was.
That mightve been hard to understand but basically I never thought for a moment he was actually a character that cares for justice.
I will say it's odd that he even had a friend he still talked to or that there were even ponies that was in his building that he even considers were worth speaking to. I mean either they are also deluded into thinking the system is good or they are greedy little hob goblins. Like that doesn't make much sense that he wouldn't see scum like that a mile away but idk.
Anyway great chapter overall.
11937405 Celestia just uses MAAAAGIC to make everything!
Taxes are passed by BLUEBLOOD! KILL HIM!!!
Much yes
Perfect just perfect down to the smallest details.
I see you took the TRUE evil in our worlds and introduced it to Equestria. IRS/ERB ignore their 'humanity' to make their agenda the only true one that matters. The almighty dollar/bit, root of all evil and all that. This guy is worse than all the villains in MLP haha.
To be fair, the best people to make sure everyone follows the rules - especially the ones that most don't see any immediate benefit from obeying - are not the sort one would call sensitive. People (humans and ponies) are self-centered asswipes who all believe that they are special and thus only have to follow the rules when it suits them. After all, its the other guys job to pay for all the things that everyone uses (roads, patent protections, etc). To effectively deal with that sort of creature who will whine, threaten, bribe, and generally do anything to avoid paying their share you need a certain level of "I don't give two shits about who you are - the rules apply to everyone." Otherwise known as being a selective asshole - polite and professional until the idiot tries something THEN you pin them to the plate.
That said, this... thing makes my trigger finger itch REAL bad. Reminds me of the difference between dealing with ATF agents and local police. The ATF agents were professional and rather polite guys who understood when I told them I had already sold the firearm at a gunshow back before that loophole was (mercifully) closed. Local cops, well I believe the usual term for their attitude is stick up the ass.