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Tax rate can be calculated in-game by comparing the price displayed below an
item on the main market screen, with the price shown when you click on the
item prior to purchasing it. The difference is the tax paid, from which you can
calculate the tax rate.
Political rating is important initially because it is the main factor affecting
taxation.
All purchases from station markets are taxed. Sales are not taxed. Commodities
have a base tax rate of 1%. Equipment has a base tax rate of 10%.
At 0 political rating, the base rate is modified by +2%: Pilots with 0 political
rating pay 3% tax of commodities and 12% on equipment. At political rating 125
(the highest), the base rate is modified by -0.5%: Pilots with 125 political rating
pay just 0.5% on commodities.
Tax rate is modified by other factors, not all of which are fully understood. The
most obvious other factor is the number of beacons held by your faction. Each
beacon counts for a 0.01% reduction in the tax paid. So, a pilot with political
rating 125, whose faction holds 50 beacons typically pays no tax on
commodities. It is not (currently) possible to have a negative tax rate.
Dangers of Trading at High Tax Rates
Our Solrain Premia pilot has received a donation of 400,000 credits from a
passing veteran. They decide to buy four units of Radium at Outpost and
transport them to Hyperial. The market price to Outpost is 81,300 credits a unit,
and Hyperial pays 84,000 credits. Great - a profit of 2,700 each. However, our
new trader has a 0 political rating with Octavius. This means they are paying
about 3% taxation on the purchase of Radium at Outpost. So, the actual price
they pay is around 83,700 credits a unit, which gives less profit overall than the
Water they shipped in earlier, but for a lot more effort.
Rule of thumb: Generally, the cheaper the commodity, the greater the profit
margin, the safer it is to trade with low political rating.
Equipment is rarely profitable when sold via station markets. In addition,
equipment is not insured whilst being transported as cargo, so deaths are very
expensive. Inexperienced pilots should avoid the transport of equipment.
Rank is primarily relevant to commodity traders because it restricts the
availability of ships, and to a lesser extent, equipment. Lower ranking pilots can
only access shuttles, which have small cargo capacities, as well as other
disadvantages such as slow speed and poor defences. This varies slightly by
faction, but generally: A level 21 pilot can potentially purchase a ship with ten
times the capacity of the best ship available to pilots below level 10. Level 26
pilots can purchase a ship with ten times the capacity of the level 21 ship.
Largest Available Cargo Ships by Rank