Each nation depends on taxes to fund their Army, Navy and Government. The taxes are paid by the citizens of a nation. The entire world in 1750 has around 787 million citizens, divided among 152 sea-faring nations. The nations with the largest populations will have the largest budgets, but that can easily change.
Citizens can emigrate. The decision for citizens to do so depends on their happiness. Citizens are categorized in the lower-, middle- and upper class. If citizens of a class are more content in other nations, they will gradually emigrate there. They will do this sooner and in larger numbers to neighboring nations, nations with the same culture, or within their own nation. This impacts the tax income of individual ports.
Happiness of citizens is influenced by tax rates, average age (which is influenced by mortality and fertility), prices of goods and events like wars and blockade or siege of their port. The happiness of citizens is primarily in the hands of the Home Secretary, the Minister of Finance, and on a local level, a Governor of a port.
Home Secretaries monitor the happiness and movements of citizens. They can set policies on healthcare, education and infrastructure to influence happiness, but these policies come at a cost. Free education or healthcare for the lower classes can have a great effect, but are costly and require more taxes. Good policies are all about balance. Home Secretaries should carefully watch what other nations are doing because it is the difference of population happiness between nations that matters most.
Finance Ministers ensure a nation’s income. They set the taxes, which apply for the citizens and the gamers alike. There are income taxes per class, trades taxes per type of good, taxes on capital for citizens and companies, taxes on import which can be subject to trade treaties, inheritance tax, gift tax, insurance tax and dividend tax. Additionally there are Bond sales, Lottery sales, toll collections, tuition fees, fines, repossessions and escheatment. The higher the tax, the more negative its effect on happiness of the classes and gamers. The Finance Minister has to work closely with the Home Secretary to ensure that the taxation is not hurting the nation, because losing citizens or gamers means less tax income.