Ok, so I'v recently had an issue with loosing a lot of money... it turned out that my mayor in beta had turned up the tax. I made all town members a vip in the town to prevent further money loss (before the tax was collected). I am a co-mayor and vip in my alpha town. The only embassy I have is in a town with no tax at all for anything, nor do I have any pwarps or shops. But still I lost 30k after the towny tax was collected today, so it might be a bug that still takes tax from the people who are vip in their town. The only proof I have of this is that after the tax was collected my beta town had more money than before (less than a 30k boost but still more). The only proof I have of this might be that skaros saw the town balance and the balance of every other town member (in beta), after I reported that my mayor (in beta) changed the tax in the town without a warning (before tax was collected today).