Introduction
Right now, when people make a town, they spend all their money buying it, and have no money to pay for taxes. This becomes a problem, because the only way to recruit citizens is to add plots, which costs more money. Also, mayors of larger towns know that having pretty architecture comes with a big price. Not only plot costs but taxes add up quickly when making a town.
Main Idea
Replacing the stressful system of town taxes would be beneficial for everyone. Instead of paying upkeep for the town, or paying for plots, a mayor would pay a set price to increase the town's maximum plots. Each town would start with 5. For example, 10 plots for 15K, and then the mayor wouldn't have to pay anymore costs for claiming the plot, or taxes on it. This would cost 5K more than buying 10 plots, but in 8 days, it would be more cost-effective. This system allows players to move plots without paying, or expand their town and explore without paying. New towns don't have to struggle to pay rent, and large towns still need to pay for their land. The nation bonus for plots would also need to be reduced to make this system effective.
Deployment
Now, this could leave many wondering how to control people building giant towns and leaving. However, this system is already in place! First, it takes significant capital to start a town or buy any large amount of land. Second, if a player is gone for 60 days, their town falls anyway! To clarify: this would limit towns by how many plots they can claim. They start with 5, and do not pay for a new plot or its upkeep. However, they do need to pay an additional fee to claim more plots, which are the same as before. Taxing residents would still be important, because the town still needs to expand, which requires money. However, this makes it much easier for the mayor to manage their town, and could persuade people to make nicer looking towns or lower their taxes on residents. This could be tested on Alpha (as many have moved on to Beta), or an entirely new Towny World (Release 1.0 maybe?), and could require some increase in town price to balance it in the economy.
Conclusion
I believe this system is much better because it relieves, stress, encourages architecture, improves community, and makes people's lives easier. Please voice your opinions!
