Agreed. We should improve the position of religions within Battlemaster, and taxations are counter-productive in my opinion.
Funny how that sounds just like the real world...
To clear up some things:
Secret Societies will not be taxed. I was discussing an idea on IRC about taxation for them, based on the concept that they will likely run some kind of "front" business, so a tax on that - at a much reduced rate - would not be a too horrible idea. But that's an idea, and the current code for the new estate system does not tax Secret Societies.
For religions, I may be talked into making the exact "discount" for religions a value the region lord can choose. Within some limits (i.e. not 100% tax reduction, but maybe between 0% and 90% in 10% increments). But that's definitely on the "post-release enhancements" list.
I find it utterly important to tax religions, because too many people have begun using them as banks. And quite frankly, the other option is to do things with limited treasuries or such. Also, because a couple of rich temples rightfully should give the region lord more gold to play with. And because it creates another source of conflict. The religion elders may want the lord to put all that gold right back into the temple - but instead of a game mechanic, there is now a human being here who could decide that he'd rather not...
