Executive Summary
Tax kicks in progressively from 1T of cargo, reaching a cap anywhere up to 700T of cargo (varies). Tax rate also varies. The Bulk Tax does not appear to apply if there is zero demand[4], or there is a lot of demand [1] - in those cases only a flat price is seen.
Example
Here's a example of the sell price you can get for differing amounts of cargo (same goods, same station) that illustrates the effect of the tax. Once you hit a certain amount of cargo the price you are offered levels out[2]. Remember these are examples - different commodities seem to do the same thing - but the numbers will differ.
Another way of looking at this is to look at the 'tax' at each Cargo amount[5]:
Knowing this basic form for Bulk Tax we can simplify gathering data on the actual cargo amounts that attract maximum tax and also the amounts of the tax. The following table gives information on several goods at different stations.
- Empty Cargo Price is the price offered if you try and sell with no cargo onboard
- Bulk Price is the price offered if you exceed the amount of cargo to hit the minimum (bulk) price offer
- Calculated Max Cargo is the minimum cargo to have on-board to attract the bulk price
- Tax rate is the % taken from the 'Empty Cargo Price' when you hit maximum tax
- Tax amount is the difference between the taxed and untaxed sell prices
Summary
What does this mean? Well, it means the bulk tax starts to kick in at 1T of cargo, and that having smaller amounts of cargo will attract a smaller tax - but it seems that the amount that attracts less tax varies - and the amount of that tax also varies. Since you can't get 'below' the bulk tax it is probably best to just ignore it
Collecting this data
The Sell Price in the market is only updated 10 minutes after you change what is in your hold. The 'easy' way to look at these numbers is:
- Visit a market with no cargo and identify something with low demand - note down the 'Empty Price'
- Go and fill your hold with the commodity (preferably at least 180T - the more you carry the higher the Max Cargo you can detect)
- Back to the original market - note the new sell price. If this is the same as (1) then there is no bulk tax (possibly the demand is high enough to stop it happening). The number you get now is the 'Bulk Price'
- Abandon 1T of cargo (do not sell it as this may change the market!) (Right Panel -> Cargo -> select Cargo -> Abandon / Destroy)
- Wait 10 minutes after the sale - and exit the station menus
- Look at the market - if the sell price is the same then you are definitely on the 'bulk tax plateaux'. If the price went up then you are on the 'slope' of the above charts and cannot measure the Max Cargo (it is above the amount of cargo you have on board)
- If you were on the 'plateaux' in (6) then sell all but 25T of the commodity
- Wait 10 minutes - and exit the station menus
- Look at the sell price - this will normally be more than the bulk price - if it is you have a point on the slope and can use this as your 'between price' and 'between cargo'. If it is still the bulk price then sell more until you are not on the bulk price (remembering to wait 10 minute until you check!).
- Now you have 'Bulk Price', 'Empty Price', 'Between price' and 'Between cargo'. You can work out the cargo where the Bulk Price kicks in (the 'knee' in the charts) using the formula: ('Bulk Price' - 'Empty Price') * 'Between Cargo' / ('Between price' - 'Empty Price').[3]
[1] No price changes seen with 190T and 100k demand, though I guess it's just about possible the 'tax' was < 1CR
[2] Some tests were done in a 750T cutter. No changes in the tax rate were seen, and those data points are omitted as they 'hide' the initial ramp.
[3] This sounds complicated, it may be easier to look at the earlier charts and think through how you would find the inflection point (knee) for yourself as the math is simpler than the written explanation
[4] Quite possibly all cargo in the zero Demand case attract a bulk price, so you never see the 'full' price, but as there is only a single price you can see this is somewhat moot
[5] Note that the line does not actually go towards 0 tax for 0 cargo, but it is close enough that I have ignored this
Still to do
- Look at where the Demand starts be high enough that the Bulk Tax only applies fully 'above' Cutter cargo load sizes. ('somewhere between 500 and 1,500 looks likely')
- Collect more data points and try to work out what is influencing the 'knee' point (and what isn't). Maybe.
That's all I have for now. So shoot me down - for science!
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