22XX – No More Death And Taxes (1/n)

In the year 2113, humanity has transformed. Across the Solar System, society operates by principles that meld economics, technology, and social contract in ways nearly unrecognizable to people from centuries past. Immortality, though common, comes at a price, and a novel kind of economic system has emerged—one as unforgiving as it is adaptive. Here, wealth is tethered to intellectual property, cognitive prowess, and one’s capacity to innovate in a landscape where success is fleeting and heavily taxed. “Displacement tax” is the new fiscal measure: a levy that adjusts dynamically as one’s cognitive and creative abilities disrupt the established order. Those who achieve brilliance in this world know that achievement is as much a burden as a reward.

The Landscape of Wealth and Progress

The Solar System of 2113 is a bustling network of competing minds and entities, each vying to stay a step ahead in an environment shaped by progress and regulated by continuous taxation. Ownership of ideas is the ultimate currency, making intellectual property the defining measure of affluence and status. This intellectual capital, however, is taxed in real time. The more innovative an individual or entity, the higher the tax levied, as their success “displaces” the wealth potential of others. Such taxes are algorithmically imposed across every nano-transaction and activity, maintaining a social balance that holds individual ambition in check. 

Basic income, funded through this perpetual tax flow, guarantees a comfortable life for every citizen. The vast majority of recognized citizens do not pay tax whatsoever – they receive a basic income (better referred to as a share in society, or a Prospertity Share). In fact, the average person in 2113 lives with an affluence unimaginable to the wealthiest of the early 21st century. However, those driven by ambition, those who wish to transcend the guaranteed comfort and rise above the masses, are in constant battle with a tax system that ebbs and flows, adjusting to every competitive edge they carve out. Progress here isn’t owned—it’s rented, with a consensual state apparatyus as the perpetual landlord. In fact – the Landlord is a quaint historical artefact that descended from literally Google.

Pain, Progress, and the ‘Displacement Tax’

In 2113, the concept of “pain” has taken on a new, collective dimension. Here, pain is not an individual sensation but a measure of one’s disruptive impact on the social order. Society imposes a “displacement tax,” (A Competition Tax?) a direct levy on excessive competitive ability, designed to temper those who gain too much too quickly. While innovation is encouraged, the system seeks to prevent any individual or entity from outpacing others to a destabilizing degree. The most talented and resourceful must continually reckon with this tax, which grows proportionally with their advantage.

The displacement tax is not about penalizing success but balancing it. Excessive competitive gain—an extraordinary leap in intellectual property, an algorithm, or an economic foothold—triggers a recalibration. Success here is fluid; the more one rises, the more their achievements are taxed, thereby redistributing opportunity across society. This mechanism fosters a diverse and stable intellectual ecosystem, where competition remains robust but is constrained to prevent monopolies or unchecked dominance.

In this society, maintaining one’s position at the top is a matter of skillfully navigating these taxes. Progress can be achieved, but only incrementally, ensuring that individuals remain part of a shared advancement rather than isolated powerhouses. Minds are urged to balance innovation with cooperation, and those who push the boundaries too far experience a rebalancing of their influence. The displacement tax keeps every mind accountable to the collective, making progress a shared journey rather than a zero-sum competition.

This tax on excessive competitiveness, far from stifling creativity, cultivates resilience and adaptability. By tempering the excesses of individual achievement, society preserves an environment where all minds can thrive, each contributing to a steady rhythm of progress that benefits the many over the few.

The Moon and the “Economic Equilibrium Point”

In 2113, the tax structure of the Solar System radiates outward from a single “economic equilibrium point” on the Moon, a massive iron-clad fiscal center where tax rates approach 100%. Known as “zero point,” this location serves as the ultimate anchor of taxation, and the closer an entity is to it, the higher the tax rates it must contend with, and it is a curious historical artefact that traces its existence back to Blockchain  Currencies and Google. The tax burden decreases in a gradient that stretches across the entire Solar System, governed by both physical and economic proximity to zero point.

This unique system accounts for numerous factors—orbital mechanics, communication lag, availability of propulsion fuel, and access to specific propulsion technologies. The result is an adaptive taxation map that influences the strategic location of industries, research hubs, and trade outposts. The further from zero point, the lower the taxes. For instance, tax rates decline dramatically beyond the Earth-Moon system, tapering off across regions of the Solar System with scarce infrastructure or limited access to swift transit routes.

For instance, those based in the Kuiper Belt enjoy the lowest taxes, as they are both physically and economically removed from the Moon. Located well beyond the convenience of standard propulsion routes and outside the reach of main transport nodes, the Kuiper Belt is difficult to access, isolated from communication relays, and poses  prohibitive logistical challenges. Due to these obstacles, the tax rate there is minimal—attractive to certain operations but impractical for most, as they must contend with extreme resource scarcity and travel times measured in many years to over a decade.

The Strategic Influence of Distance and Trajectory

The interplay between propulsion technology and taxation is central to this fiscal map. As the displacement tax emanates from zero point, the energy and time required to reach different destinations influence the tax level across each region. For example, regions within the main asteroid belt experience moderate taxes, since travel times are relatively manageable, and mining and industrial hubs are supported by reasonable supply chains. Though distant from zero point, the asteroid belt’s liberal tax rate reflects its accessibility and established infrastructure.

Interestingly, Jupiter’s moons, though farther than the asteroid belt, have a slightly elevated tax rate relative to the main asteroid belt. This is due to their favorable position for interplanetary travel; the immense gravitational well of Jupiter allows for aerobraking, which greatly reduces fuel requirements for deceleration, making travel there relatively economical despite the distance. Tax levels in the Jovian system are thus a little higher, acknowledging the advantage of its accessible location and attractive gravitational properties for orbiting trade and resource extraction. 

Examples of Tax Variance Across the Solar System

• Mars: Though farther from the Moon than Earth, Mars maintains tax rates comparable to Earth and a fair bit higher than Ceres – due to its robust infrastructure and established industries. Its close alignment with standard propulsion routes makes it easy to reach from Earth, so tax rates there remain high compared to the outer Solar System.

• The Asteroid Belt: Home to countless mining and manufacturing facilities, the main asteroid belt enjoys relatively moderate taxes. While physically distant, its position on popular trajectories and resource-rich environment keep it tightly integrated into the economy, sustaining a higher tax rate than remote regions like the Kuiper Belt. The political infrastructure in the main belt is therefore unashamedly Libertarian. 

• The Jovian Moons: Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto enjoy moderately higher tax rates thanks to Jupiter’s gravity well, which allows for efficient aerobraking. Despite the moons’ considerable distance, transport costs to Jupiter are competitive due to gravitational assists and well-mapped trajectories, resulting in higher taxes compared to similarly distant locations. However, these tax rates fluctuate over the years, relative to availability to Holzman orbits.

• Kuiper Belt: At the Solar System’s periphery, the Kuiper Belt experiences the lowest taxes. Located far from the Moon’s gravitational reach and far off convenient propulsion paths, this region is largely tax-free, appealing for storage facilities or research stations that can operate independently from centralized hubs.

• Solar Flanks and “Leeward” Positions: Areas leeward of the Sun, shielded from direct, rapid trajectories by complex solar orbital mechanics, also benefit from low taxes due to their inaccessibility. Such locations require highly advanced propulsion technology and significant logistical resources, so the tax burden there is reduced to incentivize risk-tolerant, high-stakes enterprises. This has created frontier zones that exploit these dynamics, specifically in Trojan regions relative to Jupiter and Saturn. 

• Mercury: A very curious problem is Mercury – within minutes in terms of communications lag, but very tricky to travel to, Mercury experiences wildly fluctuating tax rates and investors that settled down on Mercury can’t erect a space elevator because of the sun’s blazing heat and the fact that Mercury doesn’t rotate appreciably fast. So landing on Mercury as well as launches requires smaller vessels either landing brute force on the dark side (a very expensive affair) or even smaller vessels landing into magnetic decceleration literally underneath the surface of the planet. The Mercurians have invested heavily in energy infrastructure, gathering solar energy and re-emitting it in narrow lanes, to provide solar sail acceleration to ships traveling outward. This is a particularly claustrophobic business model which remains heavily subsidized by ‘the authorities’ to provide year around coverage. 

The Solar System’s tax structure is not static but dynamic, ebbing and flowing in response to orbital alignments and changing propulsion technologies. As the Moon’s zero point functions as the central anchor, tax levels in distant regions fluctuate based on logistical challenges and advances in transportation. This adaptive map of tax gradients incentivizes enterprises to seek locations that best suit their needs and endurance for distance, creating a spatial economy that is as vast and varied as the Solar System itself.

A Web of Digital Currencies and Autonomous Corporations

Currency in 2113 is digital, algorithmic, and infinitely adaptable. Thousands of competing forms of currency fluctuate based on supply, innovation, and even the public favor of key influencers. Unlike the centralized, state-backed currencies of the past, these currencies are responsive, tied to individual minds, unique discoveries, and the ebb and flow of ideas across the system. The wealthiest “names” from the 21st century still resonate in these currencies. Google, Relentless and Meta for instance, have evolved far beyond its origins, merging with Lunar and Ceres banking institutions to create a point of maximum taxation, establishing a fiscal cornerstone for the entire Solar System.

Corporations in 2113 aren’t mere businesses; they’re self-governing entities with a mind of their own. They’re conglomerates of artificial and organic intelligence, each operating with distinct motives and rules that sometimes diverge sharply from human interests. These corporations, labeled “artilects,” have enormous power, and while some operate in service to humanity, others pursue goals entirely incomprehensible to human minds. They continuously innovate, generating new forms of value, yet they also disrupt, often outmaneuvering human competitors through sheer computational superiority. This environment is one of constant adaptation and re-invention—a hallmark of a society that exists in dynamic equilibrium with technology.

The Interplay of Light, Tax, and Power

In the skies of 2113, the Earth, Moon, and outer planets glow with three distinct “lights.” The sunlight that has always powered civilization remains constant, symbolizing energy and possibility. Then there is the “dark radiance” of the Moon’s high-tax zones—a stark symbol of the social contract, the collective interest trumping private ambition. Finally, the “extropic illumination” of enterprise zones shines from the vast network of thriving metropolises and industries scattered across the Solar System. Together, these lights represent the complex, often conflicting forces that shape 2113’s society, illuminating both the allure of self-interest and the necessity of collective governance.

The Price of Liberty in an Algorithmic World

This world offers citizens unimaginable luxury—basic income for baseline humans is generous, and life expectancy, thanks to medical and technological breakthroughs, stretches into theoretical centuries, if not millennia. We are talking indefinite  – Yet immortality is only as free as one’s tax obligations allow. The closer one veers into post-humanity, the heavier the “progress tax,” as society works to balance power with the burdens of individual achievement. In a world where death is not inevitable, taxation is the last great equalizer, ensuring that even the Gods must pay for the privilege of transcendance.

To break free from these constraints on one’s ambitions, one eventually has little alternative venture to regions of the Solar System far from the epicenters of commerce and control. The outskirts—Mars, the asteroid belt, and beyond—offer the liberty to accumulate wealth and experiment with new ways of living, but these freedoms come with risk and isolation. Autonomous “free zones” allow for radically different economic systems, some libertarian, some communal, many spiritual, others yet unimagined. Yet the very remoteness of these zones limits their influence, and they often remain dependent on the high-tech infrastructure (or intellectual properties…) of Earth and the Moon, tying them back, however tenuously, to the system they seek to escape.

Society’s New Social Contract

At the heart of 2113’s world is a delicate social contract, one that acknowledges both the power of individuals to reshape reality and the need for a stabilizing force to prevent chaos. In a society where ideas themselves are commodities, ownership is as much a responsibility as a right. With the advent of near-infinite life, the social contract isn’t just a legal framework but a moral imperative. Taxes fund the infrastructure that supports extended life, space expansion, and artificial intelligence, enabling society to thrive in a carefully regulated balance.

As the second installment of the 2113 series approaches, further questions loom: Can a society built on endless life and limitless ideas avoid stagnation? Will the balance of individualism and collectivism hold, or will new ideologies emerge to reshape humanity’s future?

This vision of 2113 leaves us contemplating the boundaries between freedom and responsibility, progress and stability. In a Solar System where the lines blur between self and society, technology and humanity, the future of civilization hinges on one question: What price are we willing to pay for immortality?