Re: [UNSURE] Lot taxes seem too low

by daniellepage12
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Original Post

Re: [UNSURE] Lot taxes seem too low

★★★★ Guide

This is a bug for sure. The game uses tax brackets to calculate lot taxes. The new update lowered the tax rate of all brackets by 0.5%. Currently property value under $20k has a tax rate of 1.5%. Between $20k and $30k it's 2.5%. And then it's 3% from $30k to $50k and 4.5% if it's over $50k.

 

Before the update the tax bracket calculation worked perfectly. The new update meanwhile completely botched the calculation. Here's the new function that's used to calculate lot taxes:

 

 

def _get_property_taxes(self):
    plex_service = services.get_plex_service()
    if plex_service.is_zone_an_apartment(self._household.home_zone_id, consider_penthouse_an_apartment=False):
        return 0
    billable_household_value = self._household.household_net_worth(billable=True)
    for bracket in Bills.BILL_BRACKETS:
        lower_bound = bracket.value_range.lower_bound
        if billable_household_value >= lower_bound:
            upper_bound = bracket.value_range.upper_bound
            if upper_bound is None:
                upper_bound = billable_household_value
            bound_difference = upper_bound - lower_bound
            value_difference = billable_household_value - lower_bound
            if value_difference > bound_difference:
                value_difference = bound_difference
            value_difference *= bracket.tax_percentage
            return value_difference

 

The problem is that value_difference in this function is returned as soon as it's calculated for the first tax bracket. Since $20000 * 1.5% = $300, all lot taxes are capped at $300 as a result. To fix this, calculate the running total instead. For example:

 

def _get_property_taxes(self):
    plex_service = services.get_plex_service()
    if plex_service.is_zone_an_apartment(self._household.home_zone_id, consider_penthouse_an_apartment=False):
        return 0
    property_taxes = 0
    billable_household_value = self._household.household_net_worth(billable=True)
    for bracket in Bills.BILL_BRACKETS:
        lower_bound = bracket.value_range.lower_bound
        if billable_household_value >= lower_bound:
            upper_bound = bracket.value_range.upper_bound
            if upper_bound is None:
                upper_bound = billable_household_value
            bound_difference = upper_bound - lower_bound
            value_difference = billable_household_value - lower_bound
            if value_difference > bound_difference:
                value_difference = bound_difference
            value_difference *= bracket.tax_percentage
            property_taxes += value_difference
    return property_taxes

 

 

Message 11 of 114 (4,772 Views)

Severely reduced bills after June 2020 patch

★★★ Novice

Product: The Sims 4
Platform:PC
Which language are you playing the game in? Norsk
How often does the bug occur? Every time (100%)
What is your current game version number? 1.63.134.1020
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? All except Spooky Stuff
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Play a household made before latest patch, recall approximate billing amount previously due, wait for bills to show now.
What happens when the bug occurs? Bills due are severely reduced compared to pre-patch averages.
What do you expect to see? I expect to the approximately the same amount as pre-patch.
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Yes
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Yes
Please describe the patch or change you made. It happened after installing the June 2020 patch.

After installing the latest patch (June 2020) my bills has dropped an unrealistic amount. This is without any other change other than installing the patch (No power generation, no water storage etc). Previously my bills were approximately 14000§, now they're only 800§. 

Message 12 of 114 (4,766 Views)

Re: [UNSURE] Lot taxes seem too low

★★★★ Pro
@elelunicy Maybe you could send this to SimGuruNick? I think he would appreciate it. 🙂
Message 13 of 114 (4,716 Views)

Re: Severely reduced bills after June 2020 patch

Hero

HI @illustratedbliss   

 

Merged your post with existing report.

Make sure to click me too on the first post.

Good Luck
Crin

Trennlinie

I don't work or have any association with EA. I give advice to the best of my knowledge and cannot be held responsible for any damage done to your computer/game.
Please only contact me via PM when asked to do so.



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Message 14 of 114 (4,703 Views)

Re: [UNSURE] Lot taxes seem too low

★★★★ Guide
@elelunicy Any chance you could make a mod fix for us? I'd be eternally grateful, since this is game breaking, imo. There's very few expensive things to spend simoleons on in the game, so bills are very important to maintain balance.

I would hope that EA issues a quick fix for this, but I doubt it. It takes time for simmers to realize that something is wrong with the bills, so this issue isn't getting a lot of attention yet.
Message 15 of 114 (4,658 Views)

Re: [UNSURE] Lot taxes seem too low

★★ Apprentice

I'm also having this problem! I don't use mods or CC in my game. I've noticed it happening on the two different games I'm playing at the moment, one where I only play one family, and one where I switch between 10 different families. All their bills have been between 300-340ish simoleans, despite living in various homes and apartments where the bills/rent were in the thousands prior to the 6/3 patch. It's driving me nuts!

 

In addition, bills are arriving on Saturdays and Tuesdays instead of Mondays; and for some reason, there is only a 24 hr grace period to pay them before power gets shut off, instead of the 48 hr we had before the patch. Although for all I know, that could be intentional.

Message 16 of 114 (4,552 Views)

Re: [UNSURE] Lot taxes seem too low

★★★★ Pro

@Desetoiles Interesting that the bills come two times per week for you, I haven’t noticed that myself but I’ll check it out tomorrow.

 

@elelunicy  Could you take a look in the code what it says about which days the bills should come? Standard smile

Message 17 of 114 (4,529 Views)

Re: [UNSURE] Lot taxes seem too low

[ Edited ]
★★★ Novice

I've had this same problem where taxes seem capped at $300. Really annoying because one of my sims just won the lottery and moved from a tiny home worth $13,000 to a mansion worth $600,000, and his bills have only changed by about $200 a week...

 

I also have the same thing with the grace period for paying bills being 24 hours - after 24 hours of no payment, I get both notifications about having '24 hours before power shuts off' and then 'your power has been shut off' in very quick succession, one after the other...

Message 18 of 114 (4,399 Views)

Re: [OPEN] Lot taxes seem too low

★★★★ Novice

I'm having this too with the latest patch. I don't have Eco Lifestyle so it must be the 'bills update'. I find it hard to believe that my Legacy Sims in a massive mansion, who were paying several thousand per week in bills, are now paying only a few hundred. This cannot possibly be deliberate. I WANT them to pay a large amount - they have hundreds of thousands in the bank; what else am I going to spend their wealth on if not bills?!

Message 19 of 114 (4,296 Views)

Re: [OPEN] Lot taxes seem too low

★★★★ Novice

I’m having the exact same issue.  It dawned on me when I went from a 12,000 simoleon tiny home to a 456,000 simoleon mansion and both of their property taxes were 300 simoleons.  This is kind of game breaking in a sense.  I hope there is a fix for it soon

Message 20 of 114 (4,251 Views)