Taxes

This is quite a bit more restrictive than most of our prompt but taxes are all about rules so here we are.

First the rules. Rules, rules and more rules. This is a writing prompt so we'll use writing "rules". Tell don't show, the protag is perfect, the antag is evil, don't start at the beginning use a flashback to get there, use a prologue in a short and have chapters, finally end with a deus ex machina. Or not! Is this a rule? Then we can, should break it. My head hurts.

That's the how, now the what. One of the primary characters is a tax collector. The other is the tax payer. The twist is that the story takes place in either a Sci Fi world with time travel or a fantasy world with transmutation. What taxes are owed if the money comes from the future? What taxes are owed on payments made in lead bars before they are changed into gold? Property taxes on a house in the fifth dimension? Or on a castle that only appears in moonlight? Do aliens or magical beasts owe taxes? I'm sure there are other complications so use one of these or come up with your own.

Finally this is a prompt, a paragraph to get you thinking, not a contest for which your entry will be discarded for being off topic. So if this reminded you of the time you visited the IRS and saw a squirrel chasing a puppy then write that. You are following the "rules".

As before, post your submission as a child page under the writing prompt page. Post comments and critiques to a particular sub as comments to that page.