by Temujin

Right, the basic and primary way of earning money is through icon series. There are multiple stores, at least 3 are known to everyone (Premium, general and rare finds) and there may or may not be other stores. The progressive tax system is as follows:

under 15 icons, your tax is $0
15 - 19, your tax is $1
20 - 24, your tax is $2
25 - 29, your tax is $4
30 - 36, your tax is $6
37 - 44, your tax is $10
45 - 54, your tax is $16
55 - 64, your tax is $24
65 - 74, your tax is $34
75 - 89, your tax is $46
90 and above, your tax is $62

Now, there are important things to note here. First off, you get taxed a higher percentage of your theoretical income (assuming more icons = more complete series) the more icons you possess. Secondly, there is no tax increase over 90 icons, however 90 icons is a hell of a lot. So, it is advantageous to most people to have series that have the smallest number of icons and yield the highest return. This is what is known as the Icon to Payout Ratio (IPR).

An example. The vein series has 3 icons and a payout of $5, so it therefore has an IPR of 3/5. Ideally, you want the IPR to be as low as possible. Evil Series 1 has an IPR of 5/15 (or 1/3), which is excellent. The Wildlife series has an IPR of 6/11 and so on.

By completing series with superior IPRs (eg smaller collections or high-paying large collections) you will get taxed less, and your net income will increase. Therefore, a series with a low IPR is preferable to one with a high IPR, if you want to look at the big picture.

However, there is a large exception to this. if you plan on becoming a supreme icon mogul, and possess over 90 icons, it makes no difference, because once you break the 90 icon barrier all your future acquisitions are tax free. But, there's a problem with this. So long as Four remains our sole leader (ie before the elections) we are likely to have a progressive tax system and there is no guarantee he simply won't increase tax thresholds once people gain too many icons.