The VCA now collects a transaction tax on every sale, whether you are buying or selling. That covers ore sold at market, and services such as treatment, servicing and oxygen. It is the colony’s answer to the Earth income tax, which Vera’s settlers declined to bring with them. Everyone pays their share at the moment money changes hands, and nobody has to reckon up a year’s earnings.
The tax is always included in the price. A quoted price is the price you pay, never the price plus something at the counter. Your statement shows the tax as its own line, so you can see it, but it never changes the figure you were quoted. Transfers between citizens are not sales and are not taxed.
The tax is paid into the colonial treasury, and it pays for services, programmes and infrastructure that citizens use, including the replacement equipment handed out at station counters. The VCA does not print rates in notices, because policy changes and notices tend to linger.