Tax Collector



The Tax Collector is a Hardmode NPC that taxes other housed NPCs to earn coins for players. He is obtained by throwing Purification Powder on a Tortured Soul, a rare Underworld enemy. The enemy will transform into the Tax Collector, and if killed, he will respawn like all other town NPCs so long as a vacant house is available.

When the Tax Collector is present, will be earned per real-world minute (each in-game hour), for each NPC that has a house – including the Tax Collector himself. The Tax Collector stores these funds, up to. Speaking to him will reveal the amount stored thus far, and offer the option to collect. On the, his tax limit (as well as his current funds and how much he collects per minute) varies depending on his current happiness; thus, how much he earns per minute will be between and , while his limit will be between  and.

The Tax Collector will attack nearby enemies with his cane to defend himself.

Tips

 * With 20 town NPCs, the Tax Collector will collect every minute, collecting  per in-game day.
 * When searching for a Tortured Soul, make sure all minions are dismissed so they will not kill it. Note that a Tortured Soul can respawn like any other enemy, should the minions kill it.
 * It is advisable to always carry Purification Powder in the inventory when travelling to the Underworld.

Names
The Tax Collector may have any of the following names.

Interaction quotes


When Dryad is present:

When Arms Dealer is present:

When Demolitionist is present:

When Merchant is present:

During a :


 * "Bah! If this wind keeps up, people will lose their precious possessions and stop paying me!"


 * "Just because your house blows down, doesn’t mean you stop paying taxes!"

During Rain:


 * "Why can't it be raining gold coins? Water is everywhere! Bah, how useless!"


 * "Humbug! Someone tried to tell me they saw a fish walking on land. Who do they take ME for?!"

During a :


 * "I am as giddy as a drunken man! I love this weather!"


 * "A marvelous storm! A remarkable storm!"

When in a :
 * "Death and taxes, nothing more sure in life than that!"


 * "The people here aren't paying up! They are better off dead! Oh, perhaps they already are."

When player clicks "Collect":
 * When player clicks "Collect" when some money is collected:
 * When player clicks "Collect" when there is no money to be collected:
 * When player clicks "Collect" when there is no money to be collected:
 * When player clicks "Collect" when there is no money to be collected:
 * When player clicks "Collect" when there is no money to be collected:
 * When player clicks "Collect" when there is no money to be collected:

Happiness quotes
When homeless:


 * "How can a man of my riches have no home? Preposterous!"

When far from home:


 * "Bah! I’m trying to make my way back home to count my money. Begone!"

When in a sparse area:


 * "Finally, isolation from all these miserable peasants!"

When overcrowded:


 * "I’ll have you know, I dislike neighbors!"


 * "Go tell all these miserable poor freeloaders to scram, I hate crowds."

When in a Snow biome:


 * "Living in the Snow forces people to stay indoors and leave me alone. I find that pleasant."

When in the Hallow:


 * "What kind of irritating place is the Hallow? Poppycock, I tell you!"

When in an Evil Biome or the Dungeon:


 * "Even for my standards, the Corruption/Crimson/Dungeon is beyond miserable!"

When near the Merchant:


 * "I highly admire [Name of Merchant] the Merchant. Anyone who knows the true value of money earns my utmost respect!"

When near the Party Girl:


 * "Exuberant people tend to give me headaches, but somehow I actually like [Name of Party Girl] the Party Girl. I must be losing my mind!"

When near the Demolitionist:


 * "[Name of Demolitionist] the Demolitionist is just too noisy, away with them and their ilk!"

When near the Mechanic:


 * "[Name of Mechanic] the Mechanic is just too noisy, away with them and their ilk!"

When near Santa Claus:


 * "I loathe the very existence of Santa Claus! What kind of lunatic just gives things away for free?"

When neutral:


 * "What? I AM in a good mood."

Trivia

 * The Tax Collector is a reference to Ebenezer Scrooge from the story . Scrooge is a greedy, grumpy old man with a cane and top hat, mutton chops, and a hunched back. Many of his quotes are references to the story. Additionally this is why he prefers the Snow biome, dislikes Christmas and hates Santa.
 * The Tax Collector's potential names are all names of well-known U.S. politicians, most of which were at one point president or vice-president.
 * The Tax Collector not participating in the event, is almost certainly intentional and possibly another reference to Ebenezer Scrooge, as they both do not celebrate.
 * In the game files, the Tax Collector has an alternate image of him without a hat: Tax Collector (without hat).png. This would have been originally used to don him with a party hat during a Party.
 * Many of his quotes reference colloquial names for pre-decimal units of British currency, such as s.
 * The quote "" is possibly a reference to the post-apocalyptic fiction novel , where ammo is used as currency. However, it's more likely that the Arms Dealer is making a veiled threat to shoot the Tax Collector rather than paying him, and the Tax Collector doesn't understand the undertone.
 * The quote "" is a vague sexual reference.
 * The line "" is a reference to slimes being so easy to kill and make money off them.
 * The quote "" exists in the game's source code, but never appears, possibly due to a coding error.
 * The chance of The Tax Collector being named "Agnew" is twice as high as any other name, also possibly due to a coding error.
 * All the NPCs the Tax Collector likes or loves dislike or hate him
 * In the of the game, there used to be a chance the Tax Collector will be spawned with the name “TaxCollectorNames.Name_20”. The Tax Collector only has 19 names in total, so this is likely a small programming error. This has been fixed in the 1.0.1096.2 update ( 1.3.5 equivalent).