>>31640866I've heard all about Québéc's hydroelectric grid. From what I've heard, it's basically treated as a regional achievement.
>>31641079This is just the non-/nasfaqg/ /3/beat.
>>31640456Either way, as he has said, the main source of income into national budgets at this point in time is taxation. However, the question is always what is taxed. Tariff, for example, is a tax on imported goods, thus putting financial burdens on your own citizens for buying foreign goods, and making them less competitive than local goods. You can also tax exports, land, have direct or indirect taxes... the devil is in the details. If you still have the feudal system in place, then the Shogunate could reasonably make money from the crownlands, owned by the state.
Regarding trade and commerce - it can provide income in two ways. Either directly or indirectly. Directly, it'd provide influx of cash by taxing imports or exports, but this has a side-effect of reducing the attractiveness and volume of trade, thus slowing down growth. There are situations in which those kind of taxes /can/ be beneficial, for example if your own country is getting out-competed by price and quality and is thus killing the national industry.
Indirectly, trade and commerce generates wealth. Properties, development of cities, enrichment of the individuals and thus different spending patterns/increased demands for the (easily taxable) luxury goods all generate massive income in the long-term. Different countries can have different strategies for tapping onto the wealth given by economic activities: for example, /nasfaqg/ is all-in on economic growth, freeing the market and collecting taxes primarily just on the Stock Exchange, the activity of which of course corresponds to how much wealth people have to throw around.