Raising taxes while cutting speanding leads to a budget surplus? Who'da thunk it...

Note, this is actually a way (albeit not a good one) to increase your approval. If you crank up your taxes to the point that your approval is in the red (single digits are best) then your citizens will leave your empire in droves. Once that happens, you can reduce your taxes, and have a higher aproval due to the reduced population.

Side effects may include: revolts, economic collapse, and vilification by the masses in exodus.

If you really need it, just let your treasury drop below -500bc and the game will turn your industry slider to 0% for you.

I actually did this in a recent game after I conquered the Drath faster then my economy could handle and I had a bunch of advanced worlds with very little population. I put my industrial capacity to 0% for 3 weeks and it netted me a few thousand BC in the bank. I didn't crank up the taxes to 100%, I left them at a level where developing worlds could maintain 100% morale and use those weeks to grow.

A contribution is always welcome.