What good are reduced taxes anymore?

[Eien713]

The 3 starting cities never get any reduced taxes and I have no idea why. As for the other 3, I noticed that for a while now (several months), all of them have been stuck at the usual 3% reduction (I make sure to check every single week). If these reductions almost no longer change, why have them at all? And shouldn't the 3 starting cities be included in the reduction to spice things up a bit? I don't understand why they were excluded in the first place.

Are the reductions still changing for others? Did I miss something?

Edit: Not sure if everyone is aware of this but we now pay taxes regardless of where the item is listed. It's now pointless to travel to the city where an item is being sold to avoid paying the taxes.