Death by Taxes

Death by Taxes is a clicker game built around an inverted goal. The player takes the role of a billionaire at tax season who begins with one billion dollars and must reduce that balance to zero before the tax bill catches up. Rather than accumulating wealth, the objective is to spend it as quickly as possible.

The core loop involves clicking to purchase everyday items such as coffee, food, cigars and gadgets in very large quantities. Spending unlocks progression through a skill tree that includes abilities, stronger clicks, faster purchases and upgrades that scale up the rate at which money leaves the account. Players can choose a path within the tree and stack its bonuses, and the developer notes that the tree is larger than it initially appears. Skills and abilities can be combined so that individual clicks trigger chains of further spending.

The game also features recruitable NPCs, described as collectors and other helpers, who make purchases on the player’s behalf and automate parts of the process, although the description states they do not remove the need for active play. Each spending segment ends with a boss encounter in which an opponent attempts to halt the player’s spending; defeating the boss and breaking through their defences grants an upgrade and access to more expensive ways to spend money.