i ask for 500k - getting a "tax" or a donation is a gesture - and by no means an income. if i tried to finance me completely by pirating, i d prolly ask for more, too - but all in all, pirating is more a negative deal, and an economic nightmare.
i experienced that there is a span that people pay - that is probably between 100k - 2million. 3 million is sometimes allready half of the profit of a whole flight, 10 million is completely rediculous ( sorry, but if anyone asked for 10 million, even an adv. train - i will full heatedly support any trader that refuses point blank ) . all in all, a pirate should not ask for more than 50% of the profit ( not the sell value ).
not sure if anyone really does NO missions at all, and a character only lives by his pirating - but i think most of the pirates at least do missions - and those add much more money than any pirating attempt. ( its roleplay - and basicly 100k is a lot of cash ( buys you a fully equipped civilian spacecraft ) - - i ask just enough so it doesn t really hurt the trader ( that is, unless he fires at me ) - ( and special tax demands for people that ooc stuff:laugh:)