Cookie Policy
Platform: VoteYourPay — Global Election & Tax Simulator (voteyourpay.com)
1. What cookies and similar technologies are
Cookies are small text files that your browser stores on your device when you visit a website. They can be first-party (set by voteyourpay.com) or third-party (set by an authorized advertising partner domain for programmatic delivery). Session cookies expire when you close the browser; persistent cookies remain until expiry or deletion. We also use Web Storage (Local Storage / Session Storage) — a browser-side key-value store that, unlike cookies, is not sent with every HTTP request and stays on your device. This Policy covers both, as required by the ePrivacy Directive, the GDPR, and applicable partner consent frameworks.
General background: youronlinechoices.eu
2. Our principles — minimal, consent-first
- No cookies by default beyond the strictly necessary. First page load sets no advertising or analytics cookies of our own. We operate no Google Analytics, Meta Pixel, or fingerprinting.
- Consent before advertising storage. Programmatic advertising cookies and standard programmatic advertising identifiers are requested only after your freely given, specific consent (Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR, §25(1) TDDDG and applicable partner consent frameworks). Refusing has no downside: the simulator works identically; you simply see non-personalised or no ads.
- Easy withdrawal. Withdrawing is as easy as consenting: clear site data and reload, use your advertising partner's privacy controls, or block third-party cookies — see §7 with step-by-step guides.
- Transparency. Names, purposes, durations, and providers are listed in §4–§5 below.
3. Categories we use — overview table
| Category | Examples | Purpose | Legal basis | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | TLS session, load-balancer affinity (provider) | Security, network delivery, remembering calculator/poll tab within the page | Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR / §25(2) TDDDG (exempt) | Session |
| Preferences (local only) | taxsim:lastSettings (Local Storage JSON) | Remember last country / state / salary / party for convenience; never transmitted | Art. 6(1)(f) / §25(2) (strictly necessary for requested function) | Until you clear site data |
| Consent record | consent state (local storage) | Proof of consent / refusal (accountability, Art. 7(1)) | Art. 6(1)(c)+(f) | Up to 3 years |
| Advertising (programmatic partners) | standard programmatic advertising identifiers (§5) | Ad delivery, frequency capping, fraud defence, measurement; personalisation only with consent | Art. 6(1)(a) / §25(1) (consent) | Session – 13 months (per partner documentation) |
We set no first-party advertising or cross-site tracking cookies ourselves. All advertising identifiers come from authorized programmatic advertising partners after consent.
4. Strictly necessary storage and Local Storage details
In-memory UI state (which tab is open, unsent form values) lives only in the page’s JavaScript memory and disappears when you navigate away. Local Storage key taxsim:lastSettings optionally holds {"country","state","salary","party","tab"} so returning visitors need not re-enter values. Content: no name, no email, no identifier — only simulator parameters. Location: your device only; transmission: none; deletion: browser → Settings → Privacy → “Clear browsing data → Cookies and site data”, or DevTools → Application → Local Storage → delete the key. Blocking it never breaks the calculator — it only forgets your last inputs.
Hosting-level strictly necessary processing (TLS, load balancing, WAF) may use transient provider cookies or logs; these are exempt from consent under §25(2) TDDDG and Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR — see Privacy Policy §8.
5. Programmatic advertising identifiers in detail
When you consent, authorized programmatic advertising partners and third-party monetization networks as independent controllers may set, read, and combine standard programmatic advertising identifiers (non-exhaustive — partner vendors rotate names; the respective partner documentation prevails):
- Advertising delivery identifiers (up to 13 months) — ad delivery, frequency capping, and (with consent) personalisation measurement for programmatic inventory.
- Publisher-provided signals and conversion-linkage identifiers (approx. 90 days – 13 months) — where enabled.
- Interest-based selection and fraud-defence identifiers (days – 13 months, on third-party advertising domains) — interest-based ad selection, fraud and abuse defence, and preference storage across partner ad services.
- Security and consent-state identifiers — security enforcement and consent-state signalling.
Data combined with these IDs may include: page URL and referrer, IP address (also for coarse geo and fraud checks), user-agent, ad-view/click timestamps, and — only with consent — inferred interests from visits to this and other participating sites. Without consent we request non-personalised ads (NPA) where supported: contextual targeting (page content, coarse location, current session) without profile building. Measurement and invalid-traffic data are aggregated before we see them — we receive counts (impressions, clicks, revenue), never your identity.
Industry opt-out: youronlinechoices.eu NAI opt-out: networkadvertising.org
6. Legal basis for each category
- Strictly necessary / preferences-local: Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR (legitimate interest in a secure, user-friendly simulator) plus the §25(2) TDDDG exemption for storage strictly necessary to provide an explicitly requested service. No consent banner is legally required for these — and we show none for them.
- Advertising / personalisation: Art. 6(1)(a) GDPR + §25(1) TDDDG consent, plus applicable partner consent frameworks. Consent must be freely given, specific, informed, and unambiguous — pre-ticked boxes or “continued browsing = consent” are not used. You can refuse with zero loss of functionality.
- Transfers (USA): where personalised ads entail US access, the transfer is based on your consent including Art. 49(1)(a) awareness, plus partner Data Privacy Framework certification / SCCs (see Privacy Policy §9).
7. Your choices — manage, block, withdraw (step by step)
- Withdraw advertising consent on this site: clear cookies/site data for voteyourpay.com and reload — all programmatic advertising identifiers are deleted and no new personalised cookies are set until you consent again. Chrome: Settings → Privacy and security → Delete browsing data → Cookies and site data (time range + site filter). Firefox: Settings → Privacy & Security → Cookies and Site Data → Manage Data → remove site → Save. Safari: Settings/Preferences → Privacy → Manage Website Data → remove site. Edge: Settings → Privacy → Choose what to clear → Cookies.
- Switch off personalisation globally (keeps ads but generic): use your advertising partner's privacy controls → Ad personalisation OFF; EU: youronlinechoices.eu → opt out of involved vendors; US: NAI opt-out. Takes effect across participating sites.
- Block third-party cookies by default: Chrome → Settings → Privacy → Third-party cookies → Block; Firefox → Strict Enhanced Tracking Protection; Safari → “Prevent cross-site tracking” ON; Edge → Tracking prevention Balanced/Strict. Note: this also blocks programmatic personalisation (intended) and may affect embeds elsewhere.
- Delete Local Storage convenience memory: “Clear browsing data → Site data / Hosted app data”, or DevTools → Application → Local Storage → https://voteyourpay.com → delete taxsim:lastSettings.
- Signals: Enable Do Not Track (DNT) or Global Privacy Control (GPC) in your browser; we treat them as refusal of personalised ads until explicit consent (see Privacy Policy §7).
Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing before withdrawal (Art. 7(3) GDPR). If you previously consented and now object to partner processing, you must also exercise your rights directly against the respective advertising partner (independent controller) via the links above — we have no access to partner profiles about you.
8. Retention — how long identifiers live
Strictly necessary session data: deleted when the browser session ends. Local Storage: indefinite until you delete it. Consent records: up to 3 years (accountability). Programmatic advertising identifiers: session up to 13 months depending on identifier; exact lifetimes are set by the respective advertising partner and may change — partner documentation is authoritative. Server logs: max 30 days (see Privacy Policy §10).
9. Updates to this Policy
We revise this Policy when we add countries, ad partners, consent-management tooling, or when law or partner policies change. The binding version is always at https://www.voteyourpay.com/cookie-policy (this page). For material changes affecting consent, we re-request consent as required.
10. Contact
Questions about cookies, programmatic advertising identifiers, or exercising privacy rights: contact@voteyourpay.com or via our Contact page . For full data-processing information see our Privacy Policy; for usage rules see Terms of Service.