I have noticed that leaving a general with some chivalry points in a town you want to grow fast (for example, level I towns) and setting the taxes to minimal will do wonders to the man's chivalry rating and city growth: chivalry rating will grow and the town will grow even faster with it.

Be sure not to build anything in that settlement while you have the low taxe regime though. Otherwise the general is likely to get bad taxing trait hits upon building completion.

On another note: it seems, we have to avoid leaving generals with full movement points in castles if a building is about to be completed. Since castles usually have high public order but unchangeable "normal taxes", generals tend to get bad taxing hits if left in there in the turn a building is completed.

Also, I have noticed generals sitting in castles gaining bad taxing hits also with partial movement points. It seems, just governing a settlement when a building is completed is sufficient. In RTW, if I remember correctly, having full movement points was a requirement to trigger trait roll upon building completion.