I have read the manual, and the beginners guide on this forum, both of them describe and in begginer's guide there is actually a screen shot of the domestic policy screen and it is not what I am getting in the game.
The third button from the left in my game actually has a tooltip Domestic Stats and opens a static report, no sliders.
At first I thought this was just a cripple effect put into the demo version, but now I have bought the game, and officially updated it to v1.53, rebooted, started a new game and the button that every single guide is telling me is supposed to open a screen where I can set taxes and spending, only opens a report screen that shows these figures to me with no way to change them.