I think the order of the opening is clever, but wonder about the problems it introduces right after.
I totally agree about the 'taxation of trade routes' complaint. In my revised crawl, it first establishes that it's currently a time of peace, but that things are going to get hairy. Lucas seemed to want to start off on a note of anxiety ('The galaxy is in turmoil!'), but what's really potentially cool about this episode is that things are ostensibly business as usual in the galaxy, but will soon go to sh*t. I make a quick note in the crawl about the Trade Federation laying claim to Naboo's abundant natural resources, as I thought that was a little more tangible, but it's a throwaway... the pretense for the invasion is a farce anyhow, put into motion by Sidious. Then the Jedi arrival is understandably ho-hum... they're dealing with stuff like this all the time. Their arrival was always ho-hum, at least in the attitude they intially present, but that didn't really match up with the 'drama' Lucas tried to establish in the crawl. I don't know if that makes any sense.