title: [Book Sharing] Daylight Robbery - How Taxes Shape the Past and Change the Future?
published: false
date: 2021-08-30 00:00:00 UTC
tags:
canonical_url: http://www.evanlin.com/reading-tax-daylight-robbery/
---
[](http://moo.im/a/9egioH "Daylight Robbery")
Daylight Robbery - How Taxes Shape the Past and Change the Future?
Daylight Robbery : How Tax Shaped Our Past and Will Change Our Future
Author: Dominic Frisby
Original Author: Dominic Frisby
Translator: Wang Xiaobo Publisher: Times Publishing
Publication Date: 2021/05/11
ISBN: 9789571388304
#### Book Purchase Recommendation Websites:
-
E-book: [Readmoo](http://moo.im/a/9egioH)
-
Books.com.tw: [Purchase Link](https://www.books.com.tw/exep/assp.php/kkdailin/products/0010890556?sloc=main&utm_source=kkdailin&utm_medium=ap-books&utm_content=recommend&utm_campaign=ap-202108)
# Preface:
This is the tenth book I've read this year. To be honest, I was introduced to this book by [YouTuber Cheap](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGGrblndNzi86WY5lJkQJiA), who focuses on history-related topics. It's a book that introduces the role of taxes in human history, and it's quite interesting. It's not that the book's language is particularly engaging, but the author cleverly uses many historical cases to share the roles taxes played in them, which surprised me.
Benjamin Franklin said, "**Only death** and paying **taxes** are inevitable." Recently, the tax disputes of [Google Play](https://www.inside.com.tw/article/22882-google-play-cut-commissions-to-15-from-30) and [Apple Store](https://www.bnext.com.tw/article/64765/apple-app-store-tax) have also been quite heated, making it easier to understand through the explanations in this book! It also reveals that many recent major historical events are actually related to paying taxes, such as the American independence, the Civil War, and World War II. These major events are definitely not as simple as you think. In fact, most of them are related to the payment of taxes!
#### News:
- [Following Apple's Tax Cuts! Google Play Announces a 15% Commission Reduction for Developers' First $1 Million in Revenue](https://www.inside.com.tw/article/22882-google-play-cut-commissions-to-15-from-30)
- [30% "Apple Tax" Frequently Protested and Reviewed! Apple Compromises Again, Launches a New Plan to Reduce App Store Fees](https://www.bnext.com.tw/article/64765/apple-app-store-tax)
### About the History and Geography Knowledge YouTuber - Cheap
The videos of Cheap are below. He is a knowledge-based YouTuber that I have been enjoying recently. He likes to use the game screen of Age of Empires or beautiful graphic drawings to explain many historical stories that are often misunderstood. I highly recommend following him.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bJNmQavrzbw?start=559" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
In addition, Cheap also generously shares his book list, which really has many interesting books. He himself has also said that every book is a book that he has read and written reviews for, before recommending it. Every book introduces economics and history through vivid content, and I also like his recommended book list.
### Recommended Links:
- [YouTuber Cheap](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGGrblndNzi86WY5lJkQJiA)
- [Cheap's Book List https://tinyl.io/4QSG](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbUcwSGhGbEJoWHdwVWtDRTY5eVBDMWJhcjgyZ3xBQ3Jtc0tuU1RpdWhyYU9iMnhSQllmWWt6Z0Vkc2JPQ1dfb2dzSmZYUHd5ZEVORlhTQXFLRUE2cGtIenk1aE9Mb3k4dTJCQVd0WlpVRGpjX3d2WDUzal8xM050bWhSYU51c3BSVkl2NHB4QmdlYjVDQ296TnlZOA&q=https%3A%2F%2Ftinyl.io%2F4QSG)
# Content Summary and Thoughts:
The government is the most expensive thing we've ever bought in our lives, but we have no say in how taxes are used.
Every time we pay taxes, we feel like we're being skinned, but we may not have thought that today's tax system has actually evolved many times, and there are many tax policies in history that are like absurd farces.
In the seventeenth century, Britain once levied a hearth tax, and tax collectors had to go into people's homes to count the number of hearths, which was both disruptive to the people and an invasion of privacy. The considerate government then came up with an alternative: the window tax. Tax collectors only needed to count the number of windows outside, and windows should be enough to represent a person's wealth, after all, the bigger the house, the more windows.
But the government didn't expect that people's behavior would start to go wrong. In order to avoid taxes, people demolished their own windows and asked builders to reduce the number of windows in new construction projects. A tax policy distorted the appearance of a city; and the lack of sunlight and poor air circulation caused by the reduction of windows became accomplices in the prevalence of infectious diseases. The great writer Dickens couldn't help but sigh: "Since the window tax was implemented, light and air are no longer free."
On the other hand, taxes also contributed to the birth of the United States, the French Revolution, and Indian independence; the world's great buildings such as the pyramids and the White House were built with the support of tax revenue; humans were able to set foot on the moon, of course, also thanks to tax money. Taxes not only affect personal property, but also affect many aspects of society, such as the economy, population migration, and religious beliefs.
## Chapter Outline
### Chapter 1 Daylight Robbery
"The art of taxation is to pluck the most feathers from the goose with the least hissing": Louis XIV's finance minister
At the beginning, the author introduces a very interesting evolution of taxation. In 1690 in England, due to financial difficulties, they thought of imposing a "hearth tax." That is, people who had a hearth in their house had to pay taxes, but this was painful for every tax collector, because people didn't like inviting people into their homes to inspect their hearths. And many people would rather freeze to death than pay taxes.
So later, it was changed to the "window tax." Tax collectors could easily inspect whether taxes needed to be paid outside the house, and they didn't need to enter people's homes. This also created many houses at the time that didn't have a single window. Many people opposed this (taxing light) method and made many active protests, such as changing the appearance of the house to look like a large window. The window tax also restricted the development of an industry, and the entire glass-related industry had no possibility of development at all, because this tax made them decline for several years. This is the importance of taxes to a country.
### Chapter 2 Extraordinary Circumstances Bring Extraordinary Measures
The first case is a deformed tax that brings pain to society. Next, Hong Kong is mentioned. Before the return of Hong Kong (that is, under British rule), a very low tax system was adopted, and in many situations, even many censuses were not conducted. This made it impossible to effectively collect taxes, but in the circumstances at the time, this instead made Hong Kong become the economic hub of Asia.
### Chapter 3 Why Pay Taxes?
Many historical events are often related to tax revenue. Why did Jesus go to Bethlehem? Because Mary had to come and pay taxes. There were related taxes from the ancient Roman period and the ancient Greek period. Because the birth of a country is nothing more than land, people, and of course, the taxes that come with it.
### Chapter 4 The Cradle of Taxation
As early as the Mesopotamian culture period, the first tax was born. It was called "tithe" (that is, no matter how much you earn, you have to pay one-tenth to the government). According to the inscriptions on the Rosetta Stone, there was a taxation mechanism in ancient Greece, and at that time, paying taxes was an honor, so naturally, no one evaded taxes. Because paying taxes would become a well-known person, many nobles obtained a good reputation by paying taxes.
### Chapter 5 Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Taxation
Many ancient invaders (occupiers) occupied land and collected high taxes from the people of that place to pay for the related expenses of the army.
### Chapter 6 The Most Important Constitutional Document in History / Chapter 7 The Black Death Changed the Tax System in Europe
In medieval England, paying taxes became one of the many ways to avoid obligations. Nobles who didn't want to go to war with the king? Pay taxes! Don't want to participate in the Crusades? Pay taxes! Until Henry III announced the most important law, the "Magna Carta," which stated that the king and the commoners were subject to the same law, and it was a pioneer in the creation of many future democratic laws.
The next few chapters explain the historical stories caused by the tax rates of various countries, regardless of the resignation of Mrs. Thatcher. The birth of the United States was even because of the tea tax in English, which led to the backlash of new immigrants in the United States. And Lincoln, who is known for freeing the slaves, was even a supporter of collecting tariffs. In order to collect tariffs from the South, it led to the Southern states seceding from the United States and the Civil War. Finally, it was because of the slogan of freeing the slaves that the blacks were willing to fight for him. These interesting stories, I suggest you take a detailed look, you will definitely not regret it.
### Chapter 16 Cryptocurrency (Virtual Currency): The Tax Collector's Nightmare / Chapter 17 Digital Breakthroughs Chapter 18 Data: The Tax Collector's New Friend
And in modern times, due to the reason of working from home. Many people work remotely (even across countries), which has also caused the country to be unable to collect taxes from the people living above. Even the emergence of cryptocurrencies has made many "incomes" no longer searchable, and the country cannot collect income tax.
Taxes were originally one of the incomes of the country, this land aggregate. Because the new borders are no longer important, and the income of the currency can no longer be known. Will there be the next stage of change in taxation? We can look forward to it!
## Thoughts:
I have always liked to look at history in an interesting way, and this book, through the collection of taxes, has caused changes in social phenomena and even the rise of wars. Many stories are things I had never imagined before. I really think it's very interesting, and I can also see that taxes are no longer just the money the country wants to collect from you.
## Reference Websites:
- [YouTuber Cheap](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGGrblndNzi86WY5lJkQJiA)
- [Cheap's Book List https://tinyl.io/4QSG](https://www.youtube.com/redirect?event=video_description&redir_token=QUFFLUhqbUcwSGhGbEJoWHdwVWtDRTY5eVBDMWJhcjgyZ3xBQ3Jtc0tuU1RpdWhyYU9iMnhSQllmWWt6Z0Vkc2JPQ1dfb2dzSmZYUHd5ZEVORlhTQXFLRUE2cGtIenk1aE9Mb3k4dTJCQVd0WlpVRGpjX3d2WDUzal8xM050bWhSYU51c3BSVkl2NHB4QmdlYjVDQ296TnlZOA&q=https%3A%2F%2Ftinyl.io%2F4QSG)
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