Christmas often makes us pause and reflect. Not only on the birth of Christ or the beginning of everything. But also, for example, on the beginning of taxation. We also analyzed a scene from a film.
About birth
Have you ever wondered when and how taxes began? What problems were people trying to solve at that time? It is often useful to go back to the beginning to understand from history what is meant and what would be more appropriate.
Individual sacrifice for the common good
These issues are well described by tax historian F. Grapperhaus in his book Taxes through the Ages. He writes that from the very beginning there has been mutual misunderstanding and conflict between taxpayers and those who collect and spend taxes. However, it all began long before Christ, when 15-20 thousand years ago someone began to draw cave paintings. The community had decided that the artist should do this. Perhaps to ask the gods for good luck in hunting. Meanwhile, other members of the community provided him with food and raw materials. Thus, even then, there was an understanding that individual sacrifices were necessary for the common good. Much later, 10-12 thousand years ago, farmers began to build protective fences for similar reasons. In turn, community leaders collected part of the harvest and distributed it among community leaders and the neediest.
How to distribute fish fairly?
I would like to tell another story on this topic. There was an excellent discussion about the nature of taxes in TS podcast 70 with Oxford University professor R. de la Feria, especially when we discussed the wonderful film Triangle of Sadness. In it, a yacht was wrecked in a storm and its passengers ended up on a seemingly uninhabited island. At that moment, everyone’s roles suddenly changed. Both the wealthy passengers and their crew wanted to eat. But how to divide the fish they caught, if only the lady from the crew caught them? Why should she share with anyone at all? Okay, she agreed to share, but how? The crew lady herself decided – in half. One half for herself, one half for the others sitting around the campfire in the evening, who were also hungry.
Read the full story by tax expert Jānis Taukačs here.
