Before the EU-US trade war over digital taxes. @ChristineMcDan @Mercatus
Jun 09, 2021, 01:38 AM
Photo: . The last emperor of Rome's Golden Age, Marcus Aurelius (161-180 A.D.) struggled to maintain the low tax and stable money principles of Augustus. ... In an effort to avoid raising taxes, Marcus sold even his own personal assets to fund the state. As this avenue was eventually exhausted, he debased the coinage to 75% silver. [Permissions: I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. This applies worldwide.]
"In the terminal collapse of the Roman Empire, there was perhaps no greater burden to the average citizen than the extreme taxes they were forced to pay The tax ‘reforms’ of Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century were so rigid and unwavering that many people were driven to starvation and bankruptcy. The state went so far as to chase around widows and children to collect taxes owed. . . . Under such a debilitating regime, both rich and poor wished dearly that the barbarian hordes would deliver them from the burden of Roman taxation."
"In his book Decadent Societies, [the] historian Robert Adams wrote, '[B]y the fifth century, men were ready to abandon civilization itself in order to escape the fearful load of taxes.' ”
"In the terminal collapse of the Roman Empire, there was perhaps no greater burden to the average citizen than the extreme taxes they were forced to pay The tax ‘reforms’ of Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century were so rigid and unwavering that many people were driven to starvation and bankruptcy. The state went so far as to chase around widows and children to collect taxes owed. . . . Under such a debilitating regime, both rich and poor wished dearly that the barbarian hordes would deliver them from the burden of Roman taxation."
"In his book Decadent Societies, [the] historian Robert Adams wrote, '[B]y the fifth century, men were ready to abandon civilization itself in order to escape the fearful load of taxes.' ”
By the 4th century, the Roman economy and tax structure were so dismal that many farmers abandoned their lands in order to receive public entitlements.
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Before the EU-US trade war over digital taxes. @ChristineMcDan @Mercatus
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/g-7-agreement-tech-giants-pay-fair-taxes/