From: Alan Olsen <alano@teleport.com>
Date: Mon, 6 May 1996 15:21:23 +0800
To: Alan Horowitz <tcmay@got.net>
Subject: Re: Why I Pay Too Much in Taxes
Message-ID: <2.2.32.19960506030904.00b2c604@mail.teleport.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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At 09:48 PM 5/5/96 -0400, Alan Horowitz wrote:
><< " I paid approximately 60%...." >>
>
>
>didn't the feudal vassels only pay 33% ?      To paraphrase - I forget 
>which Presidential candidate of yore - "are you better off than you were 
>a thousand years ago?"

I asked my wife about this (she is a midaeval history buff) and her response
was "depends on the time and king".

She proceeded to list off the long list of taxes that vassels could be
expected to pay.  The current taxes in California do not come close to the
arbitrary and intrusive taxes imposed in feudal times.  Taxes could be
levied at any time the lord demanded. (Check into the custom of "Tallage".)
Of course this did not include the tithes to the church (which were
manditory) or any of the special taxes for wars, ransoms, and the like... 

>ANd that's not even counting the interest you pay on your mortgage. Count 
>that, and the vassels were head and shoulders above Californians.

I suggest reading what life in that time was really like.  It makes
California seem like a Libretarians paradise in comparison.  (For example,
unmarried villein women were taxed due to the assumption that their being
unchaste lessened their value to the lord.  Sounds like something Pat
Buchannon would like to bring back...)
---
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