Thursday, April 15, 2010

Taxation dates back to Mesopotamia

It's small comfort, but may help you put April 15 in perspective

Excerpt:

“During tax season, millions of us pore over paperwork, fill out forms and gripe about how much money we're putting in Uncle Sam's bank account.If it's any consolation, the history of taxes goes back at as long as there are written records, according to Tonia Sharlach, an assistant professor of history at Oklahoma State University who studies ancient Mesopotamian taxes. "I'm sure there were earlier taxes that we just don't know about because they didn't have writing," she says.”

Mesopotamian tax reforms

To learn about seven taxes through the ages go here.

“One of the taxes that he thinks people complain about the most are the funeral parlor taxes — I guess some things don't ever really change," Sharlach says. "People would gouge people trying to bury people and he's trying to change those practices as well as some others.”

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