There is an expression that “death and taxes are always with us.” In one way or another, people have been paying taxes since very ancient times. But there is a big difference between the taxes of ancient times and the taxes we pay today.

In ancient times people paid a tax on things they consumed, and they had to pay a tax, or duty, on imported articles. These taxes were levied by the rulers on the people, and were usually as high as they could possibly bear. It was the duty of the underprivileged classes— slaves, vassals, peasants, colonists, and conquered peoples — to support the ruling class.

With the exception of certain taxes in ancient Egypt and Rome, there were never any direct taxes on income or wealth. The average person simply had to pay a tax for practically everything he did or used.

Only in recent times has a new idea of taxation arisen, that taxes are paid with the consent of the people, and that their representatives decide and impose the taxes in order to support the government. It is a

sign of people governing themselves when they decide on what taxes to pay and pay them willingly (though of course no one is very happy about paying taxes).

Some of the most important events in history took place as a result of the people’s protest against paying oppressive taxes imposed on them by their rulers. The Magna Carta, and the French and American Revolutions were related in part to the desire to establish a fair and representative system of taxation.

In England, an income tax was established for the first time in 1798. In the United States, the federal government obtained most of its revenue from taxes on customs, liquor, tobacco, and the sale of land until about the time of World War I. At this time and later, the government adopted an estate tax, developed a tax on the income of corpus rations and individuals, and established many other taxes.

In the United States, each state also has its own taxes such as those on gasoline, retail sales, motor vehicles, and income taxes.