In times of economic hardship, governments will seek to increase revenue: the fiscal crisis of recent years is nothing new in this regard. It often means that new devices are employed to raise tax (and consequently schemes are devised to avoid it), the underlying rationale of which might seem very obscure.
The lecture examines a personal selection of the devices used in the past to raise taxes – including some of the odd, humorous and downright strange – and their resonance and continuing relevance for the present day.
Find out more:
