One prediction that can be made with absolute assurance is that broke and bankrupt governments will become increasingly rapacious in seeking to increase their tax hauls. From Simon Black at sovereignman.com:
By the early 13th century, beset by endless wars with France, internal rebellion among the royal family, and a costly fight with the Church, England was heavily in debt and running out of funds.
To bring in some quick cash, King John demanded that his nobles pay a much heftier tax rate. And if they didn’t, he threatened to seize their lands.
But in 1215 the barons reached their breaking point. Fed up with the king’s demands, they marched their combined armies to London, took over the city, and forced King John to sign a groundbreaking document which laid out strict rules for the king to follow.
This document came to be known as the Magna Carta.
And even though it only applied to landed nobles at the time, the contract still marks a huge step forward for individual freedom.
One of the important innovations of the Magna Carta is that it enshrined ye olde due process so land owners could not be deprived of their property without a fair trial.
It also specified what happened to their property when they died.
Inheritance taxes, or ‘death taxes’ were one of the specific issues the barons raised in the Magna Carta.
Since all land belonged to the Crown, the King routinely collected a painful tax whenever property passed to an heir upon a nobleman’s death.
Quite often these death taxes were extremely high, so the barons sought to limit this tax in the Magna Carta:
I’ll spend my wealth or give it away before I give it to these MFers.
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