The most expensive purchase you’ll make in your life isn’t your car. It’s not your house, nor even, for those lucky enough to have one, your yacht. It’s your government! Almost 50% of everything you ever ear n in the UK will be taken from you in taxes and in return, the government will serve and protect you, and your family. This is how every society around the world and throughout history works. The amounts vary, but there has never been a civilisation without taxation. There never will be.

Behind every story in recorded history, there is a tax story - from the development of writing, to warfare, the coming of plague and famine to the first cities, states, and empires. f you want to tell the story of human civilization, you are really telling a story about the history of tax.