When governments taxed people for owning clocks

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Telling time was considered too fancy for the commoner. The government applied an annual charge to every clock and pocket watch, predictably resulting in everyone hiding their timepieces and relying entirely on public dials to avoid the ridiculous chronological penalty.

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When governments taxed people for owning clocks — STACKY / Economy

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When governments taxed people for owning clocks

A bigger world.One discoveryat a time.

Keep exploring

The church tithe began as a medieval tax

The IRS has tax rules for outer space

Why you calculate taxes the government already knows

The “temporary” tax that never stayed temporary

The Boston Tea Party was also a fight over monopoly

Britain introduced a window tax in 1696 where homeowners were taxed based on the number of windows their houses had, which was intended to be a progressive tax on the wealthy.

A bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.