Not everybody enjoys paying taxes. The first and most famous tax protest was organized more than a thousand years ago by Queen Boadicea, or Boudicca, who ruled an English tribe called the Icini. She was a woman of strong character, like Queen Elizabeth the First or Joan of Arc. In paintings, she is usually shown driving a chariot with long scythes projecting from each wheel — an arrangement that intimidated the enemy, but that must have made parking difficult.
Boadicea, meaning “victorious woman,” is a heroine in England because of a single historical act. In the year 60 A.D. she led a fierce anti-tax revolt against the occupying Romans. The Romans, like the Egyptians and the Greeks before them and every great power after them, financed their governments with a ruthless taxation system backed up by overwhelming force.
With an army estimated at 230,000, Boadicea was said to have killed every Roman within a hundred miles and seized the capital city of Londinium. This slaughter gave the Roman IRS something to think about, although they quickly reasserted their superiority and exiled Queen Boudicca for setting a bad example to the taxpayers.
Taxation organizes the traditional transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich. If you like conspiracy theories, this is the big one, and it was the original and, for a long time, the only purpose of government. Kings and princes needed to support their royal lifestyles: their wars, their fine palaces, their extravagant clothing and jewels, and their great feasts. In exchange for their tax payments, the ordinary people were “ruled,” that is they were sent to fight the wars, build the fine palaces, pay for the extravagant clothing and jewels, and grow food for the great feasts. This lopsided bargain has survived for more than three thousand years and shows no signs of losing its popularity with the tax-collecting classes.
Tom Paine said, when income tax was introduced in 1792, “What at first was plunder has assumed the softer name of revenue.” But it is amazing how few tax rebellions have happened in history. There was a slight disagreement over taxes between the American colonists and the British King in the 1770s and some public protests in 1868.
Henry David Thoreau famously took to the woods to avoid paying taxes but was thrown in jail anyway. I’ve read that the name “Gotham” was adopted for New York City in the early 19th century after an English village, whose inhabitants had fooled the king’s tax collectors by all pretending to be mad. Given the number of psychiatrists in New York City, this might be worth another try.
The reason we pay up, instead of looking for a modern Queen Boadicea to lead us into battle, is because of one singular virtue of the American tax system — the refund. I don’t know who thought of this, but it was a stroke of genius. We are actually thankful to get back a small part of our own money, as if it was some kind of free gift.
If the Romans had known about this cunning trick in 60 A.D., things would have turned out differently. Queen Boadicea and her tribe would have spent April quietly waiting for their refunds, and a great deal of unpleasantness would have been avoided.
