Tax resistance has probably existed ever since the beginning of civilization and imposition of tax. Indeed, it has been suggested that tax resistance played a significant role in the collapse of several empires, including the Egyptian, Roman, Spanish, and Aztec.
Many rebellions and revolutions have been prompted by resentment of taxation or had tax refusal as a component. Examples of historic events that originated as tax revolts include the Magna Carta, the American Revolution and the French Revolution.
Famous quotes containing the words history of, history, tax and/or resistance:
“The history of the Victorian Age will never be written: we know too much about it.”
—Lytton Strachey (1880–1932)
“The only history is a mere question of one’s struggle inside oneself. But that is the joy of it. One need neither discover Americas nor conquer nations, and yet one has as great a work as Columbus or Alexander, to do.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief.”
—Wendell Berry (b. 1934)
“You may either win your peace or buy it: win it, by resistance to evil; buy it, by compromise with evil.”
—John Ruskin (1819–1900)