HEROINE AND HERO

 

 

Tomorrow (31^st January) is tax deadline day when we have to settle our accounts with HMRC so I thought I would write about tax, everyone’s favourite subject.  Actually it is something I talk about almost every day when I cover income, house prices, VAT, etc.  People often perk up, when I do so maybe finding money contemporary matters more engaging than ancient history.

Today taxation is considered a way of distributing money from poor to rich but it was not always the case.   Two of the great heroes or English history are Lady Godiva and Robin Hood who are both famous for rescuing the little people from the tyranny of taxes in the days when they were used to send money in the opposite direction – from the bottom to the top.  Tax revenue allowed the upper classes to build castles, wage wars and eat and drink to excess.  Robin Hood’s struggle against King John and the Sheriff of Nottingham is well known and often told by Hollywood who rarely let the truth get in the way of a good story.  Tomorrow (31^st January) is tax deadline day when we have to settle our accounts with HMRC so I thought I would write about tax, everyone’s favourite subject.  Actually it is something I talk about almost every day when I cover income, house prices, VAT, etc.  People often perk up, when I do so maybe finding money contemporary matters more engaging than ancient history.

Godiva’s story is less well known but she is credited with shaming her husband Leofric into abolishing an oppressive tax by riding naked through the streets.  I suspect that what actually happened was that, in the days of rigid distinctions of rank, she simply removed the outer garments which distinguished her as one of the ruling classes to show the ordinary people that she was on their side.  The story was told and retold so many times that, before long, the storytellers (some of them tourist guides no doubt) had her riding through Coventry completely naked.  The modern equivalent would be some posh bird taking off her diamond earrings, Rolex and camelhair coat to go and join an Occupy protest because it seemed like a cool thing to do.

Since the days of Robin and Godiva the British have been sceptical of the ability of taxes to improve the lot of the less fortunate.  We do not like to pay for something unless we see what we are paying for in our hands.  Yet we usually cough up more or less grudgingly.  I have already paid my bill and am in the clear at least until next April when the next tax return arrives.  You know what they say – good news never comes in brown envelopes.

Go to Richard Murphy’s blog taxresearch.org.uk for more about tax (and other matters).

 

You can read my other non-travel blog on Fridays at: http://menfriday.blogspot.co.uk/