Daylight Robbery: How Tax Shaped Our Past and Will Change Our Future

by Dominic Frisby

For most people, tax is something we pay, simply because we must. We seldom think much more about it, in fact, tax is something we'd rather forget. But the reality is that tax is the key to power. No government can survive without tax revenue—it is the fuel that every state, large and small, runs on. Many of the problems we face today, not least the enormous wealth gaps between rich and poor and between generations, can be traced back to our systems of tax. If you tax windows, many will sacrifice their daylight. If you tax cigarettes, some people will choose not to smoke, others will take up smuggling. Tax companies too much and many will relocate off-shore. In Daylight Robbery , Dominic Frisby will offer an alternative vision of a system that is as old as civilization itself. It will take you on a whirlwind journey through the history of taxation, from the Ancient Mesopotamia right up to the present day, explaining the key dynamics of taxation around the world and arguing that governments are going to have to radically change who they tax and how if they are to succeed in the future.

Genres: Economics, Politics, History, Nonfiction, Finance, Business, Audiobook

288 pages, Hardcover

Published March 15, 2020

About the author

Dominic Frisby is a comedian from London.

But his first book, Life After The State, has nothing to do with comedy. It is a deadly serious dismantling of the way societies are run in the west, outlining the damage governments unknowingly do to their people, with simple suggestions about how things can be vastly improved.

Dominic writes an investment column for MoneyWeek and has written and produced numerous short films and videos, including the viral hit 'Debt Bomb'. His script-writing ranges from episodes of the kids' show 'Roary the Racing Car' to the feature documentary 'The Four Horsemen', about the global financial crisis. He is a frequent speaker on gold and money on television, radio and at conferences.

Frisby is also a comedian and actor, described as 'viciously funny and inventive' by the Guardian; 'masterful' by the Evening Standard; and 'great comedy talent' by Chortle.co.uk.

Day-to-day he is found trotting about the sound studios of London, voicing everything from BBC nature documentaries to zombies in Hollywood blockbusters.

He has also worked as a TV presenter, a boxing-ring announcer, a florist, a removal man, an extremely camp theatrical agent's PA, a sports commentator and a busker.

Reviews

[Dominic Frisby · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was just great.

But then I would think that - I wrote it!

I hope you find reading it as fascinating and engaging as I did writing it.

[achen · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 被開章第一篇騙了，看到後面越來越無趣。大概也因為我對經濟始終似懂非懂，知道是切身問題，卻缺乏通透的智慧去了解並掌控。因此看完此書，我對作者設想的稅賦烏托邦不感興趣也不抱期望，我只想躺平🙃。

[Tom McCall · Rating 4 out of 5]

All but the last Chapter was very informative and based on logical evidence, the last chapter was the downside. After just writing every other chapter, exposing how taxation has caused many issues in society, the last chapter was more of a brainfart. Insanity is doing something that has been proven bad, over and over again, then expecting different results trying it again. Taxation is a euphemism for extortion.

[Pedro L. Fragoso · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book. Appropriate adjectives: important (make it: really, really important); remarkable (make it: absolutely remarkable; visionary (make it: relevantly visionary). I do not agree with the whole of Frisby's world view, but it's irrelevant. The text is brilliant, the discussion is intelligent, the writing is elegant and compelling. This is a paradigm of a class act. The audiobook reading by the author is peerless. And, I don't know if I've mentioned, it is important, remarkable and visionary. Congratulations are in order.

[Richard C. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Daylight Robbery sounds like a textbook but reads like a story! At first I was hesitant to. read it. But once I got started I got hooked by Frisby's well organized and interesting stories about how we have gotten hooked by the tax man! If for no other reason than this (the use of taxes for such things as the conduct of war, for supporting those in charge), Daylight Robbery is an excellent read! It's bedtime reading before you file your taxes!

[Brian Brady · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unfortunately within a a few pages of reading this, suspicions of the true agenda were arisen. Like a bad joke where you can see the punchline coming, I was waiting for the libertarian and cryptocurrency topics to come... and come they did.
It was subsequently no surprise to discover Dominic was/is a non exec director of a Cryptocurrency company - which is not disclosed, nor that he dabbles in comedy.

The Good:
The chapters around the use of taxes in various civilisations and throughout history are quite interesting and the strands between them are well made.
He may not be a scholarly historian, but it's well researched to a point, and although shallow at times, he makes a banal topic highly interesting.

The Bad
Frequent cherry picking of snippets of history or current economic conditions to suit his agenda of pushing libertarianism which benefits the elite and cryptocurrencies as the solution, without addressing how it will benefit those below the poverty line already.
For example there is regular correlation = causation bias littered throughout the book.
The most glaring example being the obsession with Hong Kong as the bastion of hope - which has low taxes and a high GDP.
Nowhere does Dominic seek to explore how the two are linked, nor does he discuss the glaring problem present in Hong Kong with it's low taxes and low social security net - the fact that up to 20% of the population there live below the poverty line while in more inclusive societies such as the EU and especially the nordics with higher taxes and government spending, it's below 10%.

This isn't explored, either as an oversight, or it would not be conducive to the point being pursued.

The Ugly
His abhorrent treatment and simplification of the Irish Famine being due solely to tariffs on import of cheap grain from abroad. Yes this was true in part - but deplorably Dominic neglects to mention how much grain was grown in Ireland at the time that had to be exported to the UK to absentee landlords.

Again he cynically pulls on the heartstrings and ties tariffs to the famine for the benefit of his own agenda.


Dominic does make some very fair points, by and large the tax system is broken and needs reform and the chapters with the futurist lens are all well within realms of possibility.
His main aim however is to ensure that as a well-off libertarian with vested interests in crypto that he can convince everyone else that this is the future.
As a Brexit candidate he does not appear even too committed, he frequently cites references from conservative think tanks to forward thinking social agencies so long as they help paint the picture he wants.

His best suggestion? What if we stopped funding education and healthcare and allowed people to do what they want with the money in their pockets.
Again he conveniently neglects to study countries which puts the trust in private markets to regulate for healthcare - US private healthcare anyone?
The latter chapters are littered with anecdotes about technology and big data that have been told a million times in recent books (you've heard how Target predicted someone was pregnant from their data right?... yeah he uses that and many others)

Despite the fact I agree with him the tax system is broken, he also fails to address how the majority of us take out as much as we put into the system over the course of our lives.


Ultimately, if you do want a contrarian and challenging view on taxes and how the future could be then this is a thought provoking listen.

However approach with caution if you don't like the wool being pulled over your eyes, cherrypicking of information, frequent "this is beyond the scope of this book" approach when things become inconvenient to tackle and the real agenda behind it - which is to convince those who can't afford a social security net - that they're better off without one - as he doesn't want to contribute to it.

Dominic is not a historian, economist or futurist and there's little original thought here when you dig deeper.

[Billiam Qwan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating view on the perrenial nature of tax, and illumination of the huge flaws in the traditional financial system. A gateway book into the world of Crypto.

[Tim Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Daylight Robbery” was recommended to my by a Financial Times (FT) journalist. Dominic, takes you through a history of the world. Well, actually it’s a history of tax, but what we find out is that every transformation in history was driven by decisions on tax. You do start to feel, in a nice way of course, as Dominic as a very open writing style, that he is a little biased.

The book, finishes up with his suggestions for tax in the future, as you can imagine his view is very much that we shouldn’t start from here. Overall an interesting read, well researched and written in a style that actually made tax interesting. Now that is an achievement.

[Leo · Rating 1 out of 5]

Though covering an interesting topic, this book stays at the level of shallow, free-market arguments, without really delving in the complexity of the issue. Notably, causal links are drawn between low taxes and growth without real arguments beyond "it happened at the same time", and without considering other variables that could explain growth better than low taxes. In the end, the result is more an ideological pamphlet than an informative book.

[Ronald J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stoves, hearths, houses, light, windows are just some of the examples of what we’ve taxed. Winston Churchill described taxes as a “necessary evil.” The question this book explores is how much evil is necessary? Taxes shape civilizations. Indeed, there has been no civilization that did not tax. Every war has been paid for with taxes. Surnames came about to distinguish people for the purposes of levying poll taxes. In the developed world, the most expensive purchase you’ll ever make is not your home, it’s your government through your tax bill, averaging a full 20 years of your life in the UK. Frisby’s book is a breezy, informative look at various topics through the lens of tax. I particularly liked some of the historical examples, the chapter on Hong Kong, and John James Cowperthwaite, the architect of Hong Kong’s free market, low-tax prosperity with his policy of “positive non-intervention.” Hong Kong has a 276 page tax code, 1.5% the size of the UK’s (10 million words and 21,000 pages. The USA’s tax code is 2.4 million words and another 7.7 million on regulations). Complexity is a subsidy. He was even against compiling statistics because he knew they’d be use for central planning the economy. “If I let them compute those statistics, they’ll want to use them for planning,” he explained to Milton Friedman. When met with pleas from the Legislative Council for GDP statistics, this is his reply:

"Such figures are very inexact even in the most sophisticated countries. They do not have a great deal of meaning. That other countries make use of them is not, I think, necessarily a good reason to suppose that we need them. I am not entirely clear what practical purpose they would serve in Hong Kong … The need arises in other countries because high taxation and detailed Government intervention in the economy have made it essential to be able to judge (or to hope to be able to judge) the effect of policies … We are in the happy position, where the leverage exercised by Government on the economy is so small that it is not necessary, nor even of any particular value, to have these figures available for the formulation of policy."

Frisby writes, “Later in life he was asked what poor countries should do to turn their economies around. The first thing he said was ‘abolish the office of national statistics’.” Today, Hong Kong ranks amongst the ten richest nations in the world, with a per capita income 40% higher than the UK’s. It’s also ranked #1 as on economic freedom indexes. The book explores taxes and religions, the Black Death in Europe, which killed 50 million, 60% of the entire population. England’s population shrank by two-thirds, from 6 to 2 million. But wages went up and profits went down. America was founded on “No taxation without representation,” but what we’ve learned is that taxation with representation is a lot more expensive! His take in that the Civil War was not fought over slavery but taxation. President Lincoln introduced the first income tax, 3% on incomes over $800, and the Internal Revenue Service. Then the 16th Amendment and the tax withholding in 1942, during World War II, is covered. He makes the interesting point that Prohibition came about since the income tax replaced taxes on alcohol, which accounted for some 40% of government revenue prior to the income tax. And revenue loss during the Great Depression is why Roosevelt repealed Prohibition in 1933—he needed the tax revenue. Interesting, was the repeal of Prohibition why Roosevelt won the presidency, rather than his New Deal? There is a chapter exploring the future of work, one on crypto money, the taxman’s nightmare, and how AI and data are helping governments close the tax gap. I don’t agree with everything Frisby’s writes, such as his generation is poorer than its parents. Really? Would he trade their standard of living for his? Or his idea of a land tax. Or how subscriptions could work for public services. It’s an interesting idea, and I love the subscription business model, but how it would apply to government has yet to be answered, though perhaps it could if taxes were more local. I do agree that the overall tax burden should be no more than 15% of GDP. Frisby acknowledges American tax historian Charles Adams (I believe Adam’s was Canadian, not American). And Adams’ books are masterpieces, especially his For Good and Evil. If you enjoy Frisby’s book, and want to dive even deeper, and still be entertained and educated, Adams work is a must read. Overall, this is a worthwhile read for anyone with an interest in tax history and future.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think Dominic Frisby might be a bit of a twat but he's quite entertaining about it, so I'll forgive him.
So quite a lot of the book is taken up with a partisan re-telling of history in which he proves that his chosen subject is the main driver of everything. The US Civil War, The Holocaust, the fall of Rome, The Fall of Adam, the destruction of Pompeii, that time a truck overturned and spilled marmite all over the road, all cause by tax. Aye well, it's just a bit of fun, so we take it (the story, not the marmite) with a pinch of salt and move on. Having dealt with the past, he sets his sights on the modern era and his projections for the future. He gets a bit too excited about tech, in the way that a certain sort of bloke will. He conjures up a vision of an anarcho-libertarian world - ie one run entirely by silicon Valley billionaires. It's a bit unseemly how excited he gets about this sort of oligarchy - at some points you start to feel like he's typing one-handed. I don't know that I share his enthusiasm though: we didn't vote for Google, Amazon or, more likely, any one of a hundred Chinese successor companies we haven't heard of yet but who will buy them in about twenty years. OK, they're good at making apps, but that doesn't mean they are good at running society.
Anyway, he calms down a bit after a while and starts to sketch out some ideas for how a utopian future government might run things if we grudgingly concede that governments still have a role. He brings up a few ideas from the right (eg flat tax) and the left (eg land value tax) and explains the point of them and why he likes them.
I think he's right that we should talk about tax more. The conversation around tax has, for some time now, been stupid and we need to change that, but his cocktail of selective nationalism, naivety and cavalier disregard for anyone who can't afford to pay for the NHS via an app subscription is a bit bleah, so I hope when the conversation finishes we'll have arrived at a better consensus than this.
Anyway I recommend the book as a source of interesting, but not necessarily good ideas.

[Neil Johnstone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating read, from daylight robbery after taxing windows in England to a Russian tsar taxing beards, I never knew how much tax shapes our world.
The chapter on the 3 major religions and the tax story behind their formation. So Moses taking the Jews out of Egypt after the Pharaoh began taxing them harder. Then Christianity with Jesus kicking out the traders in the temple as Romans taxed some religions more and they try get him to say everybody stop paying tribute but his famous line, 'Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto God what is God's.' But eventually they get him on a suggesting people don't pay taxes and he was crucified.
Then in Islam they conquered land from different empires and said you have 3 options 'convert, pay taxes or death' most chose to convert and the religion grew rapidly. And after they were established they started imposing similar taxes and maybe be why they didn't conquer all of Europe.
Then the modern chapters about the internet, bitcoin and companies not being taxable as they are in the ideas market rather than the physical but taxes are coming more up to date. Then some great information about Hong Kong and his final chapter on his utopian society is very interesting.
Recommend this book to everyone, the style of writing is witty and entertaining. Some great quotes at the start of most chapters. So I'll these two.

'The art of taxation consists of so plucking the goose as to obtain the most feathers with the least possible hissing.' - Jean-Baptiste Colbert, finance minister to Louis XIV (1661-83)

'Where there are taxes, the just man pays more than the unjust man on the same income. Where there are refunds, the just man takes nothing, while the unjust man profits.' - Plato (380 bc)

Last quote more than ever, shows we don't change that much, I love ancient philosophy as relevant today as it ever was and will be long into the centuries ahead.

[Alec Piergiorgi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: This review is based on the audiobook narrated by Dominic Frisby.

An entertaining look at the history of taxes throughout the various ages and forms of human political development. Frisby's main point in covering this broad history is to show that taxes were often a central, though underdiscussed, cause behind many of the most violent and energetic periods of human conflict. Those grievances over taxes, between governments and their citizens, were the catalyst for revolutions or mass political upheavals. While the argument can be made that Frisby simplifies some of these events to fit this narrative, it still remains a compelling case, and he never claims that taxes were the sole cause.

The latter chapters in the book are more concerned with explaining the current climate as it pertains to taxes and government revenue, before hypothesizing how things will look in the future. This portion interested me a little less, but it was no less thoughtful, and Frisby brings up numerous contemporary examples to explain how the Internet and cryptocurrency are changing the landscape. I think Frisby also correctly points out that governments that seek to be overly restrictive in their taxation or rely on archaic formulations will see increased turmoil and decreased revenues.

The final chapter is dedicated to Frisby's own ruminations on how taxes would look in 'Utopia.' To my surprise, his biggest proposal is essentially Georgist, and he takes the position that since taxes will always be present, they should at least be simple, effective, and encourage production. While I disagreed with many of his proposals, I commend him for offering a unique position and being realistic in his suggestions.

[Pandit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is GREAT !
I know, it doesn't sound too interesting, but give it a chance. DF knows his stuff - this book grew out of a comedy routine he did on stage. He breaks the topic up into bitesize stories. He has good storytelling ability - which comes from his comedy, presumably. But even so this is not lightweight - it is well researched and thought out.
The role of tax in the US civil war might surprise you. Napoleon's tax difficulties might too. But here it is worth noting that the book is highly Anglo-Saxon orientated. Did you ever think of inflation as a tax? DF makes a fascinating argument. And how about the future? Will tax evasion become endemic as things move into cyber-space. Or will it become easier for the taxman to find you?
Yes, give this book a try!

[Mega · Rating 5 out of 5]

A history on how the institution of taxes came to be, and why we in the world accept such an institution as Income Tax. The history of taxes isn't a subject that many discuss, this book by Dominic Frisby provides just that via the different forms of taxation the governments of the world impose onto their subjects and later on citizens. The craziest tax I remember from the book was called the Window tax which taxed people based on the number of windows they had on their homes. The chaos that tax had was that the people in the industrial era purposely not build windows to avoid the tax but suffocated from the industrial smoke in the industrial era. Taxation affects behaviour. Learning about taxation is quite interesting. Give this book a read!

[Luke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frisby’s Daylight Robbery discusses the significance of tax in the past, the present and the future. Many would consider taxation an uninteresting and tedious subject, yet the writing style is both thoroughly engaging and clearly well-informed. Though from an economic perspective, Frisby’s discussion of tax’s past provides an excellent summary of several major historic events. While I thought I’d find the history-related chapters more interesting, the book’s predictions on the future of finances are certainly compelling. Daylight Robbery has definitely transformed my perception of taxation and it’s role in the world.

Rating: 4.5/5

[CS · Rating 4 out of 5]

After successfully destroying tax-collection and monetary inflation for 90% of the book, we have a sudden plot twist. The author advocates that we should have some lower taxes, which is propbably fine.

However, he also advocates that land (effectively) can't be private property because "it belongs to nature" and should be taxed based on its location. So effectively, land belongs to the state (although not what you build on it). If some external factor suddenly makes your land more valuable (subjective), out of nowhere you should pay more, even if for example your income didn't rise and you use the land just for living. I can't subscribe to that view at all.

[Matteo Negro · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Tax is the way we will shape the world in which our children will live.

History has shown time and time again the terrible consequences that misguided, poorly thought through or outdated tax legislation can have. We need new and better tax systems to reflect the new economy of the twenty-first century.”

Frisby is not an historian but he explains (quite convincingly) how many key historical events (revolutions, civil wars, regime changes) were all (at least partially) tax driven.

The last part of the book - more focused on the future - is a bit more boring (Frisby is a bit of a libertarian, he likes crypto and small - if not no - government) but still interesting!

Recommended!

[Warren Mcpherson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book takes an engaging and broad historical look at taxes.
There is a terrific range of time periods and places around the world. It looks at the role tax has played in several empires and revolutions. It looks at how tax influences the outcome of wars and influences society. I would love to get different perspectives on this topic. This struck me as novel and provocative in the best sense of the term.

[Virginia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A clear concise history of how taxes have shaped our way of life, our opportunities, and lack of opportunities, depending on your station in life. If you are the power elite, you control others by taxing them, without their permission. Two hundred years ago most taxes went to local projects; now the majority go to federal governments. The digital revolution is making taxes harder to collect, particularly in regards to the new, large group of digital nomads. Great book. Very educational.

[Amanpreet Singh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Book covering history of Taxes over the history. It covers how taxes which were temporarily levied like many other govt programs didn't get lowered.

It shows other interesting side effects and correlations link to War, Local Govt Shrinking in front of Center etc.

It covers interesting taxes like Beard Tax, Window tax and many other such absurd taxes and its consequences like health impacts of Window Tax.

Book is well written and Good Read ..

[Robin J · Rating 4 out of 5]

An informative overview of the necessary evil of taxes and the size of government. Eventually the benefit does not equate to the cost to the citizens. It is amazing that for some reason humans almost volunteer to be surfs. Fortunately technology and the internet may hold a solution by decentralizing the Powers that be that citizens can vote with their feet.

[Pablo Borras · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic on the history part, but not as much on the solution. I can sense a libertarian mindset, but needs to go all the way rather than settling for an non-utopian Utopia with low taxes. If taxes are theft, they are even is the levels are lower. Advocating for secession, up to the point of the individual is the right solution, and taxation will move into voluntary contributions to the HOA

[Robert B Kennedy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommend

I enjoyed reading this book. The author has turned the dull topic of taxation into a riveting read, covering its historical roots to its present day problems and how to solve them. Highly recommend.

[Jose Guerra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that explains and gives various examples of how tax altered history and how it's always been a driving force for change. A bit redundant at times with the examples given but a fun read overall.

[Snowy Papaya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting and funny too. I also liked hearing is ideas at the end for a new system of tax. Although I’m sure many historians and economists would not agree with all of his conclusions, he does make some good points and it’s always interesting to hear different points of view.

[Treegum · Rating 3 out of 5]

A pretty good summary of the significance of tax in history and a good offering of insight into the future of tax and, more broadly, how governments may evolve in the future. However, the author's tendency to overplay the significance of taxes in important historical developments did get tiresome.

[Anass Wajib · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative and concise, given the immensity of the subject, however the last chapter was not what I have expected after all the ranting on what high taxes have done to us.

[Matt Rogue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given the subject I expected this to be pretty dry.

But, I found all the historical tax stuff particularly fascinating.

[Paul Davies · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amusing and informative. Very well written. The author is equally good at looking at the history of taxation as he is considering its future. Best non-fiction book I have read in years.