Egyptian taxes
The first known tributary system was that of ancient Egypt. Pharaoh collected taxes twice a year from the Egyptians. One of the most commonly taxed items in the ancient world was cooking oil, which was actually taxed throughout Egyptian history due to shortages. Egyptian taxes eventually became so well known that they were even mentioned in the Bible, “When the harvest comes, give a fifth to Pharaoh.”
Athens, Greece
For the Athenians in Greece, war was a way of life, and expensive too. As such, the Athenians taxed their citizens for the costs of the war with a tax they called “eisphora.” The most historic factor in this tax was that it exempted no one, what many consider to be the first democratic tax system, since after wars money was often reimbursed to the people. There is also some documentation of a tax applied to foreigners (or anyone without an Athenian mother and father), called a “metoikion”.
Salt tax in India
Salt has been taxed in India for centuries. However, in 1835, the British East India Company drastically raised import taxes after they began to impose dominance over the Indian provinces. The salt tax was raised and lowered by multiple leaders and events, and was not repealed until 1946.
Rome and Caesar
Taxes called “portoria” were first applied in Rome to imports and exports to the city. Cesar Augusto, now considered a genius tax strategist of his time, gave individual cities the task of collecting taxes. He also increased taxes on slave sales from 1% to 4% and created a tax to raise retirement funds for army soldiers.
Britain
The occupation of the Roman Empire may have lit the flame of the first taxes in England. During the 11th century, Lady Godiva’s husband, Leofric, Earl of Mercia, said that he would lower taxes if she rode the streets naked on horseback. Lady Godiva made the now famous trip and lowered taxes for her people.
The French Revolution
Before the French Revolution, civil unrest fell on the shoulders of high taxes for the lower classes. While clergymen and nobles were exempt from tax, peasants and regular wage laborers were not. The tax gap also left lower-class citizens unable to pay court fees, rendering justice inaccessible except for those rich enough to pay it. While the true cause of the French Revolution is still debated today, many historians feel that these high and unfair taxes were a major contributing factor to civil unrest.