Most historians and archaeologists place the beginning of the history of taxation and money around the Babylonian civilization who emerged some 4000 years ago on the fertile banks of the river Euphrates. With such a distant past it is impossible to place the date and people exactly, but the emergence of the first token economy is generally thought to coincide with the civilizations rise, and is regarded by many as their main contribution to human consciousness.
To assign values to goods and services a token allowed rapid development and exchange of ideas as the entire economy became linked for the first time. Groups with nothing to exchange with one another for services could now cooperate. Things and people also has an external value for the first time.
The advent of a token economy also enabled the first practical application of tax. Whereas collecting citizen contributions to an areas overall wellbeing was impractical using direct exchange or the exchange of gifts, money finally allowed people to organize collectively through taxation to achieve higher aims such as public safety and even welfare.
The idea of these exchanges has changed a great deal through the ages, coming to represent a great variety in sizes of areas and populations. Traditionally it's value is based on a set amount of gold that the nation owns. As markets have become more and more complex, so has the relationships between metal and material objects, with values often being decided on fairly abstract levels.
The newest chapter in this history is the creation of the virtual or digital economy. Not referring solely to money on the internet, this is the ever decreasing amount of actual paper or metal representations that people carry with them. More and more of our cash is plastic now, using a coded card to exchange our capital through computer networks.
Tax has followed a similar pattern, the role of government and ownership becomes more and more confusing as time goes by. It is hotly debated how much tax should be collected and distributed. This is further confused by the creation of a market for finding loopholes to avoid paying tax by the rich.
Although they have been for thousands of years essential to an understanding of human society both historically and presently, many people remain incredibly unaware of the history of taxation and money.
To assign values to goods and services a token allowed rapid development and exchange of ideas as the entire economy became linked for the first time. Groups with nothing to exchange with one another for services could now cooperate. Things and people also has an external value for the first time.
The advent of a token economy also enabled the first practical application of tax. Whereas collecting citizen contributions to an areas overall wellbeing was impractical using direct exchange or the exchange of gifts, money finally allowed people to organize collectively through taxation to achieve higher aims such as public safety and even welfare.
The idea of these exchanges has changed a great deal through the ages, coming to represent a great variety in sizes of areas and populations. Traditionally it's value is based on a set amount of gold that the nation owns. As markets have become more and more complex, so has the relationships between metal and material objects, with values often being decided on fairly abstract levels.
The newest chapter in this history is the creation of the virtual or digital economy. Not referring solely to money on the internet, this is the ever decreasing amount of actual paper or metal representations that people carry with them. More and more of our cash is plastic now, using a coded card to exchange our capital through computer networks.
Tax has followed a similar pattern, the role of government and ownership becomes more and more confusing as time goes by. It is hotly debated how much tax should be collected and distributed. This is further confused by the creation of a market for finding loopholes to avoid paying tax by the rich.
Although they have been for thousands of years essential to an understanding of human society both historically and presently, many people remain incredibly unaware of the history of taxation and money.
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