Monday, January 12, 2009

Daylight robbery

The connection to Tuberculosis may be a little tenuous but the Window Tax, which was not repealed until 1851, is still a nice example of the law of unintended consequences - the actions of people, and especially of government, always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended.

It is also possible, although far from certain, that this is the origin of the phrase 'daylight robbery' since the tax was widely seen as a tax on light and air.

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