Income Tax: A Story from Heiko

I heard an interesting story. These last couple months, nearly all my interesting stories have come from Heiko Schlueter, the German-descended, American-sounding, cell phone-loating artist extraordinaire, who calls St. Croix home, and who probably wouldn't like all the hyphenates I just applied to him. Heiko loves to tell his stories, and I love to listen. This one is about income tax. To forewarn you Dear Reader, I haven't substantiated any of it.

Income tax originated in taxes placed on boats. Whoever first thought to tax any and all manner of cargo vessels transporting various goods to and from here and there laid the foundation for a rather strange idea. Sometime ago, 'so-n-so' thought: How can I justify taxing the good people of this land? Well, ships are taxed as they leave their docks in port. Aha! I have a brilliant analogy! As a ship rides out of its 'berth' into the wide water, so are all human beings 'birthed' from their mother's wombs. Therefore, we shall now say because you are like a little ship, coming into the world, you shall be taxed on all your earnings from now until you die! What solid logic!

And so, we have income tax.

Nice story.