[tablewatcher]

Irish guy here who was taught all of this history in school. My overriding sense is that of disillusionment with the commemorations. The media outlets are trying to induce a sense of patriotism that I cannot feel because it's too far removed from our modern lives, the internet has brought the world closer anyway so these acts were for what? Being branded one nationality instead of another. What difference does it make when the vast percentage of my Irish friends live in Canada, Australia, UK, Germany anyway, forced out by a government that nationalised banking debt and ruined my generation's chance of a normal life that the previous one enjoyed. My friends won't return because none of them can afford a house and could never raise a family on the taxes we have here. Its like being told by an abusive partner that "No, I wont hit you again". Maybe others will have good counterpoints but this is my perspective on it.

[discreteevent]

I remember seeing a documentary once on the stories of Irish immigrants who went to the US at the end of the 19th century. One of them had left because he was an industrious small farmer but the British had introduced taxes where if you had done well enough to improve your property (was it called a window tax?) they simply nailed you. They punished people who were you too productive in order to keep them down. Not to mention how the British behaved during the famine.

So maybe you could call that oppression? And agree that it was not a good thing? That the revolution was about more than just "being branded one nationality instead of another".

[tablewatcher]

The window tax, along with the Chimney tax was implemented in a lot of countries in that era, including England. The current effective rate of tax is 55% in Ireland along (with a sales tax of 23%) for people earning the highest level of wages (the entry criteria into this highest rate is the lowest in Europe). You get minimal services for that, including a passable heathcare system where everyone still needs private health insurance. Road taxes, Property tax, Water charges, Capital gain are all exceptionally high so I really don't see the current situation better than past times except for material changes. The low corporation tax rate utilised by foreign multinationals is another slap in the face where the citizens are charged one rate and the corporations another.

[cafard]

Perhaps what you are thinking of is the rule that in most of Ireland, the tenant did not get credit for improvements to the property. So an evicted family lost the value of any work it had put in.