Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by mariusz79 3680 days ago
I remember when in school I was being told how bad was the life of people in feudal Europe because of all the taxes that kings, church and local lords took from people.. I wonder what would these people think about our, much higher, taxes.
2 comments

The average feudal person from the middle ages would love to live in our world! Yes, they would have to pay a lot of taxes. But they'd have enough food, be free from the king's men raping them, have very low infant mortality. Did I miss your point somehow? I'd rather pay taxes than live in that world.
Feudal life was not onerous and difficult because of "taxes", especially not as we define, legislate, and collect them in contemporary society. The feudal "tax system" was in no way easily analogous to our own.