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by Terr_ 702 days ago
I dunno, there's some stuff like French ferme générale private tax collectors that weren't constrained in their profit-margin [0] or privateers with letters of marque and reprisal that went after civilians from other countries. [1]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferme_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque