[mikegagnon]

"Instead of paying taxes in money, every Incan was required to provide labor to the state. In exchange for this labor, they were given the necessities of life. Of course, not everybody had to pay labor tax. Nobles and their courts were exempt, as were other prominent members of Incan society."

I find it fascinating that this article compares the labor system more to socialism than to slavery.

[drothlis]

It certainly wasn't socialism, but it wasn't exactly slavery either. The "labor tax" was 2 years of labour (out of your entire life).

[contingencies]

More like national service as per Israel, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland then?

[consonants]

The labor system is not at all comparable to socialism. Try feudalism.