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SebastianGray (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Sep 3rd 2020 at 10:21:10 AM •••

Let's talk about the following:

  • Window taxes were a real thing in 18th and 19th Century Europe. They were intended as a way to tax income without actually having an income tax (as the public felt that the government had no right to ask everyone what they made in a year so they could tax it), on the theory that wealthier people would own larger houses, which would have more windows. The tax dodge of sealing up windows to lower the taxes was also fairly common, though corrupt tax collectors knocking holes in walls and taxing the hole as a window probably wasn't. And though they didn't escalate to riots IRL way the protests Felix was part of did, such taxes were highly unpopular, as the public felt that they were taxing people's access to light and fresh air.

So far this has been listed under three different and I still don't think that Aluminum Christmas Trees is the correct trope as that is about "Something that existed in real life is considered fake by the audience" yet 1) I had known about window taxes before I had even heard of Warhammer, and 2) the taxes aren't really relevant beyond the riots that the example says didn't happen.

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Chabal2 Since: Jan, 2010
Sep 3rd 2020 at 1:55:22 PM •••

Personal experience is rarely a good way to judge an example's worth, for the same reasons ZC Es aren't allowed.

Taxing windows sounds very much like the kind of thing a petty-minded Feudal Overlord would come up with to squeeze more gold from his subjects, especially in a Dung Ages setting (case in point: taxes on beards in Russia, taxes on salt and fireplaces in Europe). It's anachronistic, but it still fits the trope as an absurd-sounding plot element that did happen in reality.

SebastianGray (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Sep 3rd 2020 at 11:56:53 PM •••

While personal experience doesn't have much relevance, this isn't YMMV so some objective criteria is required. Also Warhammer isn't a Dung Ages setting (outside of certain parts of Bretonnia), the Empire in particular is based on the Holy Roman Empire (with a smattering of steampunk technology) and as the HRE existed at the time of the window taxes it would fit with the setting. It is not even a plot element, the plot element is the riots the example itself said didn't happen so isn't an example.

Governments instituting stupid taxes that people hate isn't a fantastical idea. The event in the series itself actually seems to be an reference to the poll tax riots of the 1980s changed to a more period appropriate tax with the addition of the Peterloo Massacre for good measure. This could make it Patched Together from the Headlines but the example would have to be rewritten.

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