Why do quarters have ridges, and what does it have to do with taxes (and inflation!)
In my class, the very first tax law I mention, on slide two of day one, is named “An Act for Granting to His Majesty Several Rates or Duties Upon Houses for Making Good the Deficiency of the Clipped Money”. It was passed in England in 1696. It is known as the window tax, and it was a tax based on the number of windows you had in your house. In class we focus on this window tax, and I rarely mention what the tax was to pay for, specifically, “making good the deficiency of the clipped money”. What is that?
