Ancient & modern
Apparently Gordon is planning another tax raid on savings, this time lifeinsurance companies which have 'too much' money in reserve against rainy days. After his last pension raid, this will not be a popular move. The Romans can help him solve the problem.
Roman finances under the emperors had two destinations: the Aerarium and the Fiscus. Into the Aerarium went the revenues from empire and from established indirect taxes (harbour dues and so on); into the Fiscus went monies from a variety of other sources, all to provide the emperor with the resources for expansive, personal 'charitable' giving.
Unclaimed property, from those who died intestate, was one source of Fiscal income, as was treasure trove. An even better one was the property of those condemned on a criminal charge. For example, Sextus Marius, the richest man in Spain, was thrown off the Tarpeian rock in Rome for having committed incest with his daughter. The real reason, says the historian Tacitus, was so that the emperor Tiberius could grab his extensive gold and copper mines (Brown would already be seizing Conrad Black's millions and feeling Abramovich's collar). Another historian says that Sextus was a friend of Tiberius and had therefore became wealthy. What a brilliant justification to money-grab for the ex-Chancellor who, singlehanded (as he endlessly claimed), has been the supreme generator of wealth across the UK for ten years!
The Fiscus also laid claim to the personal gifts that grateful communities bestowed on the emperor (usually a 'gold crown': there must have been hundreds), while various emperors invented all sorts of novel taxes to swell their coffers. Caligula (emperor Al) 37-41) taxed prostitutes and readycooked food, and charged a levy on the sums of money at stake in court cases. At one stage there appears to have been a surcharge on the price of gladiators supplied for the games (soccer transfers?).
But how to set up a Fiscus without raising unworthy suspicions? Why, use the National Lottery Fund! Government already plunders it ruthlessly, and nobody can complain at Gordon giving our money to 'charity', can they? He can take the plaudits and siphon it off at will. Indeed, he could propose that no death duties be paid on money left to him (sorry — it). What bounteousness!
Peter Jones
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