[Paleopsych] Ibn Khaldun and the Laffer curve

[Lynn D. Johnson, Ph.D.]

In the early stages of the state, taxes are light in their incidence, 
but fetch in a large revenue...As time passes and kings succeed each 
other, they lose their tribal habits in favor of more civilized ones. 
Their needs and exigencies grow...owing to the luxury in which they have 
been brought up. Hence they impose fresh taxes on their subjects...[and] 
sharply raise the rate of old taxes to increase their yield...But the 
effects on business of this rise in taxation make themselves felt. For 
business men are soon discouraged by the comparison of their profits 
with the burden of their taxes...Consequently production falls off, and 
with it the yield of taxation.
    -- Ibn Khaldun, 1332-1406 C.E.
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