<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1">
<title></title>
</head>
<body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff">
<font color="#000000">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.<br>
-- Ibn Khaldun, </font><font color="#000000">1332-1406 C.E.<br>
</font>
</body>
</html>