Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

March 24, 2011

During the reign of the Emperor Vespasian, Rome imposed a city-wide tax on public toilets. The emperor?s son, Titus criticized the measure as undignified. In response, the Emperor reportedly held up a small coin and declared: ?Pecunia non olet? ? that is, money doesn?t stink.

Vespasian?s toilet tax appears to have inspired a proposal by Omaha Mayor Jim Suttle that the federal government impose a ten-cent per roll tax on toilet paper. A more immediate model was a similar rejected proposal made in 2009 by an Oregon state legislator, who suggested that a punitive tax on toilet paper consumption would help protect the environment.

Suttle suggests that the federal toilet paper tax could help pay for federally mandated municipal sewer improvements.

Vespasian?s tax was actually a surcharge on sales of urine to manufacturers who distilled it into ammonia and other useful products. His regime didn?t actually impose a tax on an involuntary bodily function. The one ruling us, however, just might find a way to do so.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.