To fund the war against Napoleon in 1813, Princess Marianne of Prussia invented an ingenious tax-raising scheme. Wealthy Prussians were called on to hand their jewellery to the state; in exchange they were given iron replacements for the gold items they had donated.
Stamped on the iron replicas were the words ‘Gold gab ich für Eisen’. The phrase has a double meaning, the iron referring to the iron of the replica, but also to the ‘iron’ your donation had bought as armaments. At Prussian balls thereafter, iron jewellery carried more status than gold. Gold merely proved your family was rich; iron proved you were not only rich but patriotic.
Why does no one try such ideas today? As Adam Smith observed, ‘The chief enjoyment of riches consists in the parade of riches’.
Just as the British Legion would raise far less money if it stopped handing out poppies, the DVLA seems to have lost millions when it stopped handing out tax discs.
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