The History Of Taxation And Money Closely Associated
July 12, 2011 | Comments | Blogs & Blogging
The history of taxation and money dates back thousands of years. The two histories are closely related. Money allowed the barter system to end and to be replaced by a wider system of exchange. It greatly improved exchange since it avoided the need for a double coincidence of wants on which the system barter system depended.
Currency can be defined as being a unit that allows or facilitates exchange. Archaeological and other evidence indicates that the first forms of currency may well have been livestock. Trade based on exchanging livestock seems to have started as early as 9,000-6,000 BC.
Once permanent agriculture began to be practiced, agricultural produce was used as currency. For instance, one farmer might ask a trader to exchange one fur animal skin or fur for a sack of beans or corn. China was important in the development of this form of exchange.
By about 1,200 BC, Chinese people began to use cowrie shells for currency. This shell comes from large sea snails, a marine gastropod. Many different people all through history have used this material as currency, even in the twentieth century by various remote tribes. The use of cowrie shell is notable because, unlike agricultural produce, it has zero inherent value by itself.
Around 1,000 BC, at the start of the Metal Age, Chinese people started using metal tools as currency. From that point, it was a short step to using metal coins. They came soon in the following decades.
The first Chinese coins were produced using base metals, not precious metals like silver or gold. Their early coins often were punched with a hole. This allowed coins to be tied together so that they could be carried more easily. It also helped maintain their security.
At about this time, in 500 BC, a similar but distinct development was occurring a world away in the Lydia or what is today Turkey. In that area, coins were also being used. However, unlike the Chinese coins made from base metal, the Lydian coins were made from silver and had significant inherent value.
They were also stamped with distinct marking to indicate their assigned value. In the history of taxation and money, these Lydian coins are perhaps the earliest relative of the coins used today.
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