Hmm, I guess everyone's now thinking "representation" along with "taxation," right? [Linked Image]
We can't take the blame for the crazy VAT system. Britain got lumbered with it thanks to joining the European Common Market in 1972.
That's not to say we don't have some pretty exorbitant tax of our own making though. Gasoline is more expensive here than anywhere else in Europe at the moment. When it hit nearly $5 a gallon earlier this year there was talk of a revolution then!

P.S. Some slighty-related trivia: There are still one or two British history books that list the U.S.A. as being an independent nation from 1783. Yep, you read that right - 1783. That's the year that the British govt. of the time finally accepted the American Declaration of Independence and relinquished their claim on the "colonies."


[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 10-28-2001).]