What is the first known example of taxes in history?
Hypothecated tax
Hypothecated taxes have a long history. One of the first examples of earmarking was ship money, the tax paid by English seaports used to finance the Royal Navy. Later, in the 20th century, the hypothecated tax began to be discussed by politicians in the United Kingdom. For example, the Vehicle Excise Duty from 1920 when earned revenues were used for the construction and maintenance of the roads, assigning 1p on the income tax directly to education in 1992, or giving £300 million per year from the revenues from taxes on the tobacco industry to help the fight against smoking-related diseases since 1999. Nowadays, earmarking of taxes is mainly connected to the health care system, education or the upkeep of the roads.
Absentee Tax
Absentee Tax was first imposed in Ireland in 1715. There were too many exceptions in the Act and hence it lapsed in 1753. The logic behind the tax was the loss of revenue due to absenteeism. In 1868 Thorold Rogers proposed the trebling of Income tax for absentee land owners which was later rejected.