Daylight Robbery

With dazzling clarity, Frisby illuminates just how much of history is explained by arguments over tax, from Magna Carta to the American civil war to today’s political debates. This entertaining, surprising, contrarian book is a tour de force * Matt Ridley, author of The Evolution of Everything *An engaging and informative trip through tax history that leads on to some radical suggestions for the future. A must-read for anyone thinking about how our tax system should be structured * Roger Bootle, author of The AI Economy *A real page-turner! Dominic Frisby’s historical interpretation and utopian ideas will outrage Left and Right. Both should read this book! * Steve Baker, MP for Wycombe, member of the House of Commons Treasury Committee *In this spectacular gallop through history, Frisby shows how taxation has warped, stunted and thwarted human progress. An absolute must-read for anyone who thinks higher taxes are the answer to our ills. Should be compulsory reading for anyone who aspires to high political office! * Mark Littlewood, Director General, Institute of Economic Affairs *A fascinating book which exposes the political and economic basis of tax. A must read for those of us who believe in simpler, lower taxes * Rt Hon Liz Truss, MP for South West Norfolk, Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade *It has been said that the income tax created more criminals than any other single act of government. Dominic Frisby masterfully delves into the fascinating topic of taxation, vividly bringing it to life * Jon Matonis Monetary Economist *An utterly gripping account of the impact of taxes on the course of civilisation * Simon Evans, Comedian *A fantastic education on the surprising ways tax policies have shaped mankind’s past and will impact our future * Roger Ver, Chairman, Bitcoin.com *A brilliant book full of insights into how governments have fleeced us down the ages. This is a must read for anyone interested in how technology might at last tilt things back in favour of the citizen rather than the state * Douglas Carswell, MP for Clacton, Co-founder Vote Leave *How when and where we pay tax affects everything - how and where we work, how we save, when we retire, whether we marry or not, whether we live in houses we own or not and sometimes even how many children we have. Few of us think properly about the way this shapes our lives and societies. With this well-written and hugely engaging book Dominic Frisby might be about to change that * Merryn Somerset Webb, Editor in chief of Moneyweek *

Dominic Frisby is, unusually, both a financial writer and a comedian. For twenty years, he has written a weekly blog column for Moneyweek about gold, while his Substack, The Flying Frisby, ranks among the UK’s top financial reads. He’s delivered a slew of ‘lectures with funny bits’ on everything from taxation to mining to weights and measures, as well as hosting two financial comedy shows for BBC Radio 4, More Money than Sense with Andy Zatzman, Shazia Mirza and Paul Sinha and Damned Lies with Sir David Spiegelhalter. His previous books, Life After the State, Bitcoin- The Future of Money? and Daylight Robbery, all tackle big ideas about money with both wit and clarity.