Smart idea

Seen on Quora.

Every ship coming in and out of the Baltic has to pass through the narrow straits around Copenhagen. In the 1700s Denmark charged a toll of 1% of the cargo’s value, to finance maintaining its ports. The ship had to dock and let the tax collector board to pay the toll. An experienced collector could make a pretty good guess, but couldn’t spend days doing a full inventory. So the captain estimated the value.

Problem: The captain could easily underestimate, and there was no way to verify.

Solution: The tax collector had the right to simply buy the entire cargo at the specified value. This forced the captain to find a fair value. If he underrated, the collector would gladly snap up the bargain and sell it at a profit. If he overrated, he’d pay too much.

Reminds me of Trinity House. User fees and tolls are always the best form of taxation, because the customer is PAYING FOR SERVICE, not just contributing to a slush fund that the government will use to ruin the country.