Taxes in the 1500s

In the 1530's Francisco Pizarro and his band of Spanish conquistadors conqured the Inca empire. Afterward they attempted to extract as much gold as possible from the Incas. The people soon learned to hide their wealth from the Spanish rather effectively, however. The Spaniards discovered that the more wealth Incas were happier and consequently could often be found humming to themselves as they walked around. To exploit this correlation, they imposed a substantial fine on any Incas found humming. This is the first historic example of a tax that is now widely used throughout the world, the "Inca Hum Tax."