"There are three kinds of taxes, taking into consideration their effects: one is ruinous, one is unfortunately necessary, and the third is always excellent."
"That is good; go on."
"The ruinous tax is the royal tax; the necessary one is the military one; and the excellent one is the popular tax."
I wanted to throw him off his beat a little, as I had not got up my subject.
"The royal tax, sire, is the one which empties the purses of the subjects to swell the coffers of the sovereign."
"And that is the ruinous one, you say?"
"Always, sire, for it stops the circulation of money, which is the soul of commerce and the backbone of the state."
"Yet, you consider the army tax necessary?"
"Unfortunately necessary, for war is a dire calamity."
"Perhaps. And how about the popular tax?"