The MoneyWeek Podcast: Dominic Frisby on tax

John talks to Dominic Frisby – comedian, financial writer and MoneyWeek regular. Dominic has written a book - Daylight Robbery - about the history of tax and how it has shaped our culture.

A big gold-bug, Dominic is convinced that so many of society's problems were caused by our system of money. And tax and the money system are intrinsically related, with the government exercising total control. Indeed, there has never been a civilisation without taxation - all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia. One the one hand, taxes are the price we must pay to live in a civilised society. On the other, taxation is a form of legalised theft.

It's a hugely important subject that deserves to be studied as a subject in its own right, rather than a subset of economics. Doing this, many things become clear, says Dominic - why things happened when and how they did, why the world is as it is now and how it could be shaped in the future. Find out what Dominic has to say in this week's podcast.