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it lasts till World War II.
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And thus that's the big way that municipalities were able to raise
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any money at all, since basically wealthy people
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didn't pay taxes, and that's why--it's a very
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regressive tax, it's like a huge sales tax,
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and France is nothing if it's not full of regressive taxes,
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since the value-added tax is twenty-one percent,
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and on electronics and stuff like that it's thirty-three percent.
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So, you're taxed on what you buy,
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and since poor people have less
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money to buy things it really is totally unfair.
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But the origins of this system is in the octroi,