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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Dr. Strangemonkey" data-source="post: 389794" data-attributes="member: 6533">Subsistence?I'm not certain how you are dealing with the idea of subsistence.If you mean that medieval peasants could suffer at the hands of natural disasters, then yea. If you mean that peasants couldn't afford a second home and a vacation in Ibeza, then yea.But I think the basic fact is, that no system of taxation was going to change the fundamental realities of medieval farming.  A lot of hard work was going to get you enough to live on and a little bit extra with which you could invest in the incredibly expensive process of raising animals or owning clothes.  Despite all that, peasants did have a little money.  Look at all the people in the Canterbury tales Miller, Summouner, Friar, etc. who make their living fleecing peasants.You can't get blood from a stone. In terms of comparing medieval to modern tax systems.  Most of the world's nations feature a substantial subsistence population, so, I would imagine that they're taxation systems do leave them in a subsistence level setting.</blockquote>