By Andrew Shankman
Historical comparisons can be useful. In 1766, the America colonies were in turmoil having reacted angrily to the Stamp tax of the year before, an internal tax that depended on some colonists becoming stamp distributors and selling the taxed stamps to other colonists. Imperial policymakers were beginning to realize that any detested policy that required the colonists themselves to implement could never work as well as policies that the colonists actually supported and wanted. Suspected stamp distributors were easily convinced by their neighbors not to sell stamps, and without the consent and support of the colonies the stamp tax failed.
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