It seems to me that in a democratic society, the primary consideration in regard to any putative Lutenist-Beard Tax would be what social services would result from the budgetary opportunities arising from such tax. For example, if the revenues went toward a national trust dedicated to the preservation of lute source materials.
Of course, there are certain "supply-side" economic theorists who would argue that Government intervention in the free market of lute goods and services is inherently nefarious, and furthermore that such taxation would be a net reduction of the economic power of each individual bearded lutenist, ultimately resulting in the reduction of lute-related markets, ultimately bankrupting most luthiers, tablature publishers and string makers. -----Original Message----- From: Bob Purrenhage [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 5:50 PM To: Lute Net Subject: Re: Beards I, too, have a beard (but not just for the record). Would that be a 'value-added' tax I'd pay? a progressive tax if I keep growing it longer?? Bob Purrenhage ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stewart McCoy wrote: >Dear Roman, > >I am aghast at the thought of a beard tax, which you mention in >connection with Peter the Great. A great many lutenists today have >beards. > >I would be interested to know what percentage of contributors to >this list have beards. My guess is that it would be surprisingly >high, maybe more than 30%, even allowing for female contributors. > >Just for the record, I have a beard. > >Best wishes, > >Stewart. > > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Roman Turovsky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "Stewart McCoy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Lute Net" ><[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 2:28 PM >Subject: Re: Question about lute courses/strings > > > > >>>Dear Jon, >>> >>>I am amazed >>> >>> >>Dear Stewart, could you ever write "aghast"? Maybe once? >>RT >> >> > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Roman Turovsky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: "LUTE-LIST" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 9:04 PM >Subject: Re: renaissance america (AustrianArnold,etc) > > > >>>When Peter the Great shaved off the last boyar beard? >>> >>> >>Took 'em awhile to get shaved. There was also a period of beard >> >> >tax (sic!). > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > --
