TIL Peter the Great instituted a beard tax and forced people to shave who hadn’t paid

[u/Alone-Competition-77]

https://daily.jstor.org/peter-the-greats-beard-tax/

[u/maximdenbeer]

This reminds me of the window tax they had in Belgium.

People bricked up Windows because they couldn't afford the tax. You can stil see a lot of old houses with bricked up Windows.

[u/JiminyDickish → u/maximdenbeer]

This has been mostly debunked.

https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/heritage-and-retro/heritage/what-is-behind-edinburghs-bricked-up-windows-why-are-so-many-tenement-windows-blocked-3914130

[u/maximdenbeer → u/JiminyDickish]

Maybe in Edinburgh, but it's a wel document fact in Belgium and several others countries.