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this post was submitted on 03 Oct 2024
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politics
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"kept Byzantine on purpose." What is the meaning of this phrase?
They mean its kept overly and unnecessarily complex, and difficult to understand on purpose. The reason being because the tax preperation industry lobbies to keep ot thst way because their entire industry is based on it being too complicated.
Byzantine became an adjective to describe a system that is overly complicated and difficult for a lay person to understand the inner workings of. The basis for the word was the bureaucracy of the Byzantine Empire - which was regarded as overly complex and impossible for people outside of it to actually understand. It was probably easier than the US tax code though
Fun fact! The government of the Byzantine Empire was fairly straightforward. Notably, their tax system was a simple flat tax, with additional taxes levied on landowners based on the value of their holdings.
"Byzantine" became synonymous with excessive complexity because—big surprise incoming—some Anglos just made shit up. Eighteenth century RETVRN bros wanted to trash everything that came after the Roman Empire, and here's where we are today. Neat!
Thanks! 18th century historians making shit the fuck up is not too surprising, but i hadn't heard about this falsehood yet.
Yeah everything had to fit the Gibbons-esque take about falling into "decadence" and becoming "soft" and "Eastern" shudder
It sucks how pervasive that shit is. It sucks that it was still worming around in my head! Lol
Crap, I have 18th century brainworms to exorcise?
For these, you might need to undergo a procedure that involves drilling a hole in your head.
Woo, I always wanted to join the Trepa Nation.
"Byzantine" when used in this context generally refers to something being excessively convoluted or complex