The more things change...

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I've been reading Life in a Medieval Village by Frances Gies and Joseph Gies. Apparently back then villagers had to pay their lord a fee for living in the village and farm on the lord's land. A reasonable enough arrangement. But if you moved away from the village you had to pay the lord a yearly fee for doing so. That just rubs my modern sensibilities the wrong way. Not long after reading that historical tidbit I read the following and thought, the more things change the more they stay the same:
What Happens When Cars Use Less Gas?
Drivers of electric cars may have left the gas pump behind, but there's one expense they may not be able to shake: paying to maintain the roads.

After years of urging residents to buy fuel-efficient cars and giving them tax breaks to do it, Washington state lawmakers are considering a measure to charge them a $100 annual fee — what would be the nation's first electric car fee.

State lawmakers grappling with a $5 billion deficit are facing declining gas tax revenue, which means less money to maintain or improve roads.
The lord of the manor gets his pound of flesh one way or another. This is why municipalities all over the country have hiked the charges for water use, loss of revenue from all of those highly efficient water using appliances that we've been urged to buy all these years.

Hat tip to the Blogfather.

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