Weirdly enough I actually had to write a college paper on the tax policy of the late Byzantine Empire. During the tenth and eleventh centuries, Roman land became increasingly consolidated under a few influential families, who used their influence to pay less taxes. This weakened the state and left it vulnerable to the fourth crusade and eventually the fall to the Turks.

Back to here, I don't think tax policy from the 1800s is especially relevant because the United States has gone through extensive reform with respect to monetary and economic policy since that time. The fed didn't exist and we were still on the gold standard. It's weird to use an obscure law nobody has every heard of to argue against taxing a class of wealthy Americans that are paying historically low tax rates.