Beard Tax

Wow, I had no idea beard taxes were a real thing — definitely thought it was a meme or a Monty Python joke at first Learned something new today.

Apparently Peter the Great actually made people pay to keep their beards in Russia, and they even gave you a little token to prove you paid. That’s both weird and… kind of brilliant?

Funny how something as everyday as facial hair could be turned into a policy lever. History never runs out of surprises.