The Great Joke Tax
In a kingdom far away, where laughter once flowed freely, a peculiar tale unfolded about a king who decided to tax the very essence of joy itself - jokes and jest.
How the Tax System Works
Registering Your Jokes
All citizens must register their jokes at the Royal Jest Office. Each joke is carefully cataloged and assigned a tax bracket based on its humor level.
Classification Process
The Royal Jesters evaluate each joke based on wit, delivery, and audience reaction. Higher ratings mean higher taxes, making the finest jokes a luxury few can afford.
Tax Collection
Royal tax collectors roam the streets, listening for laughter. Anyone caught telling an unregistered joke faces steep fines or time in the kingdom's least amusing dungeon.
The People's Rebellion
The people of the kingdom, feeling uplifted by the laughter, started to tell jokes and puns again, and soon the entire kingdom was in on the joke.
| King's Treasury | People's happiness |
|---|---|
| Empty | Overflowing |
| Modest | Satisfied |
| Full | Ecstatic |
The king, seeing how much happier his subjects were, realized the error of his ways and repealed the joke tax. Jokester was declared a hero, and the kingdom lived happily ever after.
Royal Decree!
The King's Plan
The king thought long and hard, and finally came up with a brilliant plan: he would tax the jokes in the kingdom.
“After all,” he said, “everyone enjoys a good joke, so it's only fair that they should pay for the privilege.”
The king's subjects were not amused. They grumbled and complained, but the king was firm:
- 1st level of puns: 5 gold coins
- 2nd level of jokes: 10 gold coins
- 3rd level of one-liners : 20 gold coins
As a result, people stopped telling jokes, and the kingdom fell into a gloom. But there was one person who refused to let the king's foolishness get him down: a court jester named Jokester.