The American reluctance to pay taxes is older than the United States alone. When, in the second half of the 18th century, the British government decided to impose new taxes on colonies in America, while at the same time refusing the colonists the right to elect their representatives to the parliament in London, there was a revolt. Its effects are the war for independence and the emergence of the United States of America as an independent state, which, moreover, maintained a skeptical attitude towards taxes.