Between 1763 and 1776, nothing made colonists madder than a tax collector with a clipboard. In this episode, we dive into the wild world of the excise man—the poor British official whose only crime was trying to collect a little coin for King George and ended up wearing a fresh coat of tar and feathers for his efforts. We trace the roots of that famous rallying cry “no taxation without representation” back through the Magna Carta and the so-called British Constitution, where a bunch of old English dudes accidentally planted the seeds of American rebellion centuries earlier.

From the Sugar Act to the Stamp Act and every tax in between, we unpack how the colonists went from grumbling about tea prices to full-blown revolutionaries who’d rather fight than fund another French and Indian War invoice. It’s a story of money, mismanagement, and one very bad day to be an excise man. Tune in as we break down the receipts of rebellion—with equal parts history, humor, and righteous colonial outrage.