Week in Insights: A Hedge Helped the British Empire Enforce a Tax

The desire to protect tax revenue can make a government do wild things.

Take the Great Hedge of India, an ambitious 1,100-mile barrier built, or rather grown, by the British Empire to enforce salt taxes during the 19th century. It was 12 feet tall and 14 feet across at some points and stretched across the heart of India, standing as a living monument to the British Empire’s efforts to fight salt tax evasion.

The hedge took at least 30 years to construct, and it roughly cut off the saltless side of the country from the salt-laden—intended to allow the ...