>>38099
>20% isnt that much compared to the tax levels of today
They didn't know the tax levels of today, just the tax levels of the 1700s, and taxation in the mining zone was more strictly enforced than the norm in the age. Insufficient quotas were filled through confiscations. Gold could only flow through a few routes (e.g. there was a potential river-based export route but it was banned). It was not a free area but tightly regulated. Residents in the diamond zone were treated even more despotically, goods and persons could only enter it through military checkpoints. The goods received extra taxation and individuals were forbidden from residing without a defined profession, as a matter of policy anyone not related to mining was unwelcome. Over time the Crown's grip tightened until it made diamond mining into its monopoly. Naturally there was a reaction which developed into nativistic sentiment and a revolutionary conspiracy. Maybe the independent mindset also comes from this.