“In this world, only death and taxes are certain.” Affect and the use of tax documentation as a type of archival emotion that builds user interaction during educational activities

Archival materials concerning the imposition of taxes in an ambiguous manner reveal the emotional state of people who, when putting pen to paper, expressed not only anger and helplessness but also frustration, embarrassment, and a lack of understanding of the information conveyed by the authorities. Taxes have always aroused extreme emotions both among those in power and within society. The article presents the issue of a particular type of tax and taxpayers who paid the so-called “luxury tax.” What we now consider an ordinary everyday item was, until recently, an object of neighbors’ envy and, for legislators, a pretext for imposing substantial taxes.