But what mattered was not the percentage but rather that the relationship of master and servant had reversed. Government officials were now in control. They were now the masters. The people were now the serfs. In other words, freedom does not depend on whether a person is being forced to pay three percent of his income to government or forty percent of his income to government.
Freedom is an absolute.
One is either free or not free. It is only slavery that comes in degrees. In the Old South, some plantations were more pleasant to work on than others. But that certainly did not change the nature of the slave's relationship to his master. If I have the power to order you to work for me, you may be happy that I require you to serve me only one day a week.