The Word Tax

They said that the word tax would destroy literature.

The finite flash fiction would replace the epic novel.

Authors would reort to sitting in the High Street, begging at strangers "Spare a word, govnor". The maxim 'show not tell', would be replaced by the maxim 'Let the reader do all the work'.

But the clever thing about the word tax was, that however bad they thought it was, people could never afford to write more than 100 words against it.