The Rosetta Stone is one of our earliest examples of a special interest using the tax code for their own benefit.
Source: The Rosetta Stone’s Hidden Lesson on Taxes and Special Interests - Foundation for Economic Education
This story reminds me a bit of Paul Harvey's 'The Rest of the Story' series. Everybody knows about the Rosetta Stone but how many know its purpose was to keep tax collectors away by stating the temple's tax exempt status in three languages? Special interests have been around as long as taxation has existed and it is no different today.