I am sure you are familiar with the concept of taxes; this is how countries usually run. I am also certain that you are aware of the everyday taxes that we as a society are supposed to pay. Now I can assure you that you will either laugh it out or be really, REALLY surprised when you read what sort of taxes are imposed in certain places. I follow the law, I pay the taxes, but this is actually pushing it. I am sure you probably have no idea what I am talking about, so why not just go through the list and you will probably thank God you live in areas where these don’t apply and for once feel happy about the taxes that you actually have to pay; I know I did.
CARD TAX
At the time when the policies were being formalized for different types of taxes, the playing cards used to be really popular. The King thought it to be a great way to earn some extra money. This tax was first applied in the reign of James I in England around 16th and 17th century. These taxes were applied on the playing cards until as recently as 4th August 1960. Well, what do you have to say about this one?
CANDY TAX
You know how children love to eat candy. The consumption of candy is not limited to children though. Grown-ups like to indulge in the sweet small delights every now and then and so in September 2009, Illinois decided to increase the taxes on candy. If the contents of the ‘candy’ considered flour or required refrigeration it will not be considered as candy. So you can see how funny this is when the Milky Way Midnight bars are considered as candy but the original Milky Way bars are considered as food.
JOCK TAX
If a visitor is earning money in a particular state in the United States he would be subject to Jock Tax. The states however, cannot pinpoint every visitor who earn so the ones pinpointed are usually really popular and wealthy and that would include athletes. They are easy to pinpoint along with their incomes and the state can pull it off without much investment.
COWARDICE TAX
If you run away from a fight you will have to pay to the government. What if this sort of policy applied to your country now? This tax was also applied during the 16th-17th century under the rule of King Henry I. Anyone who opted out of fighting for the king was supposed to pay the price, literally. This tax used to be low initially but was later increased by 300%. The tax lasted for 300 years before being nullified. But it was replaced by other methods of similar sorts to make up for the lost money.
HAT TAX
You know how people love to wear caps and hoods. Long time ago, the only fashion was hats and everybody on the streets used to wear one. That led the government to impose tax on anyone who would wear a hat or even own one. The tax was applied to men’s hat only and the first time it was levied was in the year 1784. The tax continued till the year 1811 before being lifted. During the years, a person owning or wearing a hat and being unable to pay the tax was fined heavily. Imagine if this tax applied on us wearing caps and all; Disaster!
WINDOW TAX
You know how windows look absolutely gorgeous if of course fitted in the right way. A window is one of the main attributes to a beauty of the house and even long ago a lot of windows were built into a house. So, King William III in 1696 imposed a tax for the windows. The usual tax for the house was 2 shillings and if the house had more than ten windows, each extra window had a tax. The tax was repealed in the year 1851.
CRACK TAX
Crack might be illegal but that doesn’t stop the government to put a tax on it. This law was passed in January 2005 when the Tennessee General Assembly put tax on illegal objects such as cocaine and marijuana. Drug dealers were required to pay the tax at the state revenue office. 22 other states levy this tax. In some taxes prostitution (another illegal activity) is also taxed.
FART TAX
This definitely needs no explaining but you should know that this doesn’t concern humans. The tax was levied on animals that would release methane gases into the air. Now it doesn’t take a lot of common sense to understand that the tax payers are obviously humans who own the animals. The gases released by these farm animals account for 50% greenhouse gas emissions in New Zealand and therefore applying tax does make sense but I hope the tax money goes into research on global warming and related concepts.
