Oh, the Things That They'll Tax Quiz

Answer: urine

Vespasian was one of Rome's emperors during the first century AD. At the time, the Roman Empire had just emerged from a civil war and was in dire need of cash. One of the many ways that Vespasian raised money was to tax the urine that was gathered from public urinals. At the time, urine was important for the process of tanning and creating many textiles.

The urine tax wasn't popular, and Vespasian's son, Titus, was among its disparagers. It was to him that Vespasian explained "pecunia non olet," or "money does not smell." The saying is sometimes used today with the connotation that money is money, regardless of its source.

Answer: beards

Even in the 1600s, Russia was not exactly at the forefront of modernization. In an attempt to modernize Russia, Peter the Great introduced a number of sweeping reforms and unusual taxes to help pay for them. Peter's reforms included looking and dressing like Europeans, which is why he introduced a beard tax to encourage the habit of shaving.

This tax disproportionately affected Old Believers, Orthodox Christians who considered shaving to be a terrible sin. Those that did pay the tax were given a token as proof of their payment; it stated that "the beard is a superfluous burden."

Answer: wig powder

The comically-outdated fashion of wearing periwigs -- those long, white-haired wigs -- actually started with Louis XIII of France, who wore such a wig to cover up his baldness. His son/successor Louis XIV heavily promoted the fashion, which was introduced to England by Charles II. Such large wigs cost a fair bit of money, and eventually became a symbol of wealth.

Britain introduced the Duty on Hair Powder Act in 1795, which taxed the wig powder that was used to keep periwigs white. The addition of a wig powder tax caused the somewhat waning popularity of periwigs to decline quickly and dramatically. The Duty on Hair Powder was eventually repealed, in 1869.

Answer: superstition

China is not known as a bastion of freedom, and from the 1920s through the 1940s (if not later), some local Chinese governments enacted mixin zhuan, or a superstition tax. This tax affected things like the burning of ritual substances, and offerings to the gods. Buddhist ritual performances were also taxed, which caused conflict between Buddhists and the Chinese government, a problem which became further exacerbated with the Chinese Communist Revolution. Such taxes were enacted under the guise of intending to eliminate such beliefs, though the tax revenue probably didn't hurt either.

Answer: childlessness

What, you thought being a have-not would exempt you from being taxed? Under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, the Soviet Union imposed a 6% tax on men and women who were childless. The purpose of this tax was pretty obvious: it encouraged the growth of the Soviet Union.

It was not necessarily mean-spirited either: students, people whose children died during World War II, and those with fertility problems were exempt from the tax. Though weakened over the years, the tax on childlessness managed to last until the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Answer: vote

Jim Crow laws required people to pass literacy tests and pay fees for the right (if it could still be considered that) to vote. Some states even enacted cumulative poll taxes, where in order to vote, one had to pay any missed taxes from previous years as well. Like many head taxes, poll taxes were designed to create a social outcome, and many blacks and poor people essentially found it impossible to vote because of them.

Poll taxes were ruled constitutional in 1937 by the Supreme Court, but that decision was reversed in 1966. (The 24th Amendment to the US Constitution, ratified in 1964, prohibited poll taxes, but for federal elections only.)

Answer: illicit income

The original ruling concerned the sale of liquor during the era of Prohibition, and the Supreme Court ruled that the right to not self-incriminate oneself does not allow a person to get away with not paying taxes on such illicitly-earned income. Prohibition-era gangster Al Capone called the income tax law "a lot of bunk" and found out just how bunk it was when he was convicted of tax evasion in 1931.

For modern tax returns, the IRS explicitly states that income from illegal activities, stolen property, kickbacks, side commissions, push money, or "similar payments" must be reported as income on Form 1040, line 21 ("Other Income"), or on Schedule C if self-employed.

Answer: livestock emissions

New Zealand was the first nation to propose a agricultural emissions research levy. Because of its weather, the majority of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions come from the raising of livestock, particularly cows. The money raised from the levy was to be used to help fund research into greenhouse gas reductions. Farmers derided the proposal as a 'fart tax', a clear exaggeration as it was meant to be a tax on belches as well as farts.

A number of agricultural companies ended up agreeing to help fund greenhouse gas research, just not as a "tax" per se.

Answer: being tolerated

No, that's not a joke. The Tolerance Tax, enacted in 1747, allowed Jews to be "tolerated" enough that they could remain in specified areas of the Austrian Empire, provided that they paid taxes for this awesome privilege. This tax was approved by Maria Theresa, who had the final say on its exact terms. The Jews did get some small reprieve stemming from this tax: restrictions on where they could live or travel were lifted during the negotiations on this tax, as were the excessive travel tolls they had to pay for for the privilege being Jewish. Austria was not alone in having special taxes for Jews. Prussia also had such taxes.

The Tolerance Tax was just one of many unusual taxes that Jews were subjected to by various societies over the eras. Others have included Fiscus Judaicus (for "being or acting Jewish"), Rav akçesi (for electing their own rabbis), Leibzoll (for travelling in non-Jewish areas), and Kosher Meat Tax (for meat prepared in a kosher manner).

Answer: witchcraft

Really, witches, did you think you could avoid taxes with your puny magic? Perhaps you should have consulted with the astrologers and fortune tellers, who are also subject to the tax (and saw it coming, naturally). Romania's tax reforms of 2011 declared that such professions will enjoy the same 16% tax that all self-employed people in Romania do. And 'enjoy' may or may not be the right word: the new taxes have made some witches lay all manners of curses on the government, but others have welcomed what they see as the legitimization of their craft!