On the 15th of September this year president Uhuru Kenyatta assented to the bill that re-introduced capital gains taxes in Kenya. There have been various debates on the pros and cons of the tax. Regardless of where you side in the debate, you will agree that the proposed capital gains tax sounds far more logical compared to the taxes below.
-
In the days of ancient Rome, it was tradition for the upper class to liberate their slaves after a set number of years. The Roman government looked at this as an opportunity to generate revenue, and they taxed the newly freed slave on his freedom.
-
In 1696, the English government under William III (William of Orange) passed a new law requiring subjects to pay a tax based on the number of windows in their homes. Not willing to pay a tax on something as basic as sunlight, many Englishmen simply reduced the number of windows in their homes. There was less light… and less ventilation… which ultimately became a public health problem.
-
England introduced a tax on candles in 1789. Making your own candles was outlawed unless you first obtained a license and paid tax on your own home-made candles. As you could imagine, most people just did without. Coupled with the window tax, this was a very dark time for England. And it took until the mid 19th century for the government to repeal the taxes.
-
In 1936, the town of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, USA was devastated by nasty flood. In its efforts to rebuild the town the state assembly imposed an emergency, ‘temporary’ tax of 10% on all alcohol sold in the state. This ‘temporary’ tax remained in place for nearly three decades, at which point it was raised to 15% in 1963, and again to 18% in 1968. The ‘temporary’ tax still exists today. Curiously, you can never find the tax on an alcohol receipt; state law requires that the tax be built into the price. So all alcohol simply costs 18% more in Pennsylvania, and most people don’t even know that they’re paying it.
-
In the United Kingdom, the government taxes you on entertainment even if you stay home through its television tax. If you own a television in your home, you must pay an annual fee, formally called a television license, for each TV you own. The funds are used to finance programming on BBC, whether you watch those channels or not. Colour televisions are taxed at a £145.50 annually, whereas black and white TV sets are taxed at £49 per year. Blind people still have to pay the tax, but at a reduced rate of 50%. Failure to pay this fee subjects the violator to criminal penalties. There were 155,000 convictions and fines in 2012 alone. And 51 people actually went to prison that year for failure to pay the TV tax.
- “Pecunia non olet“, the words are attributed to the Roman Emperor Vespasian. They are translated us “money does not stink“. Vespasian is said to have answered this to his son Titus. This was after Titus complained to him about the urine tax he had introduced. Urine at that time was collected and used as a source of ammonia for tanning hides and laundering garments. The tax was levied on buyers of urine collected from public urinals.
The first five taxes are courtesy of zerohedge.com. Read about them here.
Feeling overtaxed? At least you are not paying taxes on windows or urine.