91ÊÓƵ

It’s been said that there’s no time like the present. But where we are now is often the result of where we’ve been in the past. With that in mind, Briefly Legal invites you to travel back in time to take a look at how tax laws have changed over the centuries:

Nobody really likes to pay taxes but, as history shows, our tax laws could always be worse….

During the first century AD, Roman emperor Vaspasian placed a tax on urine. At the time, urine was collected and used as a source of ammonia for tanning hides and laundering garments. Therefore, those who obtained valuable urine from collectors were charged a tax.

Oliver Cromwell placed a tax on Royalists, who were his political opponents. He took one-tenth of their property and then used the money to fund his activities against them.

In 1696, England implemented a window tax, taxing houses based on the number of windows they had. That led to many houses having very few windows in order to avoid paying the tax. Eventually this became a health problem and ultimately led to the tax’s repeal in 1851.  In 1705, Russian Emperor Peter the Great placed a tax on beards, hoping to force men to adopt the clean-shaven look that was common in Western Europe.

Johnstown, Penn., was devastated by a flood that killed nearly 2,000 people in the late 19th century, and in 1936 another flood damaged the town. That led to the state of Pennsylvania passing a tax on alcohol, the proceeds of which would be used to rebuild the city. By 1942, enough money was raised to rebuild Johnstown, yet the tax exists to this day, and brings in around $200 million a year for Pennsylvania.

New York City places a special tax on prepared foods, so sliced bagels are taxed once as food and again as prepared food, thus creating a sliced bagel tax.

States like Iowa, Pennsylvania and New Jersey exempt pumpkins from a sales tax, but only if they will be eaten and not carved.   In 2005, Tennessee began requiring drug dealers to anonymously pay taxes on any illegal substances they sold.

The IRS taxes stolen property. The 1040 instructions say that you should report it as stolen property. However, doing that would be self-incrimination, from which we are protected by the Constitution; therefore, one has the option of reporting it as “other income.”

Thanks to efile.com for the tax tidbits.