Collection of Insane and Fun Facts
In 1696, William III introduced a tax which required those living in houses with more than 6 windows to pay a levy.To avoid this, house owners would brick up all windows except 6. As the bricked-up windows prevented rooms from receiving any sunlight, the tax was known as daylight robbery.
Rep. Ed Orcutt suggested a CO₂ tax for cyclists/bikers because “they exercise and breathe hard and therefore exhale more CO₂”, claiming biking is bad for the environment.
Hitler was a chronic tax evader, and was even fined by his own government over it in 1934. He then got the tax department to declare him exempt from taxation.
A man in Charlotte, North Carolina spent $1,200 to convert his diesel car to run on vegetable oil. He was fined $1,000 by the state for not paying gasoline taxes, and told he would need to post a $2,500 bond before using the oil.
H&R Block once discovered that their own taxes were too complex for them to manage.
IKEA is legally a “nonprofit” organization — a designation which dramatically reduces its tax burden — despite reported global sales of €26bn (≈$28B) annually.
President Nixon, after many years of refusing to release his tax returns for review, said “People have got to know whether or not their president is a crook. Well, I am not a crook.” After the investigation, he was forced to pay $465,000 in back taxes he owed.
Franklin D Roosevelt called for a maximum wage of $25,000 (about $365,000 in today’s money) and 100% tax on all earnings above that.
In Norway they publish their citizen’s annual tax returns online. If you accesses someone’s tax return, that person will receive a notification that someone’s checking on him.
Denmark charges a tax of 150% on all new car purchases.