April 14, 2026 • 30 mins
If you enjoy biking in Finland, eating a bagel with cream cheese in New York, or avoiding the sun in Italy, bad news: you may owe tax on that. The good news is, we’ve got nine of the world’s most unusual tax laws to distract you from the pain in your pocketbook.
EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/ptg Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!
Got a question or idea for the show? Call our hotline at (302) 405-5925 or email higeniuses@gmail.com.
Follow us on Instagram @parttimegenius and Bluesky @parttimegenius.bsky.social!
Photo by Kelly Sikkema via Unsplash. Thanks, Kelly!
Learn more about your ad choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
You're listening to part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Guess what, Mango?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
What's that? Will?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
All right, we're gonna go way back in history. You ready,
We're going to the Roman Empire. I know this is
sort of one of your things, so you should get
excited about this. But anyway, the Roman emperor Vespasian, he
actually started construction of the coliseum around seventy CE. And
there's this enormous amphitheater project, and they had to figure
out how to pay for it, and it was paid
for in part by taxes, including a tax on urine.
(00:48):
Did you know this?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I had no idea. So you had to pay a
tax if you went to the bathroom.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Actually, no ancient Romans could pee for free, just one
of the side benefits of being an h Roman totally free.
But people collected urine from the public toilets and actually
sold that urine. Now that's because uria, one of the
most abundant waste products. In urine breaks down into ammonia,
which was used for cleaning. Now, as a result of this,
(01:14):
Rome had a bustling urine trade, and Vespasian sensed an
opportunity here and decided, you know what, I'm going to
tax it.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
That is both fascinating and gross.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, you know, you sound like Vespasian Sun Titus, who
also thought that the urine tax was gross. Isn't that weird?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
This is not the first time someone's told me it
seemed like Titus. I got Compson.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
At Titus twins two peas in a pod.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Now.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
In response to this, his dad held up one of
the gold coins that he'd received in payment and asked
if it smelled bad. Now. When Titus said no, Vespasian responded,
and yet it is derived from urine. Such a weird response.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
It's like a great dad joke.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, it totally is. But from now on, whenever you
see a picture of the Colise, and be sure to
remember all the hard working Roman urine dealers whose taxes
helped pay for that. Well.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I know a lot of people here in the US
are thinking about taxes this week, So to celebrate or
maybe commiserate, today, we are auditing nine of the world's
weirdest taxes, from hot air balloon loopholes to a finished
bike controversy. So let's starve in.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius I'm
Will Pearson and is always I'm here with my good
friend Mangesh Hot Ticketter and over there in the booth
filling out a federal form. Looks like it's Federal Form
eight eight two to one. That's our pal and producer
Dylan Fagan. Now, Mango, I'm sure you know this, but
good old eight eight to two to one is the
Tax Information Authorization Form.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I did know that, of course, and now that Dylan
signed it, we are officially authorized to share as much
tax information as we want today. I just love how
he dots those eyes and crosses those teas.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
He's always doing things by the books, you know, like
even when he's doing wild things, and sort of buy
the books. And so all right, let's talk taxes here
before we get into our next weird tax story. I
was actually curious where the idea of taxation originated, and
the answer is ancient Egypt, and this was sometime around
three thousand BCE. Now, back then, most taxes were related
(03:37):
to agricultural production, not surprisingly, and payments were tied to
agricultural production as well. So instead of money changing hands,
a certain percentage of each harvest just went into a
storage center that was owned by the broader state. Now,
over many thousands of years, this system evolved as the
economy changed, and at first taxes were assessed at the
community level, but before long individuals had to pay their
(03:59):
own tax. Egyptian pharaohs had scribes and professional tax collectors,
and it was their job to keep track of what
everybody owed, kind of like you know, an ancient irs
of sorts, and you know how they say that the
only guarantees in life are death and taxes. I would
actually add a third thing, and that is tax cheats.
So even back in ancient Egypt, wealthy people would fudge
(04:22):
numbers and bribe tax collectors to avoid paying their fair
share of taxes. And it went both ways too, with
rulers offering tax breaks to their political cronies.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Well, our next weird tax is a problem for me personally,
and it's not one a pharaoh would recognize. It is
the sliced bagel tax. Now, I live in New York City,
home of the best bagels in the world, and will
do you have a go to bagel order?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Oh man, I am the most boring bagel order in
the world because I do have a go to order.
And guess what it's two ingredients. It's a toasted wheat
bagel with a light amount of cream cheese on it.
You ever had one like that? How about you?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I have, and I've sent it back for more cream cheese. Yeah.
My go to bagel order is and everything bagel. I
also toast fine scallion, cream cheese, tomato, and capers. But Wow,
before my guy can apply that shmear to my bagel,
he has to slice it, which means I actually have
to pay the standard New York sales tax of eight
(05:25):
point eight seventy five percent on top of the base price.
And that is because the act of slicing a bagel
turns it into a sandwich, and according to New York, Wow,
sandwiches are taxed different that hold bagels.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
That is hilarious. So I guess technically you could buy
a bagel, ask them not to slice it, get the
cream cheese on the side, take it home, slice it
for yourself, and then I guess you'd say, wopping what
like nine percent in tax?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Right? Mm hmm? That is exactly right. And I realized
this sounds crazy, because it is crazy, But you know,
it all began with a ration idea in nineteen thirty four,
New York City introduced a planned to levy a two
percent tax on restaurant and hotel meals. This was during
the Great Depression and the city needed to raise money
for unemployment relief. Now, over the next few decades, the
(06:13):
restaurant tax kind of hung around, and it gradually turned
into a tax on prepared foods. This includes sandwiches and
sliced bagels with cream cheese. But a couple of years ago,
a famous New York bagel company called H and H
came up with a workaround. They collaborated with Philadelphia to
make a limited edition whole bagel injected with cream cheese
(06:35):
so customers could avoid paying the sliced bagel sandwich tax.
Isn't that amazing.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Injected with cream cheese? Yeah, it's amazing because you know,
injecting a bagel with cream cheese sounds like a lot
more hassle than just using a knife to cut it
in half.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't eat this because I'm not
a stuffed crust person, and I'm not a stuffed bagel person.
I'm also not a stuffed hot dog person with hot
These are just principles I live by.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I'm with you one hundred percent on that. And you know,
as you just made clear, taxing a product doesn't necessarily
stop people from buying it now. On the other hand,
taking away a tax break can change people's consumption behavior,
at least in Finland, and at least when it comes
to bikes. See last year, the Finnish government decided to
end a program that let people purchase e bikes from
(07:23):
their employers tax free. Now. This incentive allowed companies to
sell bikes to employees as part of their benefit package
and the ability to claim up to twelve hundred euros
in tax free savings. The program was intended to encourage
physical activity and reduce reliance on cars, and since it
launched in twenty twenty one, over one hundred thousand people
have participated in this.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I don't actually know what the population of Finland is,
but it feels like one hundred thousand more people hopping
on bikes is a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, well, I do know the population of Finland. It's
five point six million people. But you're right, like it
is a lot of people. And a side effect of
the incentive was a sales boom for Finish e bike makers. Unfortunately,
the tax break fell victim to government cost cutting in
twenty twenty five, and this bring an industry report show
that finished bike sales are down forty percent compared to
(08:17):
last year. But hopefully the fans will keep peddling anyway,
because it really is good for the environment and for
your health, and it's also fun.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah. As an American, it's so wild to think about
getting a tax break for buying a bike, but I
imagine that would be really great for the nation. Wait,
so can I tell you how excited I am to
have Nord VPN sponsoring our little show part time genius.
You know when I get excited, I make lists, and
I'm going to tell you why Nord is so great
(08:46):
in listical form. First off, VPNs make the Internet a safer,
cozier place. VPN stand for Virtual Private network. Basically, they
hide your IP address and protect your online identity and data,
which is especially good for people like me who use
the free Internet on trains or planes or wherever. And
(09:07):
this is basically like an invisibility cloak that keeps you
out of sight from hackers, which is incredible. It is
also why I'm going to use this discount code seriously
to get my mom a subscription right after this ad
read two. It is great for sports fans. If you
listened to the show, you know that Will and I
met as college freshmen and we went to Duke. And also,
(09:28):
I secretly watch as many college basketball games as my
wife and family will allow me to. Please don't remind
me how this season ended for us. But that isn't it.
I also love watching soccer and tennis. But when I
travel for work, like when I went to India this winter,
I got blocked out of all my games. It was
the total worst, except because NordVPN lets you change your location,
(09:53):
you can actually access all those games from anywhere. It
is magic.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
And three.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
One NordVPN subscription can be used on up to ten devices,
which is incredible. I mean, I don't want to do
the math for you, but whether you use ten cell
phones or you have like nine desktop computers and one
laptop or six iPads, three phones and one personal computer,
there are a lot of ways to stretch this deal.
(10:21):
I mean, I'm joking, but also I have like a
million devices, so the idea of spreading this across ten
devices is pretty amazing. It is premium cybersecurity for the
price of a cup of coffee every month. Anyway, if
you love our show and you want to support a
show and you need a VPN, this is absolutely the
deal for you. To get the best discount off your
(10:42):
NordVPN plan, go to nord vpn dot com slash ptg.
That's NordVPN dot com slash ptg. Our link will also
give you four extra months on the two year plan
and there is no risk no risk with Nords thirty
day money back guarantee that is NordVPN dot com slash ptg.
(11:04):
Or you can find the link in the podcast episode description.
So if you want to not get hacked, watch lots
of sports and do it on multiple devices, nordvpns for you. Anyway.
I do think taxes tend to show nations priorities, and
that's exactly the case with this next fact, which comes
(11:25):
to us from Japan. It involves at tax called furusato
nose or the hometown tax. So this program was created
in two thousand and eight to address a problem that's
been plaguing in Japan for a very long time. Young
people are moving out of the countryside in order to
find jobs and cities. This decreasing rule tax base means
small towns and villages have struggled to maintain basic public services. Now,
(11:49):
the hometown tax is a way to donate a portion
of your total income and residency tax to a region
other than the one you live in. And you can
do this at any time during the year, and when
it's time to follow your taxes, you can actually offset
whatever you owe in your current municipality by the amount
of your donation.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Well that's interesting. So you're paying the same amount of tax,
you're just redirecting some of it to your hometown, even
if you don't live there anymore.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah, but it actually doesn't even have to be your hometown.
It could be any one of the designated rural regions,
so you don't have to have any sort of like
personal connection to the place where you send your taxes.
In fact, even foreigners living in Japan can participate in
this program.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So if it's not where you're from, like, how do
you decide where to send your payment?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
The whole thing involves a little quid pro quo, So
regions that receive hometown tax payments send donors return gifts
in exchange. So apparently some places get a little carried
away with this, and they start offering things like Amazon
gift cards in order to attract more donations. So the
Japanese government has actually amended the law to say that
(12:51):
return gifts can only be where thirty percent of the
payments received, and they must be local products. So these days,
the gifts typically include regional food specialties like sake or candy, meat,
boxes of fruit, or even a coupon for cultural experiences
like a class with local artisans, which you know, sounds
(13:12):
to me much better than an Amazon gift card, like
I would take Jack candies any day, right of course. Anyway,
all of this means that some people make their hometown
tax decisions based on which regional foods they want to
receive as a gift.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
I mean, you know, when a snack lover I am,
I feel like this is such a good system. I
would definitely be so much more excited about paying taxes
if I got snacks in return. I had no idea
why we haven't implemented this year, but all right, we
have to take a quick break for snacks, I guess.
But when we come back. How building awnings created a
tax uproar in Italy and why hot air balloons are
(13:45):
not treated equally under US tax law. Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Welcome back to part time Genius, where we are having
the least stressful conversation about taxes you'll hear this month.
And the good news is you don't owe as anything.
But if you'd like to do as a favor and
make sure you're subscribe on your favorite podcast app and
leave us a nice rating interview. You can also share
this episode with a friend, especially if you know an accountant.
I guarantee they need something fun to listen to you
(14:24):
right now.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That's true, all right, mango, I've been looking forward to
this fact here. So what is the difference between a
hot air balloon flying freely in the air and a
hot air balloon that's tethered to.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
The ground, I mean a rope?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
That is true, But also one of them is subject
you're so smart, mango.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Uh huh.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
One of them is subjects to a state sales tax
if you pay for a ride in it, and the
other one is not. And here's why. So back in
nineteen seventy three, the US government passed the Anti Head
Tax Act. Among other things, this made it illegal for
states to charge taxes on air transportation This was to
prevent any one state from levying taxes that might interfere
(15:06):
with interstate commerce, which can involve multiple states. So the
question is, if you run a company that takes paying
customers on scenic balloon rides through state sales taxes apply
to you. Now, this question was raised in courts in
both Kansas and in Missouri, and both states came to
the same conclusion. If a hot air balloon is untethered,
it counts as air transportation and those rides cannot be taxed.
(15:29):
But some balloon operators keep their craft tethered to the ground,
you know, so passengers can go up to like seventy
feet in the air and they're not actually traveling from
point A to point B. And in that situation, the
courts ruled that the balloon is not a form of
air transportation. It's more like an amusement park ride, and
it is subject to a state sales tax.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I guess that makes sense, But obviously now I'm wondering
what happens if you buy a ticket for a tethered
balloon ride and while you're out there, someone cuts the rope,
Like you get your sales taxbos like assuming that you
land safely.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, that is I'm sure their biggest concern if that,
If that happens to somebody, I'm pretty sure if that
happened to me, I'd want my whole ticket refunded, to
be honest with you, But I don't actually know. It's
a very very good question, all right. If anyone listening
happens to own a hot air balloon business, here is
an easy way to remember the rules. If your balloon
is tethered, tax must be weathered. If your balloon flies loose,
(16:28):
you have an excuse. That's an easy way to remember it.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
I will remember that forever, now, thank you. Have you
ever been in a hot air balloon?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I have, and it actually surprises me that I have,
because I'm not necessarily you know, I like things like
roller coasters stuff like that, but I'm not necessarily like
a thrill seeker or something like that. So we I
guess about you know, fifteen twenty years ago, went out
in Colorado over some mountains and it was just amazing,
(16:56):
Like it was just beautiful, you know, traveling by hot
air balloon over the mountains and then landing and you know,
getting to just see what that whole process was like,
how about you. I haven't.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
And the landing was smooth. I mean, they looked so
beautiful and I've always wanted to do it. And then
our friend Neely told us about one friend who like
had a hot air balloon company and landed in the
wrong place and like had this disastrous landing, and like,
just how I think they'd lived their wrong crutches for
a bit. It's just like dear ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Knows it was a little bumpy, but it never it
was not as rough as I would have expected in landing.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
That's amazing. So for my next fact, I'm going to
bring us back down to earth. And like many countries,
Denmark has set ambitious targets for greenhouse gas reductions. Specifically,
they've pledged to cut emissions by seventy percent nationwide by
the year twenty thirty. Now, one of the main challenges
they face is farming. Agricultural activity actually accounts for one
(17:53):
quarter of the country's total emissions, and that figure really
hasn't budged in the past decade. So to tackle this problem,
in twenty twenty four, major Danish political parties, along with
environmental organizations and agricultural industry groups, signed something called the
Green Tripartite Agreement. It lays out a sweeping plan for
land conservation, reforestation, green technology, and other practices that'll actually
(18:18):
make farming more sustainable. Now Included in the plan is
the world's first direct tax on agricultural emissions. Starting in
twenty thirty, Danish farmers will have to pay one hundred
and twenty kroner about eighteen dollars per ton of greenhouse gas,
and the tax will rise to three hundred kroner or
forty four dollars over the next five years. And while
(18:40):
farm emissions can come from fertilizer use, heavy machinery and deforestation,
another culprit is animals digestive systems.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
That's always a kid's favorite fact, right, But I feel
like there's actually been a little bit corrected here because
I remember I used to think it was just calfarts
because people love to talk about that. But last year
we did that episode about climate resilience, and we actually
learned in that episode, if you remember, that ninety five
percent of methane cows release actually comes from their burps,
So it's important to get the difference.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
I know we've been focusing on the wrong end of
the cow, but a climate think tank in Copenhagen actually
crunch the numbers and found that the average Danish cow
releases about six tons of greenhouse gas per year, so
the tax would cost farmers seven hundred and twenty kroner
are about one hundred eleven dollars per cow. Pig farmers
would also be subject to the tax, but apparently pigs
(19:32):
are not as gasy as cows.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
You know, I'm all for reducing emissions, but I don't
really understand how this works. Like, I'm pretty sure you
can't just tell cows to stop burping, right.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, obviously not. But this may incentivize farmers to diversify
their businesses to include fewer cows and more plant crops.
And also, when the tax kicks in for the first
two years, it'll include an automatic sixty percent deduction, So
in other words, farmers would only be taxed on forty
percent of their to emissions, so if they take action
now to reduce that carbon footprint, by the time the
(20:05):
tax actually begins, they may not owe that much. In
addition to that, an economist at the Danish Agriculture and
Food Council recently told the UK based publication Carbon Brief
that they're looking into feed additives that can actually reduce
all those livestock admissions by twenty or thirty percent.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Which, if I recall correctly, is exactly what we talked
about in the cow Burp segment of our climate Resilience episode.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
You really remember that episode. I am not saying we
deserve any credit here, but it does seem pretty obvious
that we're on the same page as the Food Council.
So if you guys need any research help or just
want to get together for a creative brainstorm or call
our hotline, you can do that. The number is in
the show notes.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I'm looking forward to hearing from Denmark on that very soon.
But while we wait, here's actually another animal related tax story,
and one that's a little closer to home here. So,
did you know that in Maryland hunters can claim a
tax credit for every deer they donate to charity.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
I did not know that. I didn't even know you
could donate a deer to charity.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Yeah, there's actually lots of states that have programs where
hunters can donate meat to local food banks and hunger nonprofits.
But you know, the thing is, a food bank can't
accept a whole deer carcass. They actually need the meat
processed and packaged for distribution. Some hunters process their own deer,
but most people will pay a butcher to do it.
In other words, they're incurring a cost with their donation.
(21:25):
So in twenty eighteen, Maryland passed a law that gave
hunters a fifty dollars tax credit for donating a deer
to a registered nonprofit, with a maximum credit of two
hundred dollars or four deer in this case, and in
twenty twenty four they raise the credit to seventy five
dollars per year. South Carolina actually has a similar program,
but in that state it's butchers and meat processors who
(21:47):
can claim a tax credit if they break down deer
for a charity. Now that means they can charge hunters
a discounted rate for their services without taking a loss.
Either way, the goal is the same, to make it
easier for hunters to contribute ready to cook packages of
wild game meat to food banks. And considering the average
one hundred and thirty pound buck yields sixty two pounds
(22:07):
of venison, those donations can actually feed a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
That's pretty incredible. No, I remember a long time ago
when we were at Mental Floss, we did a video
at this archery place in Brooklyn, and when we went there,
they had all these deerheads on the wall and I
remember asking the guy there, why are there's so many
trophies here? And he said, you know a lot of
guys they're members at this club. They go hunting and
(22:34):
they're single at that time, and then they get married
and they have to donate their their stack heads somewhere,
so they all end up here.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Oh wow, that's hilarious. You could see that happening though.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah, that's pretty amazing. So for our second to last fact,
I'm taking us back in time, which is way back
to sixteen ninety six. That is the year that England
and Wales introduced the window tax, which assigned a tax
based on how many windows your house had. Now, this
was meant to be a temporary policy and it was
created to solve this financial shortfall caused by a currency crisis,
(23:09):
but it actually ended up staying on the books for
more than one hundred and fifty years. Now here's how
it worked. In the beginning, every house was charged a
base rate of two shillings if you had fewer than
ten windows, that's all you had to pay. If you
had ten to twenty windows, you paid an additional four
shillings for a total of six and if you had
more than twenty windows, your total window tax was ten shillings.
(23:30):
So this was meant to be a progressive tax, the
idea being wealthy people would have bigger houses, therefore more windows.
You know, there was also an element of convenience, right, like,
tax assessors could actually calculate your window tax just by
looking at your home. They didn't have to look inside,
they didn't have to ask any questions, and so it
was pretty easy for them to figure out.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, and you know one part about this, like you
can't hide your windows and avoid the tax. It probably
made that part easier.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Yeah, I mean you said it yourself earlier, right, Like,
the only guarantees in life are death taxes and tax chain.
So people absolutely found ways around this window tax. Bribing
tax collectors was one strategy, but some folks actually bricked
up their windows or tried to camouflage them. This also
led to architects designing houses with fewer windows, so, you know,
(24:16):
commercial properties, service buildings, low income rentals were exempt from
the window tax, so people would also do things like
claim that a residential wing of their home was something else.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I guess I should have figured people would find their
way around this.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
And the thing is like, even when people were being truthful,
they wanted to make sure tax surveyors weren't overcharging them,
so some homeowners began labeling windows to indicate what they were.
So even now you can still see buildings with painted
signs that say things like dairy or pantry over a window.
But over the years public antipathy towards the window tax grew.
(24:50):
The tax itself increased and expanded to Scotland in the
seventeen hundreds, and by the eighteen hundreds it had become
a lightning rod for health performers, who said it penalize
people for living in homes with sufficient air and light,
which is true now. The government gave in and the
window tax was finally repealed in eighteen fifty one, and
within a few years there was a noticeable change in
(25:12):
British architecture. Instead of these dimly lit rooms and closed
off nooks, victorians preferred bright, open spaces, a sense of
bringing the outdoors in, and of course plenty of windows all.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Right, well, speaking of light and dark, that actually brings
us to our final fact, which is even stranger than
taxing windows. So in some parts of Italy's shopkeepers are
charged to tax if their business has an awning or
an umbrella that cash shade on the sidewalk. That's because
of something called TOSAP, which translates to tax on the
occupation of Public spaces. The whole idea is that if
(25:46):
you have a commercial enterprise and you're taking up public
space in order to run your business, you owe local
authorities some money in return for that. So an example
might be if you build a loading dock that covers
part of a public sidewalk that's i walk belongs to
the community, and you're hogging some of it so that
your trucks can unload their crates.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
That seems reasonable. But an awning certainly isn't a loading dock.
Like it doesn't get in people's ways because it's overhead.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, I mean, I get that it doesn't get in
people's way, but it does get in the sun's way,
like it casts the shadows, so it is definitely having
an impact on that space.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
But I mean, that's the whole point of an awning,
right it is.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I know this was going to upset you so much,
but I mean, let's think about this from the point
of view of the Italian bureaucracy.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
You are always thinking about. That's all I think of
the view of the Italian.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
That's sort of my main point of view, really, and
I've actually learned is way more tangled than a plate
of linguini. And so everyone is entitled to feel the
sun on their face, right, Like those anti window tax
activists in England said, light and air is good for
all of us. And if your awning is casting shade
on the sidewalk, you're robbing me of my precious seconds
(26:57):
of sun exposure when I walk past your business. So
you get taxed.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
I like that. I mean, I don't buy it, but
I like your justification for it.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
What if this became just like the thing that really
drove has finally split us apart, just that the tax
on this. But yeah, I actually didn't find any evidence
that ordinary Italians were upset about awning shadows. But it
may be that's just a very strict bureaucratic interpretation of
the toe SAP law. And I actually read a twenty
fifteen interview with a guy who owned a grocery store
(27:30):
in the northeastern region of Veneto, and so he installed
an awning in front of his shop to protect produce
from the sun. And then one day out of the blue,
he received a tax bill for thirty four euros. Now,
apparently the shadow tax is based on the area of
each awning, and in this guy's case, his awning was
four square meters. His local municipality charged him about eight
(27:51):
point four euros per square meter. But actually, here's some
good news. The tide may be changing. So just last
year that the town of Isernia, southern Italy, they abolish
the local shade tex after residents complained. So I didn't
I didn't want to spoil it for you earlier, Mango,
But there is some progress here.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
It's an emotional roller coaster, but I'm glad things ahead
in the right direction. Uh. And because that is that
is certainly the strangest tax story I've heard today. I
think you deserve the trophy.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
I don't know. I don't know if that one was
that grave, but I appreciate it. I'd actually like to
share this with all the brave Italian awning owners who
are standing strong in the shade despite this incredibly silly tax.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, I know all of them appreciate it, and we'll
be calling in later. So before you go, remember you
can follow us on Instagram and Blue Sky. We're at
part Time Genius and if you have a question or
idea for the show, please do give us a call
at three oh two four oh five five nine two five.
That's three oh two four oh five five nine two five,
or you can send us an email at high Geniuses
(28:54):
at gmail. That's Hi Geniuses at gmail dot com. That
does it for today's episode. We will be back next
week with another brand new show. But in the meantime,
from Will, Gabe, Dylan, Mary, and myself, thank you so
much for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of
(29:22):
Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. It is hosted by my good ple
Will Pearson, who I've known for almost three decades now.
That is insane to me. I'm the utter co host,
Mangeshatikular aka Mango. Our producer is Mary Phillips Sandy. She's
actually a super producer. I'm going to fix that in post.
Our writer is Gabe Lucier, who I've also known for
(29:45):
like a decade at this point, maybe more. Dylan Fagan
is in the booth. He is always dressed up, always
cheering us on, and always ready to hit record and
then mix the show after he does a great job.
I also want to shout out the executive producers from
iHeart my good pals Katrina and Norvel and Ali Perry.
We have social media support from Calypso Rallis. If you
(30:08):
like our videos, that is all Calypso's handiwork. For more
podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
App, Apple Podcasts, or.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Tune in wherever you listen to your favorite shows. That's
it from us here at Part Time Genius. Thank you
so much for listening.
You're listening to part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope
and iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Guess what, Mango?
Speaker 1 (00:24):
What's that? Will?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
All right, we're gonna go way back in history. You ready,
We're going to the Roman Empire. I know this is
sort of one of your things, so you should get
excited about this. But anyway, the Roman emperor Vespasian, he
actually started construction of the coliseum around seventy CE. And
there's this enormous amphitheater project, and they had to figure
out how to pay for it, and it was paid
for in part by taxes, including a tax on urine.
(00:48):
Did you know this?
Speaker 1 (00:49):
I had no idea. So you had to pay a
tax if you went to the bathroom.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Actually, no ancient Romans could pee for free, just one
of the side benefits of being an h Roman totally free.
But people collected urine from the public toilets and actually
sold that urine. Now that's because uria, one of the
most abundant waste products. In urine breaks down into ammonia,
which was used for cleaning. Now, as a result of this,
(01:14):
Rome had a bustling urine trade, and Vespasian sensed an
opportunity here and decided, you know what, I'm going to
tax it.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
That is both fascinating and gross.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Yeah, you know, you sound like Vespasian Sun Titus, who
also thought that the urine tax was gross. Isn't that weird?
Speaker 1 (01:30):
This is not the first time someone's told me it
seemed like Titus. I got Compson.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
At Titus twins two peas in a pod.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
Now.
Speaker 2 (01:39):
In response to this, his dad held up one of
the gold coins that he'd received in payment and asked
if it smelled bad. Now. When Titus said no, Vespasian responded,
and yet it is derived from urine. Such a weird response.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
It's like a great dad joke.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, it totally is. But from now on, whenever you
see a picture of the Colise, and be sure to
remember all the hard working Roman urine dealers whose taxes
helped pay for that. Well.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
I know a lot of people here in the US
are thinking about taxes this week, So to celebrate or
maybe commiserate, today, we are auditing nine of the world's
weirdest taxes, from hot air balloon loopholes to a finished
bike controversy. So let's starve in.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius I'm
Will Pearson and is always I'm here with my good
friend Mangesh Hot Ticketter and over there in the booth
filling out a federal form. Looks like it's Federal Form
eight eight two to one. That's our pal and producer
Dylan Fagan. Now, Mango, I'm sure you know this, but
good old eight eight to two to one is the
Tax Information Authorization Form.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
I did know that, of course, and now that Dylan
signed it, we are officially authorized to share as much
tax information as we want today. I just love how
he dots those eyes and crosses those teas.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
He's always doing things by the books, you know, like
even when he's doing wild things, and sort of buy
the books. And so all right, let's talk taxes here
before we get into our next weird tax story. I
was actually curious where the idea of taxation originated, and
the answer is ancient Egypt, and this was sometime around
three thousand BCE. Now, back then, most taxes were related
(03:37):
to agricultural production, not surprisingly, and payments were tied to
agricultural production as well. So instead of money changing hands,
a certain percentage of each harvest just went into a
storage center that was owned by the broader state. Now,
over many thousands of years, this system evolved as the
economy changed, and at first taxes were assessed at the
community level, but before long individuals had to pay their
(03:59):
own tax. Egyptian pharaohs had scribes and professional tax collectors,
and it was their job to keep track of what
everybody owed, kind of like you know, an ancient irs
of sorts, and you know how they say that the
only guarantees in life are death and taxes. I would
actually add a third thing, and that is tax cheats.
So even back in ancient Egypt, wealthy people would fudge
(04:22):
numbers and bribe tax collectors to avoid paying their fair
share of taxes. And it went both ways too, with
rulers offering tax breaks to their political cronies.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Well, our next weird tax is a problem for me personally,
and it's not one a pharaoh would recognize. It is
the sliced bagel tax. Now, I live in New York City,
home of the best bagels in the world, and will
do you have a go to bagel order?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Oh man, I am the most boring bagel order in
the world because I do have a go to order.
And guess what it's two ingredients. It's a toasted wheat
bagel with a light amount of cream cheese on it.
You ever had one like that? How about you?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
I have, and I've sent it back for more cream cheese. Yeah.
My go to bagel order is and everything bagel. I
also toast fine scallion, cream cheese, tomato, and capers. But Wow,
before my guy can apply that shmear to my bagel,
he has to slice it, which means I actually have
to pay the standard New York sales tax of eight
(05:25):
point eight seventy five percent on top of the base price.
And that is because the act of slicing a bagel
turns it into a sandwich, and according to New York, Wow,
sandwiches are taxed different that hold bagels.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
That is hilarious. So I guess technically you could buy
a bagel, ask them not to slice it, get the
cream cheese on the side, take it home, slice it
for yourself, and then I guess you'd say, wopping what
like nine percent in tax?
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Right? Mm hmm? That is exactly right. And I realized
this sounds crazy, because it is crazy, But you know,
it all began with a ration idea in nineteen thirty four,
New York City introduced a planned to levy a two
percent tax on restaurant and hotel meals. This was during
the Great Depression and the city needed to raise money
for unemployment relief. Now, over the next few decades, the
(06:13):
restaurant tax kind of hung around, and it gradually turned
into a tax on prepared foods. This includes sandwiches and
sliced bagels with cream cheese. But a couple of years ago,
a famous New York bagel company called H and H
came up with a workaround. They collaborated with Philadelphia to
make a limited edition whole bagel injected with cream cheese
(06:35):
so customers could avoid paying the sliced bagel sandwich tax.
Isn't that amazing.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Injected with cream cheese? Yeah, it's amazing because you know,
injecting a bagel with cream cheese sounds like a lot
more hassle than just using a knife to cut it
in half.
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Yeah. I mean, I wouldn't eat this because I'm not
a stuffed crust person, and I'm not a stuffed bagel person.
I'm also not a stuffed hot dog person with hot
These are just principles I live by.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
I'm with you one hundred percent on that. And you know,
as you just made clear, taxing a product doesn't necessarily
stop people from buying it now. On the other hand,
taking away a tax break can change people's consumption behavior,
at least in Finland, and at least when it comes
to bikes. See last year, the Finnish government decided to
end a program that let people purchase e bikes from
(07:23):
their employers tax free. Now. This incentive allowed companies to
sell bikes to employees as part of their benefit package
and the ability to claim up to twelve hundred euros
in tax free savings. The program was intended to encourage
physical activity and reduce reliance on cars, and since it
launched in twenty twenty one, over one hundred thousand people
have participated in this.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
I don't actually know what the population of Finland is,
but it feels like one hundred thousand more people hopping
on bikes is a lot of people.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
Yeah, well, I do know the population of Finland. It's
five point six million people. But you're right, like it
is a lot of people. And a side effect of
the incentive was a sales boom for Finish e bike makers. Unfortunately,
the tax break fell victim to government cost cutting in
twenty twenty five, and this bring an industry report show
that finished bike sales are down forty percent compared to
(08:17):
last year. But hopefully the fans will keep peddling anyway,
because it really is good for the environment and for
your health, and it's also fun.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
Yeah. As an American, it's so wild to think about
getting a tax break for buying a bike, but I
imagine that would be really great for the nation. Wait,
so can I tell you how excited I am to
have Nord VPN sponsoring our little show part time genius.
You know when I get excited, I make lists, and
I'm going to tell you why Nord is so great
(08:46):
in listical form. First off, VPNs make the Internet a safer,
cozier place. VPN stand for Virtual Private network. Basically, they
hide your IP address and protect your online identity and data,
which is especially good for people like me who use
the free Internet on trains or planes or wherever. And
(09:07):
this is basically like an invisibility cloak that keeps you
out of sight from hackers, which is incredible. It is
also why I'm going to use this discount code seriously
to get my mom a subscription right after this ad
read two. It is great for sports fans. If you
listened to the show, you know that Will and I
met as college freshmen and we went to Duke. And also,
(09:28):
I secretly watch as many college basketball games as my
wife and family will allow me to. Please don't remind
me how this season ended for us. But that isn't it.
I also love watching soccer and tennis. But when I
travel for work, like when I went to India this winter,
I got blocked out of all my games. It was
the total worst, except because NordVPN lets you change your location,
(09:53):
you can actually access all those games from anywhere. It
is magic.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
And three.
Speaker 1 (09:59):
One NordVPN subscription can be used on up to ten devices,
which is incredible. I mean, I don't want to do
the math for you, but whether you use ten cell
phones or you have like nine desktop computers and one
laptop or six iPads, three phones and one personal computer,
there are a lot of ways to stretch this deal.
(10:21):
I mean, I'm joking, but also I have like a
million devices, so the idea of spreading this across ten
devices is pretty amazing. It is premium cybersecurity for the
price of a cup of coffee every month. Anyway, if
you love our show and you want to support a
show and you need a VPN, this is absolutely the
deal for you. To get the best discount off your
(10:42):
NordVPN plan, go to nord vpn dot com slash ptg.
That's NordVPN dot com slash ptg. Our link will also
give you four extra months on the two year plan
and there is no risk no risk with Nords thirty
day money back guarantee that is NordVPN dot com slash ptg.
(11:04):
Or you can find the link in the podcast episode description.
So if you want to not get hacked, watch lots
of sports and do it on multiple devices, nordvpns for you. Anyway.
I do think taxes tend to show nations priorities, and
that's exactly the case with this next fact, which comes
(11:25):
to us from Japan. It involves at tax called furusato
nose or the hometown tax. So this program was created
in two thousand and eight to address a problem that's
been plaguing in Japan for a very long time. Young
people are moving out of the countryside in order to
find jobs and cities. This decreasing rule tax base means
small towns and villages have struggled to maintain basic public services. Now,
(11:49):
the hometown tax is a way to donate a portion
of your total income and residency tax to a region
other than the one you live in. And you can
do this at any time during the year, and when
it's time to follow your taxes, you can actually offset
whatever you owe in your current municipality by the amount
of your donation.
Speaker 2 (12:06):
Well that's interesting. So you're paying the same amount of tax,
you're just redirecting some of it to your hometown, even
if you don't live there anymore.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah, but it actually doesn't even have to be your hometown.
It could be any one of the designated rural regions,
so you don't have to have any sort of like
personal connection to the place where you send your taxes.
In fact, even foreigners living in Japan can participate in
this program.
Speaker 2 (12:27):
So if it's not where you're from, like, how do
you decide where to send your payment?
Speaker 1 (12:31):
The whole thing involves a little quid pro quo, So
regions that receive hometown tax payments send donors return gifts
in exchange. So apparently some places get a little carried
away with this, and they start offering things like Amazon
gift cards in order to attract more donations. So the
Japanese government has actually amended the law to say that
(12:51):
return gifts can only be where thirty percent of the
payments received, and they must be local products. So these days,
the gifts typically include regional food specialties like sake or candy, meat,
boxes of fruit, or even a coupon for cultural experiences
like a class with local artisans, which you know, sounds
(13:12):
to me much better than an Amazon gift card, like
I would take Jack candies any day, right of course. Anyway,
all of this means that some people make their hometown
tax decisions based on which regional foods they want to
receive as a gift.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
I mean, you know, when a snack lover I am,
I feel like this is such a good system. I
would definitely be so much more excited about paying taxes
if I got snacks in return. I had no idea
why we haven't implemented this year, but all right, we
have to take a quick break for snacks, I guess.
But when we come back. How building awnings created a
tax uproar in Italy and why hot air balloons are
(13:45):
not treated equally under US tax law. Don't go anywhere.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Welcome back to part time Genius, where we are having
the least stressful conversation about taxes you'll hear this month.
And the good news is you don't owe as anything.
But if you'd like to do as a favor and
make sure you're subscribe on your favorite podcast app and
leave us a nice rating interview. You can also share
this episode with a friend, especially if you know an accountant.
I guarantee they need something fun to listen to you
(14:24):
right now.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
That's true, all right, mango, I've been looking forward to
this fact here. So what is the difference between a
hot air balloon flying freely in the air and a
hot air balloon that's tethered to.
Speaker 1 (14:35):
The ground, I mean a rope?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
That is true, But also one of them is subject
you're so smart, mango.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
Uh huh.
Speaker 2 (14:45):
One of them is subjects to a state sales tax
if you pay for a ride in it, and the
other one is not. And here's why. So back in
nineteen seventy three, the US government passed the Anti Head
Tax Act. Among other things, this made it illegal for
states to charge taxes on air transportation This was to
prevent any one state from levying taxes that might interfere
(15:06):
with interstate commerce, which can involve multiple states. So the
question is, if you run a company that takes paying
customers on scenic balloon rides through state sales taxes apply
to you. Now, this question was raised in courts in
both Kansas and in Missouri, and both states came to
the same conclusion. If a hot air balloon is untethered,
it counts as air transportation and those rides cannot be taxed.
(15:29):
But some balloon operators keep their craft tethered to the ground,
you know, so passengers can go up to like seventy
feet in the air and they're not actually traveling from
point A to point B. And in that situation, the
courts ruled that the balloon is not a form of
air transportation. It's more like an amusement park ride, and
it is subject to a state sales tax.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
I guess that makes sense, But obviously now I'm wondering
what happens if you buy a ticket for a tethered
balloon ride and while you're out there, someone cuts the rope,
Like you get your sales taxbos like assuming that you
land safely.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, that is I'm sure their biggest concern if that,
If that happens to somebody, I'm pretty sure if that
happened to me, I'd want my whole ticket refunded, to
be honest with you, But I don't actually know. It's
a very very good question, all right. If anyone listening
happens to own a hot air balloon business, here is
an easy way to remember the rules. If your balloon
is tethered, tax must be weathered. If your balloon flies loose,
(16:28):
you have an excuse. That's an easy way to remember it.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
I will remember that forever, now, thank you. Have you
ever been in a hot air balloon?
Speaker 2 (16:36):
I have, and it actually surprises me that I have,
because I'm not necessarily you know, I like things like
roller coasters stuff like that, but I'm not necessarily like
a thrill seeker or something like that. So we I
guess about you know, fifteen twenty years ago, went out
in Colorado over some mountains and it was just amazing,
(16:56):
Like it was just beautiful, you know, traveling by hot
air balloon over the mountains and then landing and you know,
getting to just see what that whole process was like,
how about you. I haven't.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
And the landing was smooth. I mean, they looked so
beautiful and I've always wanted to do it. And then
our friend Neely told us about one friend who like
had a hot air balloon company and landed in the
wrong place and like had this disastrous landing, and like,
just how I think they'd lived their wrong crutches for
a bit. It's just like dear ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Knows it was a little bumpy, but it never it
was not as rough as I would have expected in landing.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
That's amazing. So for my next fact, I'm going to
bring us back down to earth. And like many countries,
Denmark has set ambitious targets for greenhouse gas reductions. Specifically,
they've pledged to cut emissions by seventy percent nationwide by
the year twenty thirty. Now, one of the main challenges
they face is farming. Agricultural activity actually accounts for one
(17:53):
quarter of the country's total emissions, and that figure really
hasn't budged in the past decade. So to tackle this problem,
in twenty twenty four, major Danish political parties, along with
environmental organizations and agricultural industry groups, signed something called the
Green Tripartite Agreement. It lays out a sweeping plan for
land conservation, reforestation, green technology, and other practices that'll actually
(18:18):
make farming more sustainable. Now Included in the plan is
the world's first direct tax on agricultural emissions. Starting in
twenty thirty, Danish farmers will have to pay one hundred
and twenty kroner about eighteen dollars per ton of greenhouse gas,
and the tax will rise to three hundred kroner or
forty four dollars over the next five years. And while
(18:40):
farm emissions can come from fertilizer use, heavy machinery and deforestation,
another culprit is animals digestive systems.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
That's always a kid's favorite fact, right, But I feel
like there's actually been a little bit corrected here because
I remember I used to think it was just calfarts
because people love to talk about that. But last year
we did that episode about climate resilience, and we actually
learned in that episode, if you remember, that ninety five
percent of methane cows release actually comes from their burps,
So it's important to get the difference.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
I know we've been focusing on the wrong end of
the cow, but a climate think tank in Copenhagen actually
crunch the numbers and found that the average Danish cow
releases about six tons of greenhouse gas per year, so
the tax would cost farmers seven hundred and twenty kroner
are about one hundred eleven dollars per cow. Pig farmers
would also be subject to the tax, but apparently pigs
(19:32):
are not as gasy as cows.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
You know, I'm all for reducing emissions, but I don't
really understand how this works. Like, I'm pretty sure you
can't just tell cows to stop burping, right.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Yeah, obviously not. But this may incentivize farmers to diversify
their businesses to include fewer cows and more plant crops.
And also, when the tax kicks in for the first
two years, it'll include an automatic sixty percent deduction, So
in other words, farmers would only be taxed on forty
percent of their to emissions, so if they take action
now to reduce that carbon footprint, by the time the
(20:05):
tax actually begins, they may not owe that much. In
addition to that, an economist at the Danish Agriculture and
Food Council recently told the UK based publication Carbon Brief
that they're looking into feed additives that can actually reduce
all those livestock admissions by twenty or thirty percent.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Which, if I recall correctly, is exactly what we talked
about in the cow Burp segment of our climate Resilience episode.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
You really remember that episode. I am not saying we
deserve any credit here, but it does seem pretty obvious
that we're on the same page as the Food Council.
So if you guys need any research help or just
want to get together for a creative brainstorm or call
our hotline, you can do that. The number is in
the show notes.
Speaker 2 (20:45):
I'm looking forward to hearing from Denmark on that very soon.
But while we wait, here's actually another animal related tax story,
and one that's a little closer to home here. So,
did you know that in Maryland hunters can claim a
tax credit for every deer they donate to charity.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
I did not know that. I didn't even know you
could donate a deer to charity.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Yeah, there's actually lots of states that have programs where
hunters can donate meat to local food banks and hunger nonprofits.
But you know, the thing is, a food bank can't
accept a whole deer carcass. They actually need the meat
processed and packaged for distribution. Some hunters process their own deer,
but most people will pay a butcher to do it.
In other words, they're incurring a cost with their donation.
(21:25):
So in twenty eighteen, Maryland passed a law that gave
hunters a fifty dollars tax credit for donating a deer
to a registered nonprofit, with a maximum credit of two
hundred dollars or four deer in this case, and in
twenty twenty four they raise the credit to seventy five
dollars per year. South Carolina actually has a similar program,
but in that state it's butchers and meat processors who
(21:47):
can claim a tax credit if they break down deer
for a charity. Now that means they can charge hunters
a discounted rate for their services without taking a loss.
Either way, the goal is the same, to make it
easier for hunters to contribute ready to cook packages of
wild game meat to food banks. And considering the average
one hundred and thirty pound buck yields sixty two pounds
(22:07):
of venison, those donations can actually feed a lot of people.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
That's pretty incredible. No, I remember a long time ago
when we were at Mental Floss, we did a video
at this archery place in Brooklyn, and when we went there,
they had all these deerheads on the wall and I
remember asking the guy there, why are there's so many
trophies here? And he said, you know a lot of
guys they're members at this club. They go hunting and
(22:34):
they're single at that time, and then they get married
and they have to donate their their stack heads somewhere,
so they all end up here.
Speaker 2 (22:41):
Oh wow, that's hilarious. You could see that happening though.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Yeah, that's pretty amazing. So for our second to last fact,
I'm taking us back in time, which is way back
to sixteen ninety six. That is the year that England
and Wales introduced the window tax, which assigned a tax
based on how many windows your house had. Now, this
was meant to be a temporary policy and it was
created to solve this financial shortfall caused by a currency crisis,
(23:09):
but it actually ended up staying on the books for
more than one hundred and fifty years. Now here's how
it worked. In the beginning, every house was charged a
base rate of two shillings if you had fewer than
ten windows, that's all you had to pay. If you
had ten to twenty windows, you paid an additional four
shillings for a total of six and if you had
more than twenty windows, your total window tax was ten shillings.
(23:30):
So this was meant to be a progressive tax, the
idea being wealthy people would have bigger houses, therefore more windows.
You know, there was also an element of convenience, right, like,
tax assessors could actually calculate your window tax just by
looking at your home. They didn't have to look inside,
they didn't have to ask any questions, and so it
was pretty easy for them to figure out.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Yeah, and you know one part about this, like you
can't hide your windows and avoid the tax. It probably
made that part easier.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Yeah, I mean you said it yourself earlier, right, Like,
the only guarantees in life are death taxes and tax chain.
So people absolutely found ways around this window tax. Bribing
tax collectors was one strategy, but some folks actually bricked
up their windows or tried to camouflage them. This also
led to architects designing houses with fewer windows, so, you know,
(24:16):
commercial properties, service buildings, low income rentals were exempt from
the window tax, so people would also do things like
claim that a residential wing of their home was something else.
Speaker 2 (24:27):
I guess I should have figured people would find their
way around this.
Speaker 1 (24:29):
And the thing is like, even when people were being truthful,
they wanted to make sure tax surveyors weren't overcharging them,
so some homeowners began labeling windows to indicate what they were.
So even now you can still see buildings with painted
signs that say things like dairy or pantry over a window.
But over the years public antipathy towards the window tax grew.
(24:50):
The tax itself increased and expanded to Scotland in the
seventeen hundreds, and by the eighteen hundreds it had become
a lightning rod for health performers, who said it penalize
people for living in homes with sufficient air and light,
which is true now. The government gave in and the
window tax was finally repealed in eighteen fifty one, and
within a few years there was a noticeable change in
(25:12):
British architecture. Instead of these dimly lit rooms and closed
off nooks, victorians preferred bright, open spaces, a sense of
bringing the outdoors in, and of course plenty of windows all.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Right, well, speaking of light and dark, that actually brings
us to our final fact, which is even stranger than
taxing windows. So in some parts of Italy's shopkeepers are
charged to tax if their business has an awning or
an umbrella that cash shade on the sidewalk. That's because
of something called TOSAP, which translates to tax on the
occupation of Public spaces. The whole idea is that if
(25:46):
you have a commercial enterprise and you're taking up public
space in order to run your business, you owe local
authorities some money in return for that. So an example
might be if you build a loading dock that covers
part of a public sidewalk that's i walk belongs to
the community, and you're hogging some of it so that
your trucks can unload their crates.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
That seems reasonable. But an awning certainly isn't a loading dock.
Like it doesn't get in people's ways because it's overhead.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Yeah, I mean, I get that it doesn't get in
people's way, but it does get in the sun's way,
like it casts the shadows, so it is definitely having
an impact on that space.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
But I mean, that's the whole point of an awning,
right it is.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
I know this was going to upset you so much,
but I mean, let's think about this from the point
of view of the Italian bureaucracy.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
You are always thinking about. That's all I think of
the view of the Italian.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
That's sort of my main point of view, really, and
I've actually learned is way more tangled than a plate
of linguini. And so everyone is entitled to feel the
sun on their face, right, Like those anti window tax
activists in England said, light and air is good for
all of us. And if your awning is casting shade
on the sidewalk, you're robbing me of my precious seconds
(26:57):
of sun exposure when I walk past your business. So
you get taxed.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
I like that. I mean, I don't buy it, but
I like your justification for it.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
What if this became just like the thing that really
drove has finally split us apart, just that the tax
on this. But yeah, I actually didn't find any evidence
that ordinary Italians were upset about awning shadows. But it
may be that's just a very strict bureaucratic interpretation of
the toe SAP law. And I actually read a twenty
fifteen interview with a guy who owned a grocery store
(27:30):
in the northeastern region of Veneto, and so he installed
an awning in front of his shop to protect produce
from the sun. And then one day out of the blue,
he received a tax bill for thirty four euros. Now,
apparently the shadow tax is based on the area of
each awning, and in this guy's case, his awning was
four square meters. His local municipality charged him about eight
(27:51):
point four euros per square meter. But actually, here's some
good news. The tide may be changing. So just last
year that the town of Isernia, southern Italy, they abolish
the local shade tex after residents complained. So I didn't
I didn't want to spoil it for you earlier, Mango,
But there is some progress here.
Speaker 1 (28:09):
It's an emotional roller coaster, but I'm glad things ahead
in the right direction. Uh. And because that is that
is certainly the strangest tax story I've heard today. I
think you deserve the trophy.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
I don't know. I don't know if that one was
that grave, but I appreciate it. I'd actually like to
share this with all the brave Italian awning owners who
are standing strong in the shade despite this incredibly silly tax.
Speaker 1 (28:33):
Yeah, I know all of them appreciate it, and we'll
be calling in later. So before you go, remember you
can follow us on Instagram and Blue Sky. We're at
part Time Genius and if you have a question or
idea for the show, please do give us a call
at three oh two four oh five five nine two five.
That's three oh two four oh five five nine two five,
or you can send us an email at high Geniuses
(28:54):
at gmail. That's Hi Geniuses at gmail dot com. That
does it for today's episode. We will be back next
week with another brand new show. But in the meantime,
from Will, Gabe, Dylan, Mary, and myself, thank you so
much for listening. Part Time Genius is a production of
(29:22):
Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio. It is hosted by my good ple
Will Pearson, who I've known for almost three decades now.
That is insane to me. I'm the utter co host,
Mangeshatikular aka Mango. Our producer is Mary Phillips Sandy. She's
actually a super producer. I'm going to fix that in post.
Our writer is Gabe Lucier, who I've also known for
(29:45):
like a decade at this point, maybe more. Dylan Fagan
is in the booth. He is always dressed up, always
cheering us on, and always ready to hit record and
then mix the show after he does a great job.
I also want to shout out the executive producers from
iHeart my good pals Katrina and Norvel and Ali Perry.
We have social media support from Calypso Rallis. If you
(30:08):
like our videos, that is all Calypso's handiwork. For more
podcasts from Kaleidoscope and iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
App, Apple Podcasts, or.
Speaker 1 (30:17):
Tune in wherever you listen to your favorite shows. That's
it from us here at Part Time Genius. Thank you
so much for listening.
Part-Time Genius News
Hosts And Creators
Will Pearson
Mangesh Hattikudur
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.