Difference between revisions of "Bachelor tax"
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Such explicit measures historically would be instituted as part of a [[moral panic]] concerning the willingness of young men to marry and have children.<ref>https://ssrn.com/abstract=2934318|doi=10.2139/ssrn.2934318</ref><ref>https://archive.org/stream/atticnightsaulu04gellgoog/atticnightsaulu04gellgoog_djvu.txt</ref> |
Such explicit measures historically would be instituted as part of a [[moral panic]] concerning the willingness of young men to marry and have children.<ref>https://ssrn.com/abstract=2934318|doi=10.2139/ssrn.2934318</ref><ref>https://archive.org/stream/atticnightsaulu04gellgoog/atticnightsaulu04gellgoog_djvu.txt</ref> |
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| − | == Historical Examples == |
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| − | {| class=wikitable |
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| − | ! Location |
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| − | ! Date(s) |
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| − | ! Passed |
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| − | ! Comment |
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| − | | Ancient Rome |
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| − | | 9 AD |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | {{Main|Lex Papia Poppaea#Promotion of Marriage}} |
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| − | {{See also|Aes uxorium}} |
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| − | The [[Lex Papia Poppaea]] was introduced by emperor [[Augustus]] to encourage marriage. In particular, penalties were imposed on those who were [[celibacy|celibate]], with an exception granted to [[Vestal Virgins]] (Ulp. Frag. xvii.1). The law also imposed penalties on married persons who had no children (''qui liberos non habent'', Gaius, ii.111) from the age of twenty-five to sixty in a man, and from the age of twenty to fifty in a woman. (Tacit. Ann. xv.19).<ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Nevers, France |
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| − | | 1223 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | Charged a yearly tithe of five solidi to any bachelor as part of a moral panic.<ref name="france">{{cite news|title=Ye old taxes|author=Hulme, Roland|publisher=Renaissance Magazine|date=July 2017|volume=21|issue=5|quote=Before the days of the eligible bachelor, unmarried men were seen as rather unseemly.}}</ref><ref name="britannica">{{cite book|title=The Encyclopædia Britannica: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information|volume=3|page=132|author=Hugh Chrisholm|publisher=University Press|year=1910|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EjMEAAAAYAAJ&dq=tax%20AND%20bachelor%20AND%20song&pg=PA132|quote=with its late and countess of Nevers, to Auxerre in 1223, an annual tax of five rare variant baccalaris—cf. Ital. baccalare—through 0. Fr. solidi is imposed on any man qui non habet uxorem et est bachebacheler)...Instances of this are the is still involved in a certain amount of obscurity. The derivation act (6 and 7 Will. III.) passed in 1695; the tax on servants, from Welsh bach, little, is mentioned as “possible " by Skeat 1785; and the income tax, 1798. (Etymological Dictionary), but is definitely discarded by the New}}</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Ottoman Empire |
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| − | | 15th century |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | {{Main|Resm-i mücerred}} |
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| − | [[Resm-i mücerred]] was a bachelor tax instituted in the Ottoman Empire in conjunction with the [[resm-i çift]] and the [[resm-i bennâk]].<ref name=efficiency>{{cite journal|journal=Int. J. Middle East Stud.|year=2005|volume=37|pages=567–586|doi=10.1017/s0020743805052207|title=Efficiency and Continuity in Public Finance: The Ottoman System of Taxation|last1=Coşgel|first1=Metin M.|issue=4|s2cid=6972997|url=https://media.economics.uconn.edu/working/2004-02.pdf}}</ref> Those who fell under the tax were more likely to migrate to other areas. Migrant mücerred were more likely to make their way to a growing town.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gumuscu|first=Osman|title=Internal migrations in sixteenth century Anatolia|journal=Journal of Historical Geography|year=2004|volume=30|issue=2|pages=231–248|doi=10.1016/j.jhg.2003.08.021}}</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | England |
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| − | | 1695 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | {{Main|Marriage Duty Act 1695}} |
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| − | The English parliament passed the [[Marriage Duty Act 1695]], also known as the Registration Tax, which imposed a tax on births, marriages, burials, childless widowers, and bachelors over the age of 25. It was primarily used as a revenue raising mechanism for [[Nine Years' War|war on France]] and as a means of ensuring that proper records were kept by Anglican church officials. The tax was found ineffective and abolished by 1706.<ref name="england">Gibson, Jeremy. The Hearth Tax, Other Later Stuart Tax Lists, and the Association Oath Rolls: FFHS, 1996.</ref><ref name="england2">{{cite book|title=The Companion to British History|publisher=Routledge|date=2001|author=Charles Arnold-Baker}}</ref><ref name="britannica"/><ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | England |
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| − | | 1798 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | An income tax was passed particularly discriminating against bachelors <ref name="england2"/><ref name="britannica"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | United States, Missouri |
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| − | | 1821 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | [[Missouri]] applied a $1 tax on all unmarried men.<ref>"A copy of Assessor’s General alphabetical lists of Taxable property in Boone county Mo for the year 1821". Boone County, O. Harris Sheriff & Collector. Received auditors office, August 2nd, 1821.</ref> By the following year, it was replaced by a [[poll tax]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Missouri Bicentennial Minutes: The Bachelor Tax|author=Bill Eddleman|publisher=KRCU Public Radio|date=2021-07-22|access-date=2022-03-07|url=https://www.krcu.org/education/2021-07-22/missouri-bicentennial-minutes-the-bachelor-tax}}</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | United States, New York |
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| − | | 1825 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | A bill was proposed in the New York legislature comparing bachelors with dogs, aiming to replace the then current tax on dogs with one on bachelors instead.<ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | United States, Connecticut |
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| − | | 1857 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | The Connecticut legislature repealed a motion to implement a bachelor tax in the state, under the argument that different methods of taxation already taxed bachelors more heavily.<ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | United States, Michigan |
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| − | | 1837, 1848, 1849, 1850, 1897, 1901, 1911, 1919, 1935 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | [[Michigan]] had made repeated attempts to instantiate a bachelor tax. In 1837, state senator Edward D. Ellis attempted to pass such a bill, but the measure failed. In 1848, a petition made it to a House committee, but did not reach the floor. In 1849, another proposal was made in a House committee that did not reach the floor. Again in 1850, another petition reached the House, but did not find a sponsor. During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] it was proposed again, this time as a revenue measure as opposed to a public welfare measure, but again failed to reach the floor. It was then repeatedly brought up in 1897, 1901, 1911, 1919, with the first resulting in counter proposals for a similar tax to be applied to women who reject marriage proposals and the final resulting in arguments that bachelors had a statistically higher rate of [[felony|delinquency]] as opposed to other groups. The final proposed bill that also made the floor of the Michigan Congress was in 1935 before it too failed due to [[Great Depression|economic considerations]] of the time.<ref name="south_africa">Barnett, Le Roy (2013, Winter). "The Attempts to Tax Bachelors in Michigan". Historical Society of Michigan, pp. 18-19.</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | United States, Wyoming |
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| − | | 1890 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | Briefly considered a $2.50 bachelor tax in 1890, but the motion was tabled.<ref>{{Cite web|date=July 9, 2020|first1=Rick|last1=Roddam|title=Wyoming's First Tax Controversy: The Proposed Bachelor Tax of 1890|url=https://kingfm.com/wyomings-first-tax-controversy-the-proposed-bachelor-tax-of-1890/|access-date=2021-07-20|website=101.9 KING FM|language=en}}</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | United States, New Jersey |
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| − | | 1898-02-12 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | Assemblyman Waller of the [[New Jersey]] State Legislature proposed a bachelor tax as a [[sumptuary tax]]; however, the bill was not passed.<ref name="new_jersey">"Jersey's Bachelor's Tax." ''New York Times''. 13 February 1898.</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Argentina |
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| − | | 1900 (est.) |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | A bachelor tax existed in Argentina around 1900. Men who could prove that they had asked a woman to marry them and had been rebuffed were exempt from the tax. In 1900, this gave rise to the phenomenon of "professional lady rejectors", women who for a fee would swear to the authorities that a man had proposed to them and they had refused.<ref>[https://nypost.com/2021/04/03/how-taxes-made-margarine-pink-ships-sink-and-more-odd-results/ How taxes turned margarine pink, made ships sink, and more strange results]</ref><ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | United States, Delaware |
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| − | | 1907 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | Started as a joke before generating much discussion and ultimately being defeated.<ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | United States, Georgia |
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| − | | 1911 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | One assemblyman proposed a $50 yearly tax on bachelors, proposing that the funds should go to schools.<ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | United States, Minnesota |
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| − | | 1911 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | Proposed a $5 yearly levy on bachelors.<ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | France |
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| − | | 1913 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | Proposed not only a large tax on bachelors, but also "[[spinsters]]."<ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Reichenburg, Germany |
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| − | | 1915 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | As part of a progressive taxation measure.<ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | South Africa |
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| − | | 1919 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | Imposed a bachelor tax for racial reasons in order to match the white population growth with the black one.<ref name="south_africa"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | United States, Wisconsin |
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| − | | 1921 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | Generated frequent moral debate at the time.<ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | United States, Montana |
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| − | | 1921 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | Applied a $3 tax on all bachelors in the state.<ref name="GOWDY, COUNTY TREASURER 1922">STATE EX REL. PIERCE ET AL., APPELLANTS, v. GOWDY, COUNTY |
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| − | TREASURER, RESPONDENT, 62 Mont. 119; 203 P. 1115; 1922 Mont. LEXIS 5 (Montana Supreme Court 1922)</ref> One of them, William Atzinger, refused to pay on sex discrimination grounds.<ref>{{cite news|title=Montana Man Refuses to Pay Bachelor Tax|newspaper=Batavia Daily Times|date=1924-05-23|time=16:00|url=http://www.fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2010/Batavia%20NY%20Daily%20News/Batavia%20NY%20Daily%20News%201920%20Nov-May%201921%20Grayscale/Batavia%20NY%20Daily%20News%201920%20Nov-May%201921%20Grayscale%20-%201418.pdf#xml=}}</ref> On January 11, 1922, the state supreme court struck down the “bachelor tax” and another poll tax applicable only to men.<ref>“The Tax on Bachelors”, ''The Social Hygiene Bulletin'', v. 8, June 1921, p. 5.</ref><ref>"Montana's Bachelor Tax Declared Void." ''Milwaukee Sentinel''. 12 January 1922.</ref> However, it was done on the grounds that the Montanan constitution of 1889 did not grant the legislature the power to tax individual persons; and attempts to define it as a policing measure for matters of public health as opposed to a revenue measure were found invalid (and the decision did not reference Atzinger's arguments against the tax on grounds of sex discrimination).<ref name="GOWDY, COUNTY TREASURER 1922"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Germany, Repelen |
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| − | | 1923 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | Passed a bachelor tax of 2000 marks per month. However, this law was quickly overturned by federal authorities.<ref>{{cite web|title="Foreign News: Bachelor Tax."|publisher=Times|date=1923-05-28|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,715545,00.html}}</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Italy |
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| − | | 1927 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | Levied in Italy from 1927 until the [[Kingdom of Italy#Civil war (1943–1945)|fall of Mussolini]] in 1943<ref>{{cite news|title=Italian Bachelor Tax.|date=1927-02-11|publisher=The Times, London}}</ref> as part of a race-based [[pronatalist]] policy. By 1936, Italian bachelors paid nearly double their normal income tax rate.<ref>V. De Grazia, ''How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy 1922-1945'', Los Angeles, 1992, p. 44.</ref><ref name="fascist_italy">{{cite book |last1=Pollard |first1=John |title=The Fascist Experience in Italy |date=2005 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781134819041 |page=81 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mXuJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA81 |access-date=19 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Spain |
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| − | | 1928 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | Following in the footsteps of Italy, Spain also passed a bachelor tax,<ref>{{cite news|title=Italian Bachelor Tax.|date=1928-01-08|publisher=The Times, London}}</ref> only with very few exceptions, including priests as well.<ref>{{cite news|title=Italian Bachelor Tax.|date=1928-03-15|publisher=The Times, London}}</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Germany |
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| − | | 1934 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | {{Main|Ehestandshilfe}} |
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| − | Following in the footsteps of Italy and Spain, but mainly for Nazi party "family values." In particular, it was meant as part of Hitler's "three Ks" policy ({{lang|de|Kirche, Küche, Kinder}} or Church, Kitchen, Children) to get women "back into the home."<ref name="amazingSource"/><ref>Schmitz-Berning, [https://books.google.com/books?id=9jmWOMks6bkC&dq=Ehestandshilfe&pg=PA162 p. 122].</ref><ref>Friedrich Hartmannsgruber, ''Die Regierung Hitler'' volume 3 ''1936'', Munich: Oldenbourg, 2002, {{ISBN|978-3-7646-1839-1}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7OJVAAAAYAAJ&q=Die+Mittel+dazu+werden+aus+der+Ehestandshilfe+der+Ledigen9+aufgebracht%2C+die+durch+das+Einkommensteuergesetz+vom+Oktober+1934+in+die+Einkommensteuer+eingebaut+worden+ist+und+demgem%C3%A4%C3%9F+seit+1.+Januar+1935+als+erh%C3%B6hte+Einkommensteuer+der p. 17] {{in lang|de}}</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | United States, California |
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| − | | 1934 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | As a response to the low 1933 birth rate in California, minister of Finance Roland Vandegrift proposed a $5 to $25 bachelor tax, but the measure did not succeed due to [[Great Depression|economic considerations of the time]].<ref>"Consider Plan of Bachelor Tax." ''Schenectady Gazette''. 23 April 1934.</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | |Finland |
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| − | |1935 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | {{Main|:fi:Vanhanpojan ja vanhanpiian vero}} |
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| − | Increased tax burden for unmarried, childless citizens over the age of 24 from 1935 to 1975. |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | France |
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| − | | 1939 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | Meant as a proposal to match similar proposals in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.<ref name="amazingSource"/> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Soviet Union |
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| − | | 1941 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | A childlessness tax was enforced in the USSR from 1941 to 1992; it was applied to childless men from 25 to 50 years of age and to childless women from 20 to 45 years of age. The tax was income based, taking 6% of the childless person's wages.<ref name="soviet_union">{{cite web |url=https://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/childless-choice |title=Childless by Choice |last1=Chamie |first1=Joseph |last2=Mirkin |first2=Barry |date=March 2, 2012 |website=[[Yale|YaleGlobal Online]] |publisher= |access-date=April 29, 2021 |quote=}}</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Bulgaria |
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| − | | 1925, 1943, 1968 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | Measures to try to introduce a bachelor tax in Bulgaria first began in 1917, where it often took on a pro-eugenic character and part of discussion amongst Bulgarian Fascist party officials.<ref name="bulgarian_fascism">{{cite news|title=The biology of war: eugenics in Hungary, 1914-1918|author=Turda, Marius|journal=Austrian History Yearbook|volume=40|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2009}}</ref> It was formally proposed by 1925,<ref name="amazingSource"/> only formally introduced in 1943, but passed only in 1968 only after applying it to both sexes.<ref name="soviet_tax_reform">{{cite news|author=Ironside, Kristy|year=2017|title=Between Fiscal, Ideological, and Social Dilemmas: The Soviet 'Bachelor Tax' and Post-War Tax Reform, 1941–1962|journal=Europe-Asia Studies|volume=69|issue=6|pages=855–78|quote=Bulgaria attempted to institute a bachelor tax in 1943 but the measure proved controversial and was eventually abandoned (Baloutzova [2], pp. 222–23, 236–43). In 1968, it introduced a socialist version for both sexes similar to the Soviet model (Brunnbauer & Taylor [ 4], p. 301)... the bachelor tax does not stimulate population growth but, just the opposite}}</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Poland |
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| − | | 1946 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | Introduced [[:pl:Bykowe|Bykowe]], which was a tax on childlessness that included a tax on those unmarried above 21 years from January 1, 1946 to November 29, 1956. It was later extended to those over 25 years of age until January 1, 1973 when it was repealed.<ref name="poland">Art. 20 Dekretu z dnia 26 października 1950 r. o podatku dochodowym, j.t. Dz.U. nr 7 z 1957 r., poz. 26.</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Turkey |
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| − | | 1949 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | Suggested and passed as a wealth transfer between bachelors to families.<ref>{{cite news|title=Turkey's Population Growth Policy During the 1923-1950 Period and the Issue of Compulsory Marriage Law (Bachelor Tax)|author=Semiz, Yaşar|journal=Selçuk Üniversitesi Türkiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi|volume=27|pages=423–469|date=2010}}</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Romania |
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| − | | 1986 |
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| − | | {{yes}} |
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| − | | Some time after the population increase from the ''[[Decree 770|decreţei 770]]'' generation, a celibacy tax was instituted. The law continued to be enforced until the [[Romanian Revolution of 1989]].<ref name="romania">"{{cite web|url=http://jurnalul.ro/scinteia/special/celula-de-baza-a-societatii-oficial-indivizibila-319713.html|title=Celula de bază a societăţii, oficial indivizibilă|access-date=2015-02-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211163457/http://jurnalul.ro/scinteia/special/celula-de-baza-a-societatii-oficial-indivizibila-319713.html|archive-date=2015-02-11|url-status=dead}}." Jurnalul Național, 13 Mar 2009. Online.</ref><ref name="prezi">{{cite web|url=http://prezi.com/pxfer5mul7-1/romanian-pro-natalism/|title=Romanian Pro-Natalism by Max Rudert on Prezi|publisher=prezi.com|access-date=2014-09-14}}</ref> |
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| − | |- |
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| − | | Italy, Vastiogirardi |
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| − | | 1999 |
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| − | | {{no}} |
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| − | | The mayor of [[Vastogirardi]], Italy proposed to reinstitute a bachelor tax locally.<ref>"{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/16/world/vastogirardi-journal-blissful-bachelorhood-and-the-shrinking-village.html|title=Vastogirardi Journal; Blissful Bachelorhood and the Shrinking Village|access-date=2015-02-11 | work=The New York Times|first=Alessandra|last=Stanley|date=16 November 1999}}." ''New York Times''. 16 November 1999.</ref> |
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| − | |} |
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Revision as of 05:50, 13 June 2023
A bachelor tax is a punitive tax imposed on unmarried men. Historically many societies have imposed or attempted to impose bachelor taxes or more general taxes on childlessness. In the modern era, many countries vary tax rates by marital status, so current references to bachelor taxes are typically implicit rather than explicit.[1]
Such explicit measures historically would be instituted as part of a moral panic concerning the willingness of young men to marry and have children.[2][3]
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