No one can pinpoint a date, but there is a certainly a time in our past where governments and politicians began to refer to their citizens simply as taxpayers, rather than as living breathing people. And similarly we see this on Wall Street where individuals are labeled as consumers, and the inference is that all humanity is one big wallet in which the corporations can reach into to feed their own machines.
So it should not be surprising when corrupt and desperate governments use every minute of every day trying to find some new inane scheme to derive a tax off their people, and on Aug. 23 some tax authorities in the nation of Portugal have found it.
Taxing home owners dependent upon the views they have when looking outside their windows.
The tax authorities in Portugal have decided to increase property tax on residences that offer a good view.
The tax on an apartment with decent views and facing south may go up 20 percent, reports The Portugal News.
At the same time, the levy on dwellings overlooking a cemetery, or located on the ground floor, or facing north may be reduced by 10 percent. The degree of a so-called noise pollution will be reportedly factored into the tax calculations.
The measure will only affect newly built properties as well as the property currently being reappraised.
The step does not aim to gain additional revenue, but rather to tax people according to the homes and luxuries they enjoy, according to State Secretary for Finance Rocha Andrade, as quoted by the daily.
“Our objective is firstly to introduce greater fiscal equity,” he said, stressing that the measure would more precisely reflect the variations in current house prices. - Russia Today
Of course, Portugal is not alone in having local, state, or Federal governments find new ways to grind their subjects into dust via taxation. In fact, some of the more ludicrous taxes in the United States include ones for sodas, tanning, tire recycling, and taxpayer funded sports stadiums for private corporations.
All in all, the average American pays between 40-50% of their incomes and earnings to taxes, with the rest constantly under assault by the monetary weapon known as inflation. Thus it should no longer come as a shock that much of the world is beginning to wake up and rebel against their corrupt governments who see them little more as piggy banks to be looted.
Kenneth Schortgen Jr is a writer for Secretsofthefed.com, Examiner.com,Roguemoney.net, and To the Death Media, and hosts the popular web blog, The Daily Economist. Ken can also be heard Wednesday afternoons giving an weekly economic report on the Angel Clark radio show.