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[Vince Keegan]

7. Catholic tax


 
In Germany, the church is both a legal tax-raising statutory body as well as a community of faith. A Catholic who objects to paying church tax has to formally leave the church, and is subsequently excommunicated. During the last few decades, the Roman Catholic Church has lost significant number of adherents due to this tax.
 
The Church tax is also to be paid in Austria and Switzerland, the same principles apply (if you don' want to pay, you have to excommunicate). Both Catholics and Protestants have to pay. Most of the money is used to support the Churches Welfare and charity programs. (Thanks, Julian!)

[Vince Keegan]

8. Bagels tax


 
In 2010, New York cracked down on its enforcement of the tax on prepared food, specifically targeting a New York staple: bagels. If you buy a whole bagel and take it home with you, it is exempt from tax. However, if you purchase that same bagel, but eat it at the bagel shop (even without cream cheese), bagel shops must charge sales tax on the purchase price. Apparently, the mere slicing of a bagel kicks your bagel purchase into a taxable transaction. As a result, New Yorkers are paying approximately 8 to 9 cents more per bagel.

[Vince Keegan]

9. Urine tax


 
Pecunia non olet ("money does not smell") is a Latin saying. The phrase originally related to the urine tax levied by the Roman emperors Nero and Vespasian in the 1st century upon the collection of urine.
 
The tax was actually levied on the collection of urine by the toilet operators who sold it on, at great profit, to tanners and cleaners who utilized the liquid's high ammonia content. Perhaps a reintroduction of this admirable recycling of waste products could aid modern sustainable industry practices.

[Vince Keegan]

10. Hot air balloons tax



In 2010, the Kansas Department of Revenue issued a private letter ruling discussing the taxability of hot air balloon rides. Kansas generally taxes sales of admissions to “any place providing amusement, entertainment or recreation services.” The question was not whether or not balloon rides are entertaining, but whether or not federal law pre-empts the imposition of state sales tax on sales of those rides. Under the Anti-Head Tax Act, 29 U.S.C. Section 40116, states and local jurisdictions are prohibited from imposing fees and charges on airlines and other airport users. The department determined that un-tethered balloon rides where the balloon is actually piloted somewhere “some distance downwind from the launching point” would be considered carrying passengers in air commerce and would be pre-empted by the law. However, state sales tax can be imposed on tethered balloon rides.