💵🧔 The Beard Tax 🧔💵

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(Edited)

So I was browsing random stuff today and stumbled upon something totally ridiculous.

Taxes. We all hate them. Especially when they are for silly stuff. But wait till you hear about the.... beard tax 😂😂

So, once upon a time Peter I of Russia had the bright idea to introduce a tax on beards in 1698, to encourage men to adopt the European standards of the time. And if you didn't want to save... No problem! As long as you paid the beard tax 🧔

And for those that didn't, the police had the liberty to forcibly shave them even right on the streets, lol.

There was even a beard token, that the tax payers had to carry at all times in case they were checked by the police.

The token was made of copper or silver and looked something like this:

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🧔 cute 🧔

The beard tax had a short run (till 1705 - 1708) and raised an annual average of about
3,588. According to historians, it wasn't much of a success, at least from a financial perspective. That mostly due the combined police incompetence to force the tax and the unwillingness of most Russians to save :)

It formally repealed by Catherine the Great in 1722.

Wikipedia has a whole entry on the story, plus other similar efforts to impose a beard tax if you'd like to read more on the subject!

Btw, I had a look on eBay for the beard token. It seems to go for around 30 $ if you would like to buy the one made of silver. If you'd prefer a graded one, there is one listing for about 80$ nevermind it's a copy. Considering the age, it's much cheaper then what I would expect.

Ok friends, I guess this is it for today. Breathing tax soon?!

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33 comments
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You received an upvote of 73% from Precious the Silver Mermaid!

Thank you for contributing more great content to the #SilverGoldStackers tag.
You have created a Precious Gem!

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"antiqued" stuck in 2019. nice joke!
!hug

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Ahh shit, you are right. Didn't even notice it was a copy

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Everything is fakee these days... graded copy - who would have thought about this?

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Yeah lol. If it wasn't for you id never notice and if I wanted it badly chances are that I would end up buying the graded copy lol

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Talk about a dumbass idea for a tax. Talk about about a greedy king!

The breathing tax is on it's way, don't you worry about that. If there's a way for them to screw us all over you know they will do it!
!LOL
!PIMP
at least I think I have one left...

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The beard tax is such a comical story from History.

Even Runescape has a quest that mocks this idea about the Beard tax
image.png

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hahaha, beard tax... I would never pay this tax even today, I try to leave a subtle shadow of beard on my face, but I don't like having a beard.
A good post of yours, something quite curious actually.
I wish you a happy night

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I remember that in history class at school we covered this topic. The Soviet history textbook presented this as a good thing.

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Of course, the government is doing the same thing in every country right now, taxing every little thing. In the coming days, even breathing will be taxed.

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Great minds think alike. The first thought as I read this was, I wonder if I can find a silver one.

That is a crazy tax though.

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Good thing I like being shaved 😂

!pimp

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I would launch a revolution to overthrow a beard tax.

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Hehe. The Russians didn't like it either 😂

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It's a weird tax to have. I think I remember Runescape having something like a beard tax in one of their quests. It was either that or a window tax for the number of windows in your building. There were two kingdoms next to each other and one wanted to raise funds to increase the military.

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The insanity is getting stronger and is not going away, although there is no such tax, but there is a tax on rain, or fines for picking mushrooms, berries, firewood, for fishing, and in countries where everything that surrounds the citizens of the country is the property of the citizens of the country, we continue to be considered idiots and the strangest thing is that people willingly accept it. :) !BEER

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