FX.co ★ Most unusual taxes around the world

Monthly, every German citizen provides a financial support to the Church. The church tax rate is 2.75-3.5%. Any citizen has the right to refuse to pay but then they will be excommunicated, cannot be buried in a church cemetery, work in hospitals and schools belonging to the Church, and will not be allowed to communion. Anastasia Kantorova, an analyst at the KB Strelka Center for Urban Economics, notes that 10,000 people refuse to pay tax every year. And in 2014, when the authorities decided to impose a church income tax on capital gains, a record 300,000 people refused to pay.

Every year, inhabitants of Tokyo pay 200-400 yens for a hectare of a site where extraction of minerals is conducted. Individual rates are set for oil, gas, and gold.

Residents of Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia have to pay for the maintenance of pets. The amount of tax is set depending on the dog breed and residence area. For example, in Stuttgart, a person will have to pay 108 euros a year for the first dog, 216 for the second one, and 612 for a four-legged friend of a fighting breed. Annually, the tax brings up to 250 million euros to the German Treasury.

Those who are engaged in commercial activities in Manhattan south of 96th Street (and this is most of Manhattan, which only does not include the territory of Columbia University and Harlem), as well as if the rent of premises per year estimates at $250,000, people pay an additional tax with a rate of 3.9% of the lease.

After the FRG and GDR merged in 1991, the authorities introduced a solidarity tax. Initially, it was planned as temporary, but it still works. The tax rate is 5.5% of the income tax. It is charged if the total annual income tax of a corporation or an employee of an organization is over 972 euros. Despite the fact that German residents have repeatedly voiced opposition to the preservation of the tax, the German court continues to believe that it does not contradict the laws of the country's constitution.

The most unusual tax in this list is charged in New York. Buyers of bagels have to pay an extra 8 cents if they buy the one that was cut. The authorities imposed a tax to cover state debt of $9.2 billion. Actually, it soon became clear that the same goods were subject to two different taxes: according to the New York tax code, the food eaten at the counter is different from the food people take with them.

In France, there are two taxes on real estate: on property and on residence. That is, if a person lived in his apartment on January 1, then he will pay the tax on property and on residence and if he leases his dwelling - then only on the property, and the tax on residence will have to be paid by his lessee. The amount of tax per year varies from 478 euros (tax for Paris) to 1190 euros (for the city of Amiens in the north of France).

Another anecdotal tax was introduced on July 1 this year in India, where all board games, including chess and Monopoly, are recognized as a luxury product. This led to their appreciation by 20%. According to the Hindustan Times, television, baby food (piece), butter, liver, and jam are also subject to an increased tax of more than 100 rupees ($ 1.6); on corn flakes and shoes - more than 500 rupees ($ 7.8). However, the authorities decided to reduce the tax for some products, including cell phones, ready-made clothes, medicines, contact lenses, and handmade musical instruments.

In the Indian state of Kerala, there is a tax on fast food. The tax rate is 14.5% of the cost of pizza or burger. Large companies like Pizza Hut and Burger King express concern that this tax will make the goods less affordable, so they are ready to bear these costs themselves, not reflecting them in the buyer's check.

The authorities of Vancouver and Paris intend to increase the supply in the housing market. In these cities, there is a tax for empty housing. According to the plan, this should encourage apartment owners to sell their vacant premises or rent them out. For Vancouver, the rate is 1% of the apartment's cadastral value. In Paris in 2015, a tax of 20% on residence was introduced, which tripled to 60% in a year.