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Architecture
Architecture Pays Tribute to the Tax Man
Skipping taxes doesn't always mean skipping the country. These architectural features let owners avoid certain taxes without leaving home
It's that time of year again. The dreaded April 15, or in 2012's case, April 17, is near and many of us are scurrying to finish up our tax returns. We're scouring through page after page of tax forms, demanding that our accountants find even more deductions and bemoaning the inevitable check that we will have to send the government. Why, we ask, do we have to pay this? And why, for goodness sake, is it so complicated?
In years gone by, taxes were levied on architectural features — like the British window tax (just count the number of windows and multiply that by the rate, and taxes were done). Of course, it's a truism that if the government wants to tax something, taxpayers will figure out a way to have that something while avoiding those taxes. This has been especially true when taxes are levied against buildings or building features. So if the government levies a tax on the number of rooms, reduce the room count. If the government levies a tax on the number of floors, call one of the floors "an attic."
Let's explore some of the ways that tax policy has influenced architecture.
In years gone by, taxes were levied on architectural features — like the British window tax (just count the number of windows and multiply that by the rate, and taxes were done). Of course, it's a truism that if the government wants to tax something, taxpayers will figure out a way to have that something while avoiding those taxes. This has been especially true when taxes are levied against buildings or building features. So if the government levies a tax on the number of rooms, reduce the room count. If the government levies a tax on the number of floors, call one of the floors "an attic."
Let's explore some of the ways that tax policy has influenced architecture.
As Becky Harris pointed out in 12 Ways to Prep the Porch for Summer, the side porches in antebellum Charleston, South Carolina, were a response to property taxes being levied on "street frontage measurements." Minimize the street frontage and you'll minimize your taxes. The result: all those wonderful double porches down the sides of the houses creating more living space without adding to the width of the house proper.
Tax avoidance is universal. The Japanese used kaidan-tansu to avoid paying taxes on extra floors in the house. These chests could be assembled to form a stair and, when the tax man came snooping around, could be disassembled and moved elsewhere.
The shotgun house in New Orleans can trace its roots directly to tax policy. First, taxes were levied on street frontage, so the houses were kept narrow and deep. As tax revenues fell because of all of these narrow houses, the tax man started to levy taxes on the number of rooms, with hallways and closets counting as rooms. The solution, eliminate hallways and closets.
The tax man has levied room count, street frontage and floor count. What's next? How about a window tax? That's exactly what the British government did in the 18th and 19th centuries. Don't want to pay the tax? No problem. Just close in the area that would have been a window and may be a window again when the tax law changes.
The House That Dreams Built: Mock-Up for Cliff May Homes Brochure (circa 1954)
But not all taxes were regressive.
The home mortgage interest deduction has to be one of the most significant influences on architectural and urban design. Cheap energy, cheap land, low down payments and the interest deduction fueled the creation of the post–World War II suburbs ...
The home mortgage interest deduction has to be one of the most significant influences on architectural and urban design. Cheap energy, cheap land, low down payments and the interest deduction fueled the creation of the post–World War II suburbs ...
and led to all those families living the American dream.
More:
Home Building: The Case for Cautious Optimism
Timeline of American House Styles
More:
Home Building: The Case for Cautious Optimism
Timeline of American House Styles
The result is street after street of mansard-roofed buildings. Amazing that much of present-day Paris' signature urban landscape is the direct result of avoiding tax payments!