A bachelor tax is a punitive tax imposed on unmarried men (bachelors) and/or unmarried women (bachelorettes). In the modern era, many countries do vary tax rates by marital status, so current references to bachelor taxes are typically implicit rather than explicit; and given the state of tax law is very complicated, as tax accountancy concepts like income splitting can come into play.
Such explicit measures historically would be instituted as part of a moral panic or homophobia due to the important status given to marriage at various times and places, as in the Roman Empire under Augustus' moral legislation or in various U.S. state legislatures in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Frequently, this would be attached to racial policies (e.g., as part of the Apartheid legislation) and/or nationalistic reasons (as in Fascist Italy or Nazi Germany).J. Pollard, The Fascist Experience in Italy, London, 1998, pp. 78-9."Mussolini Imposes Tax on Bachelors." The Evening Independence. 10 December 1926.
More recently, bachelor taxes were viewed as related to tax on childlessness, which were used frequently in the Eastern Bloc by communist member states of the Warsaw Pact during the Cold War (1945–1990).
Timeline + Location Date(s) Passed Comment Roman Empire 9 AD
The Lex Papia Poppaea was introduced by Roman Emperor Augustus to encourage marriages and increase the birth rate among Roman citizens. In particular, penalties were imposed on those who were celibate, with an exception granted to Vestal Virgins (Ulp. Frag. xvii.1). The law also imposed penalties on married persons who had no children (qui liberos non habent, Gaius, ii.111) from the age of twenty-five to sixty in a man, and from the age of twenty to fifty in a woman. (Tacit. Ann. xv.19). Nevers, Kingdom of France 1223 Charged a yearly tithe of five solidi to any bachelor living in Nevers, Burgundy as part of a moral panic. Ottoman Empire 15th century Resm-i mücerred was a bachelor tax instituted in the Ottoman Empire in conjunction with the resm-i çift (land-owning Muslims) and the resm-i bennâk (landless peasants). Those who fell under the tax were more likely to migrate to other areas. Migrant mücerred were more likely to make their way to a growing town. Kingdom of England 1695 The English Parliament passed the Marriage Duty Act 1695, also known as the Registration Tax, which imposed a tax on births, marriages, burials, childless widowers, and bachelors over the age of 25. It was primarily used as a revenue raising mechanism for war on France and as a means of ensuring that proper records were kept by the Anglican Church's officials. The tax was found ineffective and abolished by 1706.Gibson, Jeremy. The Hearth Tax, Other Later Stuart Tax Lists, and the Association Oath Rolls: FFHS, 1996. Kingdom of England 1798 Although not officially targeting unmarried men, an income tax was passed particularly discriminating against bachelors. United States, Missouri 1821 The state legislature of Missouri applied a US$1 tax on all unmarried men."A copy of Assessor's General alphabetical lists of Taxable property in Boone county Mo for the year 1821". Boone County, O. Harris Sheriff & Collector. Received auditors office, August 2nd, 1821. By the following year, it was replaced by a poll tax. United States, New York 1825 A bill was proposed by the state legislature of New York comparing bachelors with dogs, aiming to replace the then current tax on dogs with one on bachelors instead. United States, Connecticut 1857 The General Assembly of Connecticut repealed a motion to implement a bachelor tax in the state, under the argument that different methods of taxation already taxed bachelors more heavily. United States, Michigan 1837, 1848, 1849, 1850, 1897, 1901, 1911, 1919, 1935 The state legislature of Michigan had made repeated attempts to instantiate a bachelor tax. In 1837, state senator Edward D. Ellis attempted to pass such a bill, but the measure failed. In 1848, a petition made it to a House committee, but did not reach the floor. In 1849, another proposal was made in a House committee that did not reach the floor. Again in 1850, another petition reached the House, but did not find a sponsor. During the Civil War it was proposed again, this time as a revenue measure as opposed to a public welfare measure, but again failed to reach the floor. It was then repeatedly brought up in 1897, 1901, 1911, and 1919, with the first resulting in counter proposals for a similar tax to be applied to women who reject marriage proposals and the final resulting in arguments that bachelors had a statistically higher rate of delinquency as opposed to other groups. The final proposed bill that also made the floor of the Michigan Congress was in 1935 before it too failed due to economic considerations of the time.Barnett, Le Roy (2013, Winter). "The Attempts to Tax Bachelors in Michigan". Historical Society of Michigan, pp. 18-19. United States, Wyoming 1890 The state legislature of Wyoming briefly considered a $2.50 bachelor tax in 1890, but the motion was tabled. United States, New Jersey 1898 One assemblyman of the state legislature of New Jersey proposed a bachelor tax as a sumptuary tax; however, the bill was not passed."Jersey's Bachelor's Tax." New York Times. 13 February 1898. United States, Delaware 1907 Started as a joke before generating much discussion and ultimately being defeated. United States, Georgia 1911 One assemblyman of the General Assembly of Georgia proposed a US$50 yearly tax on bachelors, suggesting that the funds should finance the local school system. United States, Minnesota 1911 The state legislature of Minnesota proposed a $5 yearly levy on bachelors. Republican France 1913 Proposed not only a large tax on bachelors, but also "spinsters". Reichenburg, Switzerland 1915 Imposed a bachelor tax on unmarried men living in Reichenburg as part of a progressive taxation measure. Union of South Africa 1919 Imposed a bachelor tax upon White South Africans for racial reasons, in order to match their population growth with that of other ethnic groups. United States, Wisconsin 1921 Generated frequent moral debate at the time. United States, Montana 1921 The state legislature of Montana applied a $3 tax on all bachelors in the state.STATE EX REL. PIERCE ET AL., APPELLANTS, v. GOWDY, COUNTY TREASURER, RESPONDENT, 62 Mont. 119; 203 P. 1115; 1922 Mont. LEXIS 5 (Montana Supreme Court 1922) One of them, William Atzinger, refused to pay on sex discrimination grounds. On January 11, 1922, the state supreme court struck down the "bachelor tax" and another poll tax applicable only to men."The Tax on Bachelors", The Social Hygiene Bulletin, v. 8, June 1921, p. 5."Montana's Bachelor Tax Declared Void." Milwaukee Sentinel. 12 January 1922. However, it was done on the grounds that the Montanan constitution of 1889 did not grant the legislature the power to tax individual persons; and attempts to define it as a policing measure for matters of public health as opposed to a revenue measure were found invalid (and the decision did not reference Atzinger's arguments against the tax on grounds of sex discrimination). Weimar Germany 1923 Weimar Germany passed a bachelor tax of 2000 Reichmarks per month. However, this law was quickly overturned by federal authorities. Kingdom of Italy 1927 Levied in Fascist Italy from 1927 until the fall of Mussolini in 1943, the Italian bachelor tax targeted unmarried men as part of a race-based pronatalist policy. By 1936, Italian bachelors paid nearly double their normal income tax rate.V. De Grazia, How Fascism Ruled Women: Italy 1922-1945, Los Angeles, 1992, p. 44. Kingdom of Spain 1928 Law passed following in the footsteps of Fascist Italy, the Restored Kingdom of Spain also passed a bachelor tax, only with very few exceptions, such as Roman Catholic priests. Nazi Germany 1934 Law passed following in the footsteps of Fascist Italy and Restored Spain, but mainly based on Nazi "family values". In particular, it was meant as part of Hitler's "three Ks" (: "Church, Kitchen, Children") national-conservative pronatalist policy to get German women "back into the home".Schmitz-Berning, p. 122.Friedrich Hartmannsgruber, Die Regierung Hitler volume 3 1936, Munich: Oldenbourg, 2002, , p. 17 United States, California 1934 As a response to the low 1933 birth rate in California, Director of Finance Rolland Vandegrift proposed a US$5 to US$25 bachelor tax, but the measure did not succeed due to economic considerations of the time."Consider Plan of Bachelor Tax." Schenectady Gazette. 23 April 1934. Finland1935 Increased tax burden for unmarried, childless citizens over the age of 24 from 1935 to 1975. Republican France 1939 Meant as a proposal to match similar proposals in Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, but was rejected. Argentine Republic1939 Argentine senator Alfredo Palacios proposed a law that would create a special fund that would give benefits to government employees for each child under 16 that they had. The same law also prescribed that said employees would be prioritized for promotions at work. To finance this fund, all unmarried people and childless couples that worked for the government would have to give up a day's worth of their salary every three months that would be transferred to the fund. Soviet Union 1941 A tax on childlessness was enforced in the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1992; it was applied to childless men from 25 to 50 years of age and to childless women from 20 to 45 years of age. The tax was income based, taking 6% of the childless person's wages. Bulgaria 1925, 1943, 1968 Measures to try to introduce a bachelor tax in the Kingdom of Bulgaria first began in 1917, where it often took on a pro-eugenic character and part of discussion amongst Bulgarian Fascist party officials. It was formally proposed by 1925, only formally introduced in 1943, but passed in 1968 under the communist regime in Bulgaria only after applying the tax to both sexes, a move inspired by the Soviet model of family planning policies. Republic of Poland 1946 The Soviet-backed Provisional Government of National Unity introduced the bykowe, which was a tax on childlessness that included a tax on those unmarried above 21 years from January 1, 1946 to November 29, 1956. It was later extended to those over 25 years of age until January 1, 1973 when it was repealed as a result of the Polish civil resistance against the communist regime.Art. 20 Dekretu z dnia 26 października 1950 r. o podatku dochodowym, j.t. Dz.U. nr 7 z 1957 r., poz. 26. Republic of Turkey 1949 Suggested and passed as a wealth transfer from Turkish bachelors to families. Socialist Republic of Romania 1986 Some time after the population increase from the Decreţei 770 generation, a celibacy tax was instituted. The law continued to be enforced until the Romanian Revolution of 1989, when it was abolished by the transitional Romanian government."." Jurnalul Național, 13 Mar 2009. Online. Vastogirardi, Italian Republic 1999 The mayor of Vastogirardi, Molise, proposed to reinstitute a bachelor tax locally. However, this law was quickly overturned by regional authorities."." New York Times. 16 November 1999.
Rationale Moral panic and homophobia During the 19th century in the United States, calls for a bachelor tax were frequently driven by a moral panic, and the bachelor tax was viewed as a way to reform social ills, either because individuals believed that bachelors had a higher rate of delinquency or because they believed that many bachelors were closeted homosexual men.
Social and scientific racism