Days of future past
Whatever their ideological position or rhetoric, few New Zealand political parties could lay claim to policies as innovative as those seen a century or more ago. Given the current resurgence in male facial hair, it is surprising that contemporary politicians have not revived the 1907 idea of a senator from New Jersey who argued for the necessity of a beard tax.
A series of graduated, punitive fees were proposed under this legislation, ranging from a $5 tax for ‘‘ordinary whiskers’’ to $50 if you saw fit to inflict a goatee upon society. It is unclear if the senator’s motivation was aesthetic or economic: a 20 per cent surcharge upon ‘‘red whiskers’’ suggests the former. However, in defending his bill, the cleanshaven gentleman alluded to the evils of men who sought to grow beards ‘‘in order to avoid barbers’ bills and at the expense of neck ties’’.
It can safely be concluded that he was a lapdog of the hairdressing lobby.
Another of today’s pressing social problems could be solved if we adopted a law proposed in New York in 1912. The use of publicly funded ‘‘water-waggons’’ to pick up ‘‘habitual drunks’’ from the streets would be a useful service when it comes to inner-city binge drinking.
Just as likely to resonate with a 21st century electorate is an ordinance that was said to be ‘‘strictly enforced’’ in a small Kansas town 100 years ago. In Gridley, it was then ‘‘unlawful for any person to practise tickling upon another person under a penalty not exceeding $25’’. Convicted ticklers were ‘‘committed to the city jail until said fine and costs’’ were paid.
Far more widespread, though equally ludicrous, was the idea in the 1910s that bachelors over a certain age be taxed on the grounds of being ‘‘selfish’’. In Kansas, unmarried men over 45 were charged $25 a head for the right to remain single. In France in early 1914, similar legislation was introduced for men 30 and older. Single men of this age were compelled to pay a fifth more in income tax, in effect subsidising the procreative activities of their married peers.