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
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. I am licensed to practice architecture in Illinois, Florida, New Jersey & Wisconsin and I am a certificate holder from the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB). Since 1996 I have worked from my home office and provide full architectural services exclusively to the single family residential market. My passion is to transform my clients' houses into their homes. I strive to have the "new" home accommodate my clients' lives without fighting them at every junction. I look to add curb appeal to encourage a beautiful streetscape. And I design any addition to look and feel like it has always been there.
Our projects have won numerous design awards as well as having...
Houzz Contributor. My name is Bud Dietrich and I am an architect located... More »
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.
A mansard roof is the perfect choice when taxes are levied by the number of floors but the attic doesn't count. When the 19th-century French government levied taxes based on floor count, Parisians took to the mansard en masse.
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!
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!
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| 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.
by UC Regents
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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 ...
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by Catherine Opie
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| and led to all those families living the American dream. More: Home Building: The Case for Cautious Optimism Timeline of American House Styles |
Ideabook published on April 16, 2012.
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Would love you to consider doing an article on basements. Here in Canada the majority of homes have them out of necessity, however I've always been curious if its the norm for other parts of the Americas to have them.
Footnote: Tax wise if they are completed and a living area they are taxed, otherwise they are not. Real Estate listing is another whole new subject. If completed they are included in the 'total' square footage of the home, otherwise they are not whereas either way they are always notated in the 'essential/main feature' information.
This was a bit of history we were told whilst staying at the Gastonian in Savannah, Georgia, when they took us on a tour of the bed and breakfast.