Similar to Germany. When I was station there, we lived in the top half of a German-American couples house. There were no built in closets. Built in closets were considered rooms for tax purposes.
I was told the Belgians, at least in at one point, were taxed on the quality/appearance of their houses, so they would paint the backs and sides which were hidden from the street, but not the fronts where the tax inspector could see.
(But right after The Wall came down, the East Germans would paint the fronts of their houses, which everyone could see, but save money by not painting the other three hidden sides).
At one point the Dutch, the Amsterdamers I believe, were taxed on the frontage they occupied on the street, so they started building very narrow houses.
Tax policy makes for very interesting history, I guess.
In St. Louis, and likely many other places, a home’s tax rate was based in part on the number of rooms. And closets were rooms from the tax man’s perspective. So closets were kept to a minimum. My first home which had been built in 1941, had three bedrooms, but only one closet that was original to the structure.
Politicians seem forever to be fooled. Make a new tax, and because people respond to the incentives, collect half of what projects were. Make a new giveaway, and spend spend vastly more because, incentives.
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Similar to Germany. When I was station there, we lived in the top half of a German-American couples house. There were no built in closets. Built in closets were considered rooms for tax purposes.
I was told the Belgians, at least in at one point, were taxed on the quality/appearance of their houses, so they would paint the backs and sides which were hidden from the street, but not the fronts where the tax inspector could see.
(But right after The Wall came down, the East Germans would paint the fronts of their houses, which everyone could see, but save money by not painting the other three hidden sides).
At one point the Dutch, the Amsterdamers I believe, were taxed on the frontage they occupied on the street, so they started building very narrow houses.
Tax policy makes for very interesting history, I guess.
In St. Louis, and likely many other places, a home’s tax rate was based in part on the number of rooms. And closets were rooms from the tax man’s perspective. So closets were kept to a minimum. My first home which had been built in 1941, had three bedrooms, but only one closet that was original to the structure.
Politicians seem forever to be fooled. Make a new tax, and because people respond to the incentives, collect half of what projects were. Make a new giveaway, and spend spend vastly more because, incentives.
You can see this in most UK towns and cities with older housing.