There have been some strange taxes throughout history, but in 1698, one of the oddest ones was imposed on September 5. It was the “beard tax.” The Tsar of Russia at the time was Peter I (“Peter the Great”), who wanted to reform Russia to make it more like the modern European powers. He started an industrialization program, started building a new capital city with western-style buildings ((St. Petersburg), and ordered the Russian nobility to adopt modern clothing and styles.
The beard tax was part of that last effort — it also applied to long robes, which were the “old style” Russian garb. When you paid the tax, you were given a special metal coin that said “Beard Tax Taken” on one side, and had a picture of a beard on the other with the slogan “The beard is a superfluous burden.” Anyone caught with a beard, but without a token, could be shaved by the police. There doesn’t seem to be any reference to how the cops felt about their new duties.
There have been “beard taxes” — or at least laws about beards and haircuts — at various other times and places. They’re still in place in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, where beards are considered signs of radical political beliefs. Some historians argue that Henry VIII of England imposed a beard tax in the 1500s, but nobody is quite sure. And since Henry VIII himself had a beard in all his portraits, the story seems a bit shaky.
Men who wanted to visit Albania between 1941 and 1985 (not that Albania was a very popular destination at the time) had to have hair no longer than 4 centimeters, and no beard. In the Qing dynasty in China, hair length and style was mandated — men had to shave the front of their head, let the rest of their hair grow, and braid it. The rule lasted quite a while, since the Qing dynasty ruled China for over 250 years, until 1912. For part of that time, until about 1868, Japan had a similar law, although without the rule about the braid.
In 1873, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed the “Pigtail Ordinance” mandating all prisoners to have their hair cut to one inch long. It was primarily aimed at Chinese prisoners, because the Qing dynasty was still in power along with the hairstyle rules. The ordinance never went into effect, though — it was vetoed by the mayor the first time they tried it, and when they tried again three years later it was struck down as unconstitutional.
In the 1960s long hair was associated with “subversive Western cultural influence” in Czechoslovakia, and although not banned outright, was “strongly discouraged.” Singapore went a step further and actually banned long hair for men. One of the side effects was that the Bee Gees and Led Zeppelin, among others, cancelled concerts there. The law has since been repealed and men can wear their hair however they want. As long as they don’t also chew gum. Well, actually you are allowed to chew gum in Singapore — it’s just illegal to sell it.
The Singapore gum ban was imposed after the Mass Rapid Transit rail system was built in 1987. There were instances where somebody stuck chewing gum over the door sensors. It was nearly impossible to find the culprits, so they did the obvious thing: banned the gum. In 1999 the US and Singapore held talks about a new trade agreement — and oddly enough, the Wrigley company lobbied hard for changes to the Singapore gum law. They had some success; the law was amended to allow “prescription” gums like nicotine gum and fluoride gum, as long as they were prescribed by a doctor or dentist.
But what, you might ask, is a little chewing gum company doing lobbying the government about international trade deals? It turns out that the chewing gum company isn’t so little. It’s currently owned by Mars, the candy company, and in 2009 it reported over $5 billion revenue and employed over sixteen thousand people.
That’s not bad for a company started almost by accident. William Wrigley started a soap company in 1891. To sell his soap, he offered a premium — a package of baking powder. When he discovered his customers liked the baking powder better than the soap, he dropped the soap and just started selling baking powder. Since the premium had worked before, he offered another one if you bought his baking powder — and this time it wasn’t soap; it was chewing gum.
Once again, Wrigley’s customers liked the gum better than the baking powder, so he repeated his switcheroo and went into the chewing gum business. And there he stayed — he or one of his descendants stayed in charge of the company until 2006. It was William Wrigley III who expanded production around the world, including Russia, Czechoslovakia, China, and more. After all, they don’t have to worry about laws about getting your gum stuck in your hair or beard. At least…not yet.
