Caracao,a small Carribbean Island off Venezuela Coast is an oil refining and tourist centre.
It became an autonomous country within the kingdom of the Netherlands in 2010 in a change of constitutional status that dissolved the Netherlands Antilles.
In 1888, in Curacao, a bridge was built to connect two parts of the city. A toll was charged, but officials wanted it to be a “progressive” tax. Rich people will pay more to cross.
So, how could they identify the rich and poor quickly?
They had an idea – Rich people wear shoes (it’s 1888, remember), so they decided to charge a tax based on that. If you cross the bridge wearing shoes, you pay a tax, but if you are barefoot, you cross for free.
Simple
Easy
Difficult to avoid
Brilliant.
But it failed.
Why?
The rich simply took off their shoes and crossed the bridge. (Tax Avoidance)
The poor?
They did not want to be seen as poor, so they would wear shoes or borrow shoes to cross the bridge.
This is a true story.
So what are the lessons?
1. Poverty is loud, literally.
2. Poverty is in the mind, not hereditary.
4. The rich stay rich by not spending. The poor stay poor by spending.
5. Humans are irrational.
6. The rich always get better financial advice.
7. Taxing the rich to help the poor is expedient but very complicated.
Are you “borrowing shoes” to cross any “bridge?”
Many people are just too hypocritical as the people in this story narrated.
Be your best self,no matter the condition or situation you find yourself. Whether you are rich,poor or downtrodden,you can choose to be hypocritical.
But if you are, please stop!!!