Well, the Christian Science Monitor has spent thousands of hours (I guess) looking up some of the weirdest tax rules around the world. Although some no longer exist, the fact that most were created at all is the weirdest part of this article by Karis Hustad:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2014/0214/Top-12-weirdest-tax-rules-around-the-world/China-pro-cigarette-smoking-tax-revenue

So some of these laws are just strange (A Beard Tax when Russia was ruled by Peter the Great, fines for not buying cigarettes in a provence in China to increase tax revenue and support tobacco growers and cigarette makers.) I especially liked the fact that the Swedish Government was given authority to approve the names of all young children or your family could be fined the equivalent of $770. (Someone named their kid “Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116”, to protest the law; it was denied.) And you thought our Congress had created some odd tax laws – they almost seem sensible now! (Almost.)

For financial, accounting and tax musings,