4 ms·
This one is a bit too niche but I love it: In Quebec, there is a tax one pays to your municipality upon the purchase of a house called the "Taxe de Bienvenue".
by jszymborski 3y ago
This one is a bit too niche but I love it:
In Quebec, there is a tax one pays to your municipality upon the purchase of a house called the "Taxe de Bienvenue". This translates to "Welcome Tax", which it commonly is called by anglos.
Many clever folks might overhear you call it that and say "Welll actuuallyy it is named after a minister by the name of Jean Bienvenue, and so that translation is incorrect".
Well, it turns out that's actually incorrect, and was mistakenly repeated by a local newspaper.
A case of "things unexpectedly not unexpectedly named after a person".
https://www.journaldequebec.com/2017/12/15/lex-ministre-jean-bienvenue-na-rien-a-voir-avec-la-taxe-de-bienvenue https://www.journaldequebec.com/2017/12/15/lex-ministre-jean...
- rob74 3y agoWell yeah, I guess the perverse naming (having to pay a tax isn't really likely to make you feel welcome) led people to look for alternative explanations...
- jszymborski 3y agoHaha yah, it's always felt sardonic.
- derefr 3y agoBut is it perverse naming? It seems functional to me. It's (a flowery way of) describing the thing you're paying for through the tax: the costs associated with onboarding you into the municipal government systems associated with home-owner record keeping — i.e. the costs of "welcoming" you. Ticketmaster has "convenience fees" — if you don't pay them, you don't get "convenience." Well, if you don't pay the "welcome" tax, then you won't get "welcomed" (i.e. made able to live there.) (I guess maybe it's intuitive to me because I see municipalities as private corporations like any other, that have ultimate authority on whether people get to live on their incorporated land. By default, you're not "welcome" to own land in a city! The city has to decide that!)