13

If a wizard was working for the Ministry of Magic (i.e. Auror, official), would they have to pay income tax along with the money that they earn from the Ministry of Magic just like Muggles do with the government?

Also, do wizards have to pay wizarding property tax if they lived in a house in the wizarding world and not the Muggle world?

Improve this question
4
  • harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Hexing_Tax
    – Valorum
    Mar 18, 2017 at 20:32
  • Related: scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/54038/…
    – Edlothiad
    Mar 18, 2017 at 20:43
  • Also related: How Does the Ministry of Magic Obtain their Funding?.
    – The Dark Lord
    Mar 19, 2017 at 2:12
  • Canon seems to represent an economy in the Wizarding World operating alongside but independent of the Muggle World, complete with a banking system and at least one currency, where inhabitants have jobs and/or operate businesses related to magic. The Ministry (or Congress in the U.S.) must be compensating its members, officials, administrators, and other workers for their services, which must be derived from something. It would be reasonable to assume the existence of some sort of tax system to support the magical government - perhaps a simple sales tax.
    – Anthony X
    Apr 29 at 15:09

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

I think there must be. J.K. tweeted once that wizards (in the U.K. at least) do not have to pay to go to Hogwarts. We know there is also a Government, the Aurors are like a police force. The books do not go into everyday expenses, but wizards must be paying for some form of tax to cover the above. Either that or the state has the ownership of certain products — let's use floo Powder as an example — and gains income from the sales of these items.

Improve this answer
1
  • If you could find the tweet you're referring to it would make for a great answer and improve the quality of this current answer quite a bit.
    – The Dark Lord
    Sep 2, 2017 at 10:55
2

Don't know.

There isn't any mention that I could find of taxes while skimming through the seven books in the main series, looking for an answer to this question. I don't think that there's anything in the companion books - they're not textbooks for that subject :). FBAWTFT, movie edition - nothing that I remember, although admittedly, I only watched it once.

So, we don't know - it's not mentioned in canon.

Improve this answer
3
  • 1
    There is mention of Muggle taxes (Riddle House, Dumbledore's intro to FBaWtFT). Snape uses the word overtaxing in book three, possibly implying that Wizards are somewhat familiar with the concept.
    – ibid
    May 15, 2017 at 20:25
  • @ibid Is that overtaxing in a monetary sense or as in something that is tiring? Sorry, I don’t remember the context of the word in this case.
    – BangBang
    Apr 29 at 16:46
  • @BangBang - Not really. "You are easily satisfied. Lupin is hardly over-taxing you – I would expect first-years to be able to deal with Red Caps and Grindylows."
    – ibid
    Apr 30 at 2:19

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.