approved the tax for a temporary 3-year period. Norway In Norway, at the beginning of the 20th century, oil-powered cars, sugar products, and chocolates were viewed as luxury goods. Today few Norwegians consider sugar or chocolate a luxury, but the luxury taxes on these goods remain. United States In November 1991, The United States Congress enacted a luxury tax and was signed by President George H. W. Bush. The goal of the tax was to generate additional revenues to reduce the federal budget deficit. This tax was levied on material goods such as watches, expensive furs, boats, yachts, private jet planes, jewelry and expensive cars. Congress enacted a 10 percent luxury surcharge tax on boats over $100,000, cars over $30,000, aircraft over $250,000, and furs and jewelry over $10,000. The federal government estimated that it would raise $9 billion in excess revenues over the following five-year period. However, only two years after its imposition, in August 1993, at the behest of the luxury yacht industry, President Bill Clinton and Congress eliminated the "luxury tax" citing a loss in jobs. The luxury automobile tax remained in effect until 2002. In sports, the Luxury tax is the incremental tax team owners have to pay for their teams going over the salary cap, basically a financial penalty for high-spending teams. A common misconception is that tampons and other menstrual products are taxed as a "luxury item" because they are subject to sales tax in 30 states as of February 2021. In actuality, they are simply subject to the normal state sales tax rate in states where they are not tax exempt. Such tax exempt consumer products vary from state to state, but are usually limited to food, prescription drugs, and more rarely, clothing. In popular culture One of the squares on the Monopoly board game (U.S. edition) is labeled "luxury tax". While there is a picture of a sparkling diamond ring on the square, the only effect is that whoever lands on this square must pay $75.00 to the bank. In the 1961 film Breakfast at Tiffany's, the salesman at Tiffany's tells Holly Golightly and Paul that the "federal tax" referring to the 10 percent luxury tax then in effect was not required on a particular item they were considering as a purchase. See also Luxury Car Tax Luxury tax (sports) Positional good Conspicuous consumption References External links Columbia Encyclopedia entry on Luxury