Tax on stupidity?

The stupid are taxed;here in the uk we have schemes such as equity release: people are given money for their home that they can in theory stay in until they die. So far so good, however the greatest use of the money is to build onto,improve the home they no longer own, the companies have a clause and take the home off them in 10/15 years, they underpaid for it in the first place but the people have handily done lots of improvements with the cash they lent them, and so greatly increased the value of the asset they get. They have effectively borrowed money and gave it back to them plus their labour for free. There are sent gold I send you cash where people send their gold/ antique gold and they send back very little money. Are these schemes in other countries. I think that governments know about these schemes but as these companies will get taxed is it an unofficial stupid tax, so others don't have to pay as much?

You mean "reverse" mortgages? The US has those.

As well as "cash for gold" buyers.

And of course the lottery. The greatest stupid tax of all.

Just watch an episode of Pawn Stars or any other pawn shop / antiques reality show. youll see people walk in, be told their item is work X amount of dollars by a professional appraiser then turn around and sell that item for about 5% of X.

Either people are really, really, stupid or there are far more desperate addicts around than I ever thought.

Cash for gold... also in Finland. What a joke that is. I mean, i could get n times more money just selling my gold on Ebay or something. Their payouts are just outright ridiculous.

ETA: just bumped into my mind... there's this one company, who sends you a nice envelope home, in which you can put your gold in and send it to them for evaluation. Fully paid postage and even insured. Now that sounds nice. But here's the kicker: they say, that after evaluation they pay out the next day. Now waitaminute: what if i want to turn down the offer? There's not even a single word about that. In my mind that's pretty much close to a scam. Although you can phone customer service afterwards, but i mean... really?