by DrT - Sahits

"Sirius is head of the Black line, an Ancient and Noble Family, but not Original. If he dies without
magical children and without restoring a cousin of his who was officially banished from the family,
Andromeda Tonks, then the eligibility dies out with Narcissa Malfoy and her other sister, as Draco
is eligible already. The entire group of First Families would then appoint a new family, or more
likely an additional branch of a Founding Family, to the group. It was decided back in 1803 that the
two groups would not be allowed to drop below the current numbers. If an Ancient and Noble
Family, say the Malfoys, were promoted, then they become a Most Noble Family. If a new family
were added to the second group, they'd be known just as a Noble Family. If Sirius does restore her
mother, then if Tonks has children, they will all inherit the eligibility."
"So what counts is magic, not legitimacy?" Hermione asked.
"If there are any legitimate, magical heirs, the illegitimate don't count," Harry said with a shrug.
"Just like if there are any magical male heirs they can find, women don't count. They do allow for
magic skipping one generation, at the discretion of the head of the family, or if it will prevent a line
from dying out, but after that, Squibs don't count for Wizengamot membership. In addition, there
are two types of marriage, and the children of a magical bonding would come ahead of children
from a legal consort."
"So Voldemort could have entered some sort of power legitimately?" Hermione asked.
"I suppose, but the Gaunts hadn't won a seat in hundreds of years. Remember, Riddle was likely the
illegitimate son of the last heiress, Merope Gaunt, and a Muggle she'd seduced with a love potion. It
would have taken Riddle decades of hard work to restore his name to one worth being considered
for the Wizengamot, not to mention needing at least some form of fortune. If there was any
evidence of the marriage, then Riddle would have taken possession of the Riddle fortune after he
killed them instead of squatting there like he likely is now."
Hermione decided to ignore Voldemort. "I take it from what you said at Gerrymander's that you
have a fortune."
"Well, yes. And do you know all about magical taxes?"
"No," Hermione huffed. "Again, I couldn't find any printed information."
"Really? You'd think they wanted to keep the Muggle-raised ignorant." Hermione glared, so Harry
went on. "Well, I'll let you research on how the Ministry was put under the Duchy of Lancaster in
1663, and the deal which allows all magical land to be subject to no governmental taxation if you
really want to. Essentially, we pay very little in taxes. There are no death duties, for example, and
we pay a one Knut per Galleon VAT on magical items, and three Knuts per Galleon on non-magical
items sold through magical shops."
"That's . . . that's almost nothing!" Hermione exclaimed.
Harry nodded. "And, since magical land ownership falls under a special trust of the Duchy of
Lancaster, we don't pay any Crown taxes on most of it. We do have to pay for any utilities, but even
in the cities most magical people don't bother with electricity. We do have to pay for water and the
drains, but we mostly use a system that looks like gas lighting and heat, but which is magical, and
both cheap to install and free to run. The Americans have a system that imitates panel lighting and
which can run electrical appliances with an adaptor. The Pure-Bloods here are fighting its import."
"That figures," Hermione said.
"In addition, anything like income taxes on Muggle income, Muggle VAT, licenses, et cetera are
dealt with on a sliding scale that makes magical accountants swoon, since they get a five percent
commission. Basically, people pay upfront, and if they fill out the right forms, the Crown or local
authority keeps between ten and thirty-three percent depending on which tax we're talking about,
the Ministry gets between a fifth and a third, and they get the rest back."
"Really?" Hermione said, amazed.