The Dumb Tax is the additional costs incurred because you are uneducated about an endeavor. An example of a dumb tax would be the fact that I spent nearly $10,000 installing a well on a vacation property with the intent of using it to fill a pond on the property. Had I waited 6 months I would have discovered that my problem is much bigger than a lack of water. The pond leaks. So pumping water from a well isn’t going to help. The leak is just too fast. In fact I wouldn’t describe it as a leak as much as a complete lack of the ability to hold water.
If I could go back in time I wouldn’t have spent the money on the well at all.
Here’s the rub. It’s almost impossible to avoid the dumb tax. You just need to be able to overcome it. The biggest benefit of having excess money is that the dumb tax provides a learning experience instead of a death blow.