IF you have a lavish lifestyle in a community dominated by Bnei Torah (and almost by definition, if you are in kollel or employed as a teacher is a Torah environment, you are unable to live a lavish lifestyle), you are for all purposed volunteering to pick up a large share of the costs of running the community. While we pretend it is not a “tax”, from an economic perspective the frum community is financed by very progressive taxation (even if they are “voluntary” contributions, but since we don’t have an IRS to make sure you pay more than your fair share, we rely on lifestyle to know who gets the bills for communal expenses. This has always been a major check on the frum community’s “1%”.
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