Taxes through the Ages
Given the historic occasion of our 100th issue, I thought I’d replace the usual accounts and tax advice with something equally historical. Income tax has only been around in the UK since 1842 but various monarchs and governments have sought ways of extracting funds from the public before then. Here is a list of taxes historically levied in this country, together with some of the ways people have sought to evade them.
Scutage
In medieval England, feudalism was the order of the day. The king of the time provided land to knights in return for their support. The main support that they were supposed to provide was military service in times of war. Knights that did not wish to take part in a campaign could pay scutage instead. Such funds could be used to hire mercenaries, potentially proving more valuable to the crown.
Originally scutage was only levied when a military campaign was in the offing, the individual levy named after where the campaign was to take place. However, the financially imprudent King John sought to levy scutage through much of his reign to replenish his funds, even in times of peace. These repeated demands, and the increase in the amount demanded, was a major cause of the rebellion that led to the proclamation of Magna Carta. Subsequent to this, the crown could only apply a levy with the agreement of the barons. The practice slowly died out as more regular forms of taxation were brought in.
Hat Tax
In 1784, Pitt the Younger introduced the hat tax. This was considered a way of ensuring the rich were taxed more heavily, as they were expected to own several expensive hats with the poor owning few if any. Hat-sellers had to buy a licence to be allowed to sell hats, and all hats had to have a revenue stamp inside them to show the tax had been accounted for. As is common with taxes nowadays, failure to comply could result in both the hat-seller and owner being subject to hefty penalties. Fortunately the penalty for forging hat revenue stamps has not continued to the modern age. Anyone found guilty of this last heinous offence was put to death.
A few cunning souls got a temporary reprieve, by switching their trades from hat-making to constructing ‘headgear’. Alas, the government of the day simply amended the rules so all apparel worn on the head was included.
Wallpaper Tax
Having patterned, printed or painted wallpaper was also considered a sign of wealth. The wallpaper tax, introduced in 1712, sought to gather funds from those rich individuals by seeking a payment of one old penny per square yard (rising to one shilling by 1809). This proved a surprisingly easy tax to circumvent for those willing to do so. They simply had plain paper, which was not subject to the tax, put on their walls, and then had a design added by hand once it was in place.
Brick Tax
With the expense of the American War of Independence behind them, the British government found itself in urgent need of funds. The Brick Tax was imposed as a way of recouping those funds, with a starting rate of four shillings per thousand bricks. To reduce their liabilities under this new scheme, brick manufacturers drastically increased the size of individual bricks, some doubling their size. This loophole was later closed, with the government specifying a maximum size for individual bricks.
A lot of small brick manufacturers closed down as a result, having to sell off their assets simply to meet this liability. It also had an effect on architecture, with construction using other materials seeing a resurgence. This time also saw the rise of mathematical tiles, a covering for timber-framed buildings that gave the appearance of brick-work. Unfortunately for those seeking to use these to evade the tax, these tiles were subject to the same levy.
Window Tax
Perhaps one of the more widely known old taxes, window tax was introduced in 1696. As with other taxes above the assumption was that the rich, with larger houses, would also have more windows. Many found that enforcing this tax led to a breach of privacy. In order to count windows not visible from the public street revenue inspectors, accompanied by constables, could seek access to private yards. In 1850, Charles Dickens even declaimed in parliament “Neither air nor light have been free since the imposition of the window tax.”
The tax also did not prove as even-handed as it would first appear. Expensive houses in crowded cities like London would often have fewer windows than poor isolated cottages in the country. To limit the effect of this tax, some people even took to bricking up a few of their windows. Many of these have been left bricked up to this day, with houses near the bottom of Croft Road in Hastings Old Town showing examples.
Final Thought
All these taxes have passed into history, each having been repealed long ago. One would hope that such odd ways of raising revenue will not rear their heads again in our time. That said, with the nation’s finances so often declared to be in a parlous state, perhaps we should not fully discount the possibility.
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