Basic Knowledge -Window Tax England

Window Tax and Other Laws

You may have heard profit tax, salaries tax, stamp duties, etc. However, some kind of special and interesting taxes were levied in the past.

In 1967, some part of England promulgated the "Window Tax", the amount of which was determined with reference to the number of windows present at a building. In order to minimize tax liabilities, some house owners have replaced the windows with a wall. Window tax was abolished in 1851.

Summary Window Tax

The window tax was a property tax based on the number of windows in a house. It was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France and Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries. To avoid the tax some houses from the period can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces (ready to be glazed or reglazed at a later date), as a result of the tax. It was introduced in 1696 and was repealed in 1851, 156 years after first being introduced. Spain and France both had window taxes as well for similar reasons.

An Unusual Tax with Some Unusual Consequences

In the 1690's, British lawmakers were posed with an interesting problem: how to tax their citizens on their income, without knowing too exactly just what that income was.

The emotional climate at the time was vigorously opposed to an income tax. The objection to an income tax wasn't based so much on an objection to paying, but to having the government know how much income one had in the first place. It was considered intrusive, an invasion of privacy, and an attack against personal liberty.

Still, it stood to reason that some kind of taxation had to be made based in some way on the relative prosperity of the taxpayer. What to do, what to do..... Finally some genius came up with a brilliant solution: We'll count their windows!

This wasn't as bad an idea as it might sound. First of all, the number of windows in a dwelling did bear some relationship to the size of the structure. And the size of the home was related to the wealth of the homeowner. Also, glass was expensive, and it stood to reason that one didn't put a lot of windows in one's home unless one could afford it. And you have it admit, it was pretty easy to assess taxes!

This tax led to some of the unusual features of English architecture in this period. Have you ever seen pictures of English houses or pubs where some of the windows have been bricked up? If the structure is old enough, that well may have been the work of an early tax avoider. Some of the new buildings that were erected in the late 17th and early 18th century were built with a minimum of windows; in fact, some bedrooms had no windows at all!

On the other hand, the truly rich who wished to flaunt their wealth had a tendency to build home with as many windows as possible. In some cases, they even included non-functional windows, erected on top of a structural wall.

The window tax continued in England until 1851, when it was repealed in favor of a more ordinary tax based on overall property values. Some believe that the phrase "daylight robbery" may have its origins in the creation of the window tax, although others argue that the phrase did not come into popular usage until much later.

Window Tax and Other Weird London Laws

In 1766 The House and Window Duties Act was passed by Parliament. This meant that every house in England and Scotland had to pay a certain amount of tax per window. (In Scotland though, houses with less than five windows weren't taxed). The more windows you had, the higher the tax, so many people decided to have many of them bricked up. This can still be seen on the walls of old town-houses in Central London. If you struck someone in 1543 and their blood was shed your hand had to be chopped off. Charles II decreed that six ravens ought to be kept in the Tower of London at all times. Legend has it that if the ravens leave the Tower the Kingdom will fall. To this day there is such a person as the Raven Master, and his chief responsibility is to clip the wings of the ravens so tehy can't fly away.
1. Every October, the solicitor to the City of London pays rent for land that the Corporation of London rented in Shropshire. The problem is, this was about 700 years ago and this land is not relevant today. To solve this problem, the ritualists of the City decided that rent ought to be paid in the form of a blunt billhook and a very sharp axe. Then, the said solicitor proceeds to cut through some wood with the billhook. However, he is supposed to fail with this task so that he can then cut through the wood with the aforementioned axe

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