Window Tax
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Window tax was a
property tax A property tax (whose rate is expressed as a percentage or per mille, also called ''millage'') is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or Wealth t ...
based on the number of
window A window is an opening in a wall, door, roof, or vehicle that allows the exchange of light and may also allow the passage of sound and sometimes air. Modern windows are usually glazed or covered in some other transparent or translucent ma ...
s in a house. It was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, Scotland, France and Ireland during the 18th and 19th centuries. To avoid the tax, some houses from the period can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces (which can be (re)glazed later). In
England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. Th ...
it was introduced in 1696 and in Scotland from 1748. It was repealed in both cases in 1851. In France it was established in 1798 and was repealed in 1926.


History

The tax was introduced in England and Wales in 1696 under King William III and was designed to impose tax relative to the prosperity of the taxpayer, but without the controversy that then surrounded the idea of
income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
. At that time, many people in Britain opposed income tax, on principle, because the disclosure of personal income was perceived by them to represent an unacceptable governmental intrusion into private matters, and a potential threat to personal liberty. The first permanent British income tax was not introduced until 1842, and the tax remained controversial into the 20th century. When the window tax was introduced, it consisted of two parts: a flat-rate house tax of two shillings per house (equivalent to £ in ), and a variable tax for the number of windows above ten in the house. Properties with between ten and twenty windows paid an extra four shillings (equivalent to £ in ), and those above twenty windows paid an extra eight shillings (equivalent to £ in ). In 1709, with the union of England and Scotland, taxes were harmonised and a new top rate of 20s total was introduced for houses with 30 or more windows. In 1747 the 2s flat rate was detached from the window tax as a tax in its own right and the way the window tax was calculated was altered. 6d was charged for each window in a house with 10–14, 9d for each window in a house with 15–19, 1s for every window in a house with 20 or more. In 1758 the flat rate charge was increased to 3s. The number of windows that incurred tax was changed to seven in 1766 and eight in 1825. The flat-rate tax was changed to a variable rate, dependent on the property value, in 1778. People who were exempt from paying church or poor rates, for reasons of poverty, were exempt from the window tax. Window tax was relatively unintrusive and easy to assess. An example was Manchester Royal Infirmary which had to pay a tax of 1/9d per window on the windows of the rooms occupied by staff of the infirmary in 1841—a total of £1 9/9d. Certain rooms, particularly dairies, cheese rooms and milkhouses, were exempt providing they were clearly labelled, and it is not uncommon to find the name of such rooms carved on the lintel. The bigger the house, the more windows it was likely to have, and the more tax the occupants would pay. Nevertheless, the tax was unpopular, because it was seen by some as a tax on "light and air". In ''
The Wealth of Nations ''An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations'', usually referred to by its shortened title ''The Wealth of Nations'', is a book by the Scottish people, Scottish economist and moral philosophy, moral philosopher Adam Smith; ...
'',
Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...
briefly discussed the window tax as one case among various forms of taxation. Smith observed that the tax was relatively inoffensive because its assessment did not require the assessor to enter the residence—a building's windows could be counted from the outside. On the other hand, Smith reported that others objected to the tax on the grounds of its inequality, since it was thought to have a disproportionate impact on the poor. Smith himself observed that the tax's effect was to lower rent. In Scotland, a window tax was imposed after 1748. A house had to have at least seven windows or a rent of at least £5 to be taxed. Windows that have been filled with masonry may have no connection to taxation, but reflect the location of staircases, fireplaces or for purposes of maintaining the symmetry of a building facade. In Ireland, the tax was introduced in 1799 and was not repealed until 1851. Similarly, a glass tax was introduced in 1825 and remained in place until 1845. A similar tax also existed in France from 1798 to 1926. There was a strong agitation in England in favour of the abolition of the tax during the winter of 1850–51, and it was accordingly repealed on 24 July 1851, and a tax on inhabited houses substituted. The Scottish and Irish window taxes were abolished at the same time. The saying "daylight robbery" is popularly believed to originate with the window tax, but there appears to be no scholarly support for this. Another associated idea is that the tax inspired Europeans to begin using bricked-up windows, although this is most likely untrue, as blind windows were used for aesthetic purposes since at least the medieval period, such as on the Church of Saint John the Baptist, Kerch,
Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...
, built in 757 AD. Windows ''were'' also bricked up in Europe from the 1600s to avoid taxes.


See also

* Bedroom tax * Brick tax * Glass tax *
Hearth tax A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by proxy on wealth. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area and is con ...
* Wallpaper tax


References


External links

* {{Commons category-inline, Window tax 1696 establishments in England 1748 establishments in Scotland 1798 establishments in France 1851 disestablishments in the United Kingdom 1926 disestablishments in France Abolished taxes Economic history of England Economic history of France Economic history of Scotland Economy of Stuart England Architecture in England Georgian era History of taxation in the United Kingdom Legal history of England Legal history of France Legal history of Scotland Property taxes Architecture in Scotland Tax avoidance Taxation in France Taxation in Scotland
Tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...