Dear max5-ga
As you observe, at about this time there were a number of strange and
curious taxes but none went as far as a tax on wives and children.
These are the main national taxes in the UK relevant for your period:
Window Tax 1696 – 1851 - (replaced the Hearth Tax)
Commutation Tax (in substitution for excise duties on tea.)
Inhabited House Tax - 1778 - 1834 and 1851 - 1883
Shop Tax - 1785-1789
Male Servants’ Tax – 1777 – 1852 - Imposed on households for certain
categories of employed or retained manservants.
Female Servants’ Tax 1795 – 1792 - Imposed on households employing
female servants
Cart Tax 1785-1798 – owners of 2, 3 or 4 wheeled carts
Carriage Tax 1747 – 1782 – owners of 2 or 4 wheeled carriages.
Horse Tax – 1784 – 1874 – owners of Carriage and saddle horses.
Farm Horse Tax - Horses and mules used in husbandry or trade.
Dog Tax 1796 – 1882 – Imposed on owners of dogs
Clock and Watch Tax – 1797– 8 – Owners of Clocks, gold watches, and
silver or metal watches.
Aid and Contribution Tax - Imposed on persons already assessed to pay
duties on houses for one year only. Replaced by income tax in 1799.
Income Tax from 1799
Armorial Bearings 1793 – 1882 – those possessing armorial bearings
Game duty 1784 – 1807 – Persons qualified to kill or sell game
Hair Powder duty 1795 – 1798 – duty and licence to use hair powder
Land Tax 1692 – 1832 – collected at a county level
Racehorse Tax 1784 – 1874 – owners of racehorses
Registration Tax – 1694 – 1706 - on Christenings, marriages and
burials recorded in parish registers. Also taxed were childless
widowers, and bachelors over 25. In 1783 a tax was again placed on
entries in parish registers. It was repealed in 1794.
Silver Plate Tax 1756 – 1777 – owners of silver plate
The tax records (if they survived) are held at various archives in the
UK – National and county level.
National Archives of Scotland
http://www.nas.gov.uk/miniframe/fact_sheet/taxation.pdf
http://www.nas.gov.uk
Public Record Office
http://www.pro.gov.uk/pathways/familyhistory/gallery1/taxpayers.htm
http://www.pro.gov.uk/default.htm
You may wish to view this site as it sets the taxation applicable for
1823 in great detail.
Abstract of the principle Tax Acts, 1823
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/Misc/Transcriptions/General/Tax1823.html
This site details the history of income tax.
http://www.taxcentral.co.uk/taxcentral/home/reference/historyoftax/default.asp
History of Bath – Newspaper for 1785 – complaints about the shop tax
http://www.pisle.com/bathweb/news/1785.html
I hope this answers your question. If it does not, or the answer is
unclear, then please ask for clarification of this research before
rating the answer. I shall respond to the clarification request as
soon as I receive it.
Thank you
Answerfinder
Search strategy
Most information from ‘The Local Historians Encyclopedia’ by John
Richardson. Historical Publications, ISBN 0 9503656, in my possession.
On Google
Variations of tax, taxation, history, genealogy, UK, wives, wife,
children, child.
And
http://www.primeroots.com/hearthtaxes.htm |
