Window tax
England, France, Ireland and Scotland introduced a window tax during the 18th and 19th centuries which was payable based on the number of windows in a house. The amount of window tax, was based on the number of windows in a house, and was actually first introduced by William III in 1696 as a result or as part of the Great Re-coinage.
At this time the British currency system was failing, largely because many coins had been clipped (trimmed at the edges), in order to salvage metal which was then used in counter-fits. As a result the entire monetary system was replaced and the public offered new coins for their old clipped ones, however as minting continued so did clipping, high levels of financial concerns lead to civil unrest which was solved in the end to some respect with the introduction of bank notes. The whole re-coinage was complete vy 1699, a process the cost the government huge sums of money, and with little in return they had to try to recuperate costs, the window tax was one way to do this.
Houses were banded according to the number of windows in the house and the tax was set per window, as a result, soon after it was introduced many people bricked up their windows to avoid paying the tax. Many buildings across the UK still hold the memory of this with windows still blocked up from that period. In the mid 1800's doctors and academics argued that the lack of light was becoming the cause of ill health in the population and in 1851 after significant pressure the tax was repealed.
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