The Taxman

The taxman...we dread him today but let’s take a look back in the regency period and see how bad we could have had it.

If you come into the homestead it looks like any nice modern day small house would...on the main floor. The upper level has a very low ceiling. First off the low ceiling keeps the heat in during the winter (works well in the summer too which is why we recently put in ye olde air conditioner). However the low ceilings were also a way to lower taxes. In Laura’s time there was a story tax. For every storey your house was you paid more tax. Laura’s house sits at 1 and ½ stories therefore it was rounded down to one story (imagine that the taxman rounding DOWN!). Twice the floor space half the price... smart woman.

You also won’t find any closets in the home. There was a room tax, four walls and a door counted as a room, meaning a closet would be taxed. The middle classes didn’t have very many clothing options anyway so a trunk or wardrobe would suit them just fine. Preferably cedar as that would keep away the bugs as well. You can see small references to the tax if you look at books like Pride and Prejudice where you see how excited Mr.Collins is to have a closet in the guest room Elizabeth will stay in.

The perfect example in England of a building where smaller windows were made then even those were bricked up later.

Have you ever been on a trip and seen bricked up windows in the old homes? Taxes strike once again! Glass was taxed. At first they would tax on the size of the pane as larger glass was more expense. People became wise to this and got smaller panes for their windows. Not to be outdone the tax changed to cover the number of panes. Feeling defeated the masses began to brick up their windows to avoid the tax. Ever heard the expression a “daylight robbery”?

The income tax we know today in Canada was invented by the British in 1800 to finance their effort in the Napoleonic War. The tax was repealed in 1816 and opponents of the tax, who thought it should only be used to finance wars, wanted all records of the tax destroyed. Records were publicly burned by the Chancellor of the Exchequer but copies were kept in the basement of the tax court.¹ The first income tax suggested in the United States was during the War of 1812. The tax was developed in 1814 but was never imposed because the treaty of Ghent was signed in 1815 ending hostilities and the need for additional revenue.

There was a tea tax, a coffee tax, a paper tax, foreign molasses, foreign wine, sugar, newspapers, commercial and legal document tax etc...etc.....there was no escape. No wonder the US went all Boston Tea party on the English.

1.           Adams, Charles 1998 Those Dirty Rotten TAXES, The Free Press, New York NY