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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). In England and Wales it was introduced in 1696 and was repealed in 1851, 156 years after first being introduced. France (established 1798, repealed 1926) and Scotland both had window taxes for similar reasons. ==Details== The tax was introduced in England and Wales under the An Act for granting to His Majesty several Rates or Duties upon Houses for making good the Deficiency of the clipped Money (XVIII. Rot. Parl. 7&8 Guil. III. p. 5. n. 4 )〔 "Nicholas Vansittart was Chancellor when Napoleon was defeated (1815 ). His inclination was to maintain some tax on income, but public sentiment and the opposition were against him. A year after Waterloo, income tax was repealed ‘with a thundering peal of applause’ and Parliament decided that all documents connected with it should be collected, cut into pieces and pulped."〕 When the window tax was introduced, it consisted of two parts: a flat-rate house tax of 2 shillings per house (equivalent to £}} in ), and a variable tax for the number of windows above ten windows in the house. Properties with between ten and twenty windows paid an extra four shillings (£}} in ), and those above twenty windows paid an extra eight shillings (£}} 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.〔Herber p.416〕 Window tax was relatively unintrusive and easy to assess. Certain rooms, particularly dairies, cheeserooms 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".〔(Request for window tax exemption, 1765 )〕 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.〔(National Archives of Scotland: ) Guide to taxation records.〕 A similar tax existed in France from 1798 to 1926, ''Impôt sur les portes et fenêtres''. 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.〔''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (1911), volume 28, page 713.〕 The Scottish window tax was also abolished at the same time. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「window tax」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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