English Window Tax

Timeline

1. 1696Parliament at Westminster · WestminsterWilliam III's government introduced a window-based house tax to cover the shortfall caused by the clipping of debased coins and the silver recoinment. Houses with ten or fewer windows paid a lower house tax and were exempt from the window tax; above ten windows, the tax rose progressively with the number of windows. The design intent was to make wealthier residences pay more, replacing the hearth tax, which required intrusive counting of hearths inside homes.
2. 1700–1746Towns and villages of England · EnglandTaxpayers bricked up windows or opened fewer windows in new construction to fall below the exempt threshold. Urban apartments shared by ten people were often taxed as a single dwelling, so the progressive design failed for the urban poor. Bricked-up window openings became a recognizable tax legacy in the English streetscape, and were later cited by economists as a classic example of the excess burden of taxation.
3. 1747–1823England · EnglandFrom 1747 the window tax brackets and rates were raised several times, with roughly six increases by around 1808, and were only reduced in 1823. The National Archives cites the 1747 example: sixpence per window for houses with ten to fourteen windows, more for additional windows. Wartime finance repeatedly squeezed this 'visible tax base,' and public resentment and avoidance rose in step.
4. 1850–1851Parliament at Westminster · WestminsterDoctors and reformers charged that lack of light and air harmed health; the 1850 repeal motion failed by only three votes. After a nationwide petition the following year, the window tax was abolished on 24 July 1851 and replaced by a house tax. In its final year the tax still yielded about £1.856 million in revenue. Traces of boarded-up windows remain visible in England's historic buildings to this day.