1 00:00:00,280 --> 00:00:08,719 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:13,960 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:17,240 Speaker 1: show that shines a light on the ups and downs 4 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: of everyday history. I'm Gabe Bluesier, and today we're talking 5 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:26,160 Speaker 1: about one of the most despised taxes in human history, 6 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:29,319 Speaker 1: one that forced people to pay for the right to 7 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:39,040 Speaker 1: light and air within their own homes. The day was 8 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:45,120 Speaker 1: July twenty fourth, eighteen fifty one. Great Britain's wildly unpopular 9 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: window tax was finally repealed after one hundred and fifty 10 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:53,120 Speaker 1: six years on the books. The way the tax was 11 00:00:53,159 --> 00:00:56,880 Speaker 1: assessed and collected changed a great deal during that time, 12 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:00,720 Speaker 1: but the basic premise remained the same throughout. The more 13 00:01:00,760 --> 00:01:03,959 Speaker 1: windows a house had, the more tax the owner had 14 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,880 Speaker 1: to pay. Not long after the tax was first imposed, 15 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: people realized they could avoid paying by bricking up some 16 00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:15,240 Speaker 1: of their windows. That unfortunate trend proved to be the 17 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,920 Speaker 1: tax's downfall, as the lack of windows not only reduced 18 00:01:18,920 --> 00:01:22,120 Speaker 1: the amount of revenue the tax raised, it also led 19 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:27,320 Speaker 1: to widespread health and safety concerns. Numerous public campaigns called 20 00:01:27,360 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 1: for the abolishment of the window tax, and on July 21 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: twenty fourth, eighteen fifty one, they finally got their wish. 22 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,680 Speaker 1: The idea of taxing windows sounds like a joke when 23 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 1: you first hear it, but when it was introduced in 24 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:45,000 Speaker 1: sixteen ninety six, the tax was a fairly ingenious solution 25 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,440 Speaker 1: to several ongoing problems, at least on paper. The trouble 26 00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:52,760 Speaker 1: was the British government needed to impose a tax of 27 00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:56,040 Speaker 1: some kind in order to fill its coffers. But whatever 28 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,240 Speaker 1: they taxed, it had to be something that increased with wealth, 29 00:01:59,480 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: so that or citizens wouldn't have to pay more than 30 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: their fair share. A tax on income would have been 31 00:02:05,600 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: the obvious answer, but public sentiment wouldn't allow it. At 32 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 1: the time. It was considered too intrusive to require citizens 33 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:17,440 Speaker 1: to disclose their personal income to the government. Parliament's solution 34 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 1: was to institute a tax on hearths or fireplaces, with 35 00:02:21,720 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: the rationale being that wealthier citizens would own larger homes 36 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 1: with more fireplaces. Unfortunately, the hearth tax also proved too intrusive, 37 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: since tax inspectors had to enter each property to count 38 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:40,200 Speaker 1: the number of hearths inside. The ensuing controversy forced the 39 00:02:40,240 --> 00:02:43,520 Speaker 1: government to start all over, except this time they had 40 00:02:43,560 --> 00:02:46,240 Speaker 1: to find a tax based on something that increased with 41 00:02:46,320 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 1: wealth and that could be observed from afar, And as 42 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 1: you've probably figured out, the answer to that conundrum was windows. 43 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: The window tax was first implemented in Britain in sixteen 44 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:03,440 Speaker 1: ninety six, the same year the hated hearth tax was repealed. 45 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 1: Houses with a smaller number of windows initially ten were 46 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,240 Speaker 1: subject to an annual house tax of two shillings, but 47 00:03:11,320 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: were exempt from paying the window tax. Houses with more 48 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:19,160 Speaker 1: than ten windows were charged a higher rate, which increased 49 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: with the number of windows, six shillings if they had 50 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: between ten and twenty, and ten shillings for those with 51 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:29,000 Speaker 1: more than twenty. And for reference, two shillings in sixteen 52 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: ninety six would be worth about fifteen pounds or nineteen 53 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:37,880 Speaker 1: dollars today, a group of government sanctioned window peepers would 54 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:41,200 Speaker 1: determine how much each house owed by counting its windows 55 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,680 Speaker 1: from the street, and just like with fireplaces, the larger 56 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: a home was, the more windows it tended to have, 57 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,720 Speaker 1: and the wealthier its occupants were assumed to be. It 58 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: was a sound premise in theory, but things weren't so 59 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: straightforward in practice. One problem was that the legislation didn't 60 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:03,320 Speaker 1: include to definition for what qualified as a taxable window. 61 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: That ambiguity led to all kinds of discrepancies, with some 62 00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:11,920 Speaker 1: people being charged for any small openings in their exterior walls, 63 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 1: including vents, grates, or even missing bricks. Another issue was 64 00:04:17,520 --> 00:04:21,320 Speaker 1: that the taxes proxy for wealth number of windows proved 65 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:25,119 Speaker 1: to be unreliable in some cases. For example, a house 66 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 1: in a rural area may have had more windows than 67 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,640 Speaker 1: a house in London, but the owner of the country 68 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,520 Speaker 1: house was likely to be much poorer than the owner 69 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:36,719 Speaker 1: of the house in the city. The window tax was 70 00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 1: clearly unfair to some members of the rural poor, but 71 00:04:40,240 --> 00:04:43,039 Speaker 1: it placed an even greater burden on the poor who 72 00:04:43,080 --> 00:04:47,479 Speaker 1: lived in towns and cities. Most working class citizens didn't 73 00:04:47,520 --> 00:04:51,200 Speaker 1: live in single family homes, but in large tenement buildings 74 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,279 Speaker 1: with multiple flats or apartments on each floor. But no 75 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 1: matter how many separate dwellings one of those buildings had, 76 00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: it was still considered to be a single house under 77 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:04,880 Speaker 1: the terms of the window tax. The good news was 78 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:07,800 Speaker 1: that the landlord, as the building's owner, was the one 79 00:05:07,839 --> 00:05:11,279 Speaker 1: responsible for paying the high tax for all those windows. 80 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: The bad news was that many landlords realized they could 81 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,279 Speaker 1: greatly reduce the amount they owed by bricking up some 82 00:05:18,720 --> 00:05:22,919 Speaker 1: or all of their tenants windows. The same principle was 83 00:05:22,960 --> 00:05:26,479 Speaker 1: also applied to new construction, as new houses were built 84 00:05:26,520 --> 00:05:29,160 Speaker 1: with far fewer windows than they would have been before 85 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 1: the tax was imposed. Of course, those extreme measures didn't 86 00:05:33,640 --> 00:05:37,720 Speaker 1: stop landlords from raising their tenants rents as well, another 87 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,919 Speaker 1: effort to offset the cost of the window tax. But 88 00:05:41,040 --> 00:05:44,200 Speaker 1: as unfair as that practice was, the lack of air 89 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,559 Speaker 1: and light in the tenants apartments was far more dire. 90 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:51,719 Speaker 1: The dark, damp conditions created by the inadequate light and 91 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:57,320 Speaker 1: ventilation placed residents at greater risk of epidemics of typhus, smallpox, 92 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 1: and cholera. The lack of light also led to vitamin deficiencies, 93 00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:05,360 Speaker 1: which stunted the growth of young residents, a condition which 94 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: the French came to call the British sickness. The harmful 95 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:12,600 Speaker 1: effects of the window tax were well documented by the 96 00:06:12,680 --> 00:06:16,120 Speaker 1: early eighteenth century, and the problem only worsened as the 97 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: Industrial Revolution went on. British cities grew more crowded every year, 98 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: eventually prompting some medical professionals to speak out on the 99 00:06:25,480 --> 00:06:29,760 Speaker 1: dangers of mass housing with too few windows. One such 100 00:06:29,800 --> 00:06:33,640 Speaker 1: crusader was doctor D. B. Reid, who in eighteen forty 101 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: five published a sanitary report on the City of Sunderland. 102 00:06:37,760 --> 00:06:42,120 Speaker 1: According to Reid, the city's Health Committee witnessed the very 103 00:06:42,279 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 1: evil effect and operation of the window tax, and they 104 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:48,880 Speaker 1: do not hesitate to declare that it is their unanimous 105 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: opinion that the blocking up of the numerous windows, caused 106 00:06:52,440 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 1: by the anxiety of their owners to escape the payment 107 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:59,920 Speaker 1: of the tax, has in very many instances greatly aggravated 108 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:03,160 Speaker 1: and has even in some cases been the primary cause 109 00:07:03,400 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: of much sickness and mortality. Not long after that report 110 00:07:08,760 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 1: was published, author Charles Dickens joined the fight as well. 111 00:07:12,760 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty he noted the many problems with the tax, saying, quote, 112 00:07:17,720 --> 00:07:21,520 Speaker 1: the adage free as air has become obsolete by act 113 00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: of Parliament. Neither air nor light have been free since 114 00:07:25,440 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: the imposition of the window tax. We are obliged to 115 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,280 Speaker 1: pay for what nature lavishly supplies to all, at so 116 00:07:32,440 --> 00:07:35,720 Speaker 1: much per window per year, and the poor who cannot 117 00:07:35,760 --> 00:07:39,119 Speaker 1: afford the expense are stinted in two of the most 118 00:07:39,280 --> 00:07:43,520 Speaker 1: urgent necessities of life. It was around the same time 119 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:46,600 Speaker 1: that the term daylight robbery is thought to have been 120 00:07:46,640 --> 00:07:49,600 Speaker 1: coined as the window tax began to be seen not 121 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:52,240 Speaker 1: only as a tax on health, but as a tax 122 00:07:52,280 --> 00:07:56,000 Speaker 1: on the very light of heaven. The campaign against the 123 00:07:56,080 --> 00:08:00,120 Speaker 1: tax continued into the nineteenth century, but the law remained 124 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:04,000 Speaker 1: on the books despite public objection. Parliament heard a motion 125 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:06,920 Speaker 1: to repeal it in April of eighteen fifty, but it 126 00:08:06,960 --> 00:08:11,960 Speaker 1: failed by three votes. Still, the close call emboldened the opposition, 127 00:08:12,200 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 1: and the push to repeal it ramped up in the 128 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: following year. Finally, on July twenty fourth, eighteen fifty one, 129 00:08:19,560 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: Britain repealed the dreaded window tax and replaced it with 130 00:08:23,040 --> 00:08:27,720 Speaker 1: a far less egregious house tax. That said, the legacy 131 00:08:27,840 --> 00:08:31,040 Speaker 1: of the window tax can still be seen today. Many 132 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:35,400 Speaker 1: historic buildings across Britain still have bricked up windows, as 133 00:08:35,440 --> 00:08:38,560 Speaker 1: do houses in other countries that once followed England's lead, 134 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 1: including Scotland and France. The covered openings are little more 135 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:46,320 Speaker 1: than a curiosity to most passers by, but for those 136 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:48,800 Speaker 1: who know their history, the sight of them evokes a 137 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:52,000 Speaker 1: mix of pity and gratitude for the people who once 138 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:55,520 Speaker 1: endured those conditions and then fought to ensure that no 139 00:08:55,559 --> 00:09:01,160 Speaker 1: one else would. I'm gave Lucier and hopefully you now 140 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:04,760 Speaker 1: know a little more about history today than you did yesterday. 141 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: You can learn even more about history by following us 142 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:13,440 Speaker 1: on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and 143 00:09:13,520 --> 00:09:16,240 Speaker 1: if you have any comments or suggestions you'd like to share, 144 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:18,720 Speaker 1: you can always send them my way by writing to 145 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: this Day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays 146 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:26,080 Speaker 1: and Ben Hackett for producing the show, and thanks to 147 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:29,160 Speaker 1: you for listening. I'll see you back here again tomorrow 148 00:09:29,320 --> 00:09:31,720 Speaker 1: for another day in history class.