A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by proxy on wealth. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area and is considered among the first types of progressive tax. Hearth tax was levied in the Byzantine Empire from the 9th century, France and England from the 14th century, and finally in Scotland and Ireland in the 17th century.
History
Byzantine Empire In the Byzantine Empire a tax on hearths, known as kapnikon, was first explicitly mentioned for the reign of Nicephorus I (802–811), although its context implies that it was already then old and established and perhaps it should be taken back to the 7th century AD. Kapnikon was a tax levied on households without exceptions for the poor.
France In the 1340s especially, the King of France's personal expenditure on dowries, gratuities, the upkeep of the palace, his travels and his wardrobe, consumed the entirety of the royal income. The fouage (Latin: focagium) was assessed on the basis of households and was usually paid by towns in a pre-arranged lump sum raised in any manner the locality chose to employ. It existed in certain French provinces, and became widespread in the 14th century when the royal finances were unable to bear the rising costs of war and state agents. In particular, fouages were levied in 1342 and 1349.
England
Middle Ages The hearth-penny was an Anglo-Saxon term for Peter's pence.
Stuart period
In England, hearth tax, also known as hearth money, chimney tax, or chimney money, was a tax imposed by Parliament in 1662, to support the government expenditure of King Charles II. Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Parliament calculated that the Crown needed an annual income of £1,200,000. The hearth tax was a supplemental tax to make up for the shortfall. It was considered easier to establish the number of hearths than the number of heads, insofar as hearths could be easily counted, were difficult to conceal or demolish, and did not move. This form of taxation was new to England, but had precedents abroad. It generated considerable debate, but was supported by the economist Sir William Petty, and carried through the Commons by the influential West Country member Sir Courtenay Pole, 2nd Baronet (whose enemies nicknamed him "Sir Chimney Poll" as a result). The Fire-Hearth and Stoves Taxation Act 1662 (14 Cha. 2. c. 10) received royal assent on 19 May 1662, with the first payment due on 29 September 1662, Michaelmas. One shilling was liable to be paid for every fire hearth or stove, in all dwellings, houses, edifices or lodgings, and was payable at Michaelmas, 29 September and on Lady Day, 25 March. The tax thus amounted to two shillings per hearth or stove per year. The original bill contained a practical shortcoming in that it did not distinguish between owners and occupiers and was potentially a major burden on the poor as there were no exemptions. The bill was subsequently amended so that the tax was paid by the occupier. Further amendments introduced a range of exemptions that ensured that a substantial proportion of the poorer people did not have to pay the tax.
Exemption certificates had to be signed by a minister, a churchwarden, or an overseer of the poor and two justices of the peace. From 1664, everybody whose home had more than two hearths was liable to pay the tax, even if otherwise exempt, and changes were made to reduce the scope for tax avoidance. Revenue generated in the first year was less than expected, so from 1663, the names and number of hearths were required to be listed even if non-liable. This additional detail has made the relevant hearth tax documents particularly useful to modern historians and other researchers. However, details of householders who were not liable to pay the tax were not recorded for all years of its operation, as they were not needed for audit purposes when the right to collect the tax was "farmed" for collection by contractors in return for their payment of a fixed premium. The arrangements for collecting the hearth tax varied during its lifetime:
1662 to 1664: The tax was collected by petty constables, with supervision and administration through the existing machinery of local government. 1664 to 1665: Receivers (commonly known as "chimney-men") were appointed specifically to collect the tax. 1666 to 1669: The right to collect the tax was leased or "farmed out" to three City of London merchants, in exchange for a premium. 1669 to 1674: A central government office called "Agents for the Hearth Tax" supervised collection by directly employed receivers. 1674 to 1684: The tax was again farmed out. 1684 to 1689: A special government commission collected both the excise and hearth tax. The tax fell most heavily on those who occupied the houses with the greatest number of hearths. For instance, in 1673-4 the Earl of Exeter had to pay for 70 hearths at Burghley House. In contrast, most householders who were liable to pay tax had only one or two hearths and a significant proportion of householders were not liable to pay at all. The hearth tax was much resented because it often entailed inspection of the interior of dwellings by the sub-collectors and petty constables, who had legal authority to enter every property to check on the number of hearths. Some people stopped up their chimneys so that the tax was not due on them, but where this was discovered by the assessors the tax was doubled. On 31 July 1684, a fire in Churchill, Oxfordshire, destroyed 20 houses and many other buildings, and killed four people. It was apparently caused by a baker who, to avoid chimney tax, had knocked through the wall from her oven to her neighbour's chimney. Sir Courtenay Pole, its principal author, was attacked for having devised "the most vexatious tax on the people that ever was known."
After the Glorious Revolution, the hearth tax was repealed by the newly empowered English Parliament in the Hearth Money Act 1688 (1 Will. & Mar. c. 10), agreed to by the newly installed William III and Mary II in 1689, as:
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