Window Tax Rolls Now Available

The latest release of  18th century tax rolls available to family history researchers is the infamous Window Tax which has been added to the ScotlandsPlaces website: http://www.scotlandsplaces.com/resources 

The Window tax was levied against the wealthy and when the tax was first introduced in 1748, the exemption was that anyone with less than ten windows did not have to pay. This number was later reduced to seven windows.  

 

 

While some may have thought to block some of their windows in an effort to reduce the amount of tax owed, there were specific rules about such blocking, the primary one being that a window "only counted as blocked up if it was done in the same material as the walls and plastered on the inside." There was also a fine levied if the window was blocked for the assessment and then later unblocked for use.  

The levy was set at two pence per window if you had seven windows but two shillings if you had 25 or more. The window tax was finally abolished in 1851.

ScotlandsPlaces is a pay-per-view site and an initial three month subscription is £15 ($24). However, there is a wealth of information available through the various tax rolls:  

•Carriage Tax, 1785-1798

•Cart Tax, 1785-1798

•Clock and Watch Tax, 1797-1798

•Dog Tax, 1797-1798

•Farm Horse Tax, 1797-1798

•Female Servant Tax, 1785-1792

•Hearth Tax, 1691-1695

•Horse Tax, 1785-1798

•Land Tax, 1645-1831

•Male Servant Tax, 1777-1798

•Shop Tax, 1785-1789

•Window Tax, 1748-1798