The Sun.
London, England, 1815-10-13 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

MR. Ebrron,—l observed, in my last letter to
)•oa on the subject of such Taxes as atiectedPro-
'perly in Houses, I conceived it poSSPole 89 to. con.-
,the House Tax and Window. Dtityy that
'the Landlords or their Tenants might be relieved
'from the unequal and partial 'pressure of those

ust-iessments upon their respective houses, without
tthy deticieney to -the Ilec'enne.

An inquiry into the vcossillility of bud) a mea-
sure slhall he the•suhject of this letter ; but before
1 proceed,. I will advert to-the circumstances that
•
appear to me to 'warrant the necessity of it
The aesessments are unequal and partial„ be-
cause they do not attach on all houses and build-
en,-.c ; nor on those on which they do attaeli, in
'a fair r;ql Tell-•-pioportioned
It frequently occurs, that of two houses next to
ea. h other, the one-of nnich less ilimensiC: and
at less rent and cost in the building than another,
shall, from having more windows ill it,. pay a
gi eater proportion of Taixes than the Incger house,
it is as frequent, from the saute cause, that for
two adjoining houses of equal size, cost in huilding,
and plan, except as 'tb windows,'the respective
owners cannot procure an equal rent.
Those who have the letting of honses are well
aware, that on treating for the hire of them;the
enquirer naturally directs his attention, amongst
other things, to the number of windows, as an
out-going in the shape of tent ;. front tvhich he is
induced to give 15s. less rent at least for every
window one house shall in its number of lights
exceed an Other, though equal anti ofttn superior
in its properties in every other respect, because the
stim'of 15s. is the average Tax on each-window
tit houses of the most common size. Thus the
more the accommodation of light is afforded to
the occupier, at a consequent greater cost to the
owner, the less rent in proportion can he obtain.
This principle, so generally acted tipon, must
prove a detriment to the Reventre, which 'will be
seen in the difference of The duties paid on the
house I before stated at 1001. per ann. having 30
windows, and one of the same rent baling five
less And if he House Tal: is 45.! in the pound,
vehich W4S recently proposed 'to be ilaid .on the
rents of till houses; the assessuients will,be thus :

Tax at 4s. on 1001
Dirty nt flO window 3 ;

.L.2a o•*!
19.0 0

'L.:YI 22 6'

tonne Tax at 4s. bn 101 . 2O 0 0-
buty on 25 windows

35 17

Difference pai,l to Clnvernment• between two Z
houses of equal rent; L. 3 15 0
In such instances the slim of 31. las. is los4 to
the revenue, and the difference, in many iatances,
must unavoidably be much greater.
But supposing, in the latter case, the landlord
was to add to his rent 3/. out of the difference be.
tween .the amount of assessments paid on two
houses, as before-mentioned, %I-bleb in fairness he
may deniancli it wilt prove a deduction front
the revenue of 31. 3s. per cent. and the outgoings
to the tviant will not be a much as in the first
raise by 35.-

Thus on a rent of

L:103 • 0 6

11,,,ice Tax at•4s
i)(ny ou 25 windows l5 17 't;

The rt venue to Government, in this case 1.16
Do, in the foriner '3cj i

I.os to the revenue 3 :3 0

Out; to the Tenant in the first instance ...... 1:39- 12 6
130. in the latter.. . .... .9
6

Saving to the tenant in d 0...

. L.o s o

I took occasion in a recent publication to ob-
serve, `,* that the old farm houses aboundjn the,
nunther of windows, and the farmer must pay for all'
of t hem, except that on which is inscribed conspicti
ously the word Duiry, to tell the' thief as well as
the assess6r where his stores lay, without be will
block them up, and characterize his dwelling with
the appearance Of misery by such disfigurement.
It is absurd to tax a hearth or a window, to deprive
any i:ooro of the conventency of ‘varmth and fight,
to-shut out the air, the heat and rays of tLe sun,
which Providence dispenses equdly to all. Grain
retluires air as well as cheese, milk,•and butter ;
yerthere is no exempticin for a grairary-window,
xf in the house. The labourer and servant,. in- ,
stead of being immersed in darkness, should he
enabled to.rise.from their beds without the risk
of breaking their •necks; , ••• . • •
. This despicable system of blocking np windows
is not peculiar to farmers; it prevails in every
tlass of society. The tradesman, or private per-
sons, to save the Tax, are alike prone to do with'
as fcw,wiudows as they can ; and will block up
even one window if it can possibly be done with-
out—thus we often see houses of the first respect-
ability, especially ancient outs, atril; more espe-
cially after the number of windows amount to
forty-four, equally desradcd with those of the
lower order, and some of their apartments • im-
mured in darkness, because the addition of
single light beyond that, ninnber "might,stihject
them to alt additional Tax of two pounds ten
s.hillings for it.
. We cannot always brand icitlr theanness those
who have recourse to such methods; *it''arises
frexpie.otly front t; justifiable economy. It is this
principle that induces the builders of houses,
whether fot.their own private use or for spec Ula:
tion, to contrive to do with 'the fewest -possible
number of. lights, and very commonly by,an auk-•
ward and disproportionate size, to frfaike"!eme. to
serve the place of two. Ily some such windows;
as ridiculainsly disposed, they expect to derive the
benefit of a borrowed or internal light, which,
they prestime, will escape unseen by the surveyor,
and enable them to eveulc the Ditty. Thus is the
genius of the architect often cramped, by depriv-
iog him.of the-power of attending so those beau-
tiful proportions, which constitute the chief or-,
rutmcnt of our houses; our towns, and our cities,.
often giving them the appearance of sepulchres
rather than the -habitations of the living, and
throwing them in the back ,ground, AyliePcol7
pared with the ordinary dwellings of Atjigtip and
of Rolutl. It is. this ill-judged Tax, productive
of an. abject policy, that 'induces many to exclude
the lightfrotu their cellars and even their -staircases,

at the risk of their limbs, he,ach, anct pope,s;y,

which must suffer from "tlie consequent def)riva-
tion of air; and from the damp, thy rot, and de-
cay, which darlsness engenders. And the Morality
of the 'occupier is in perpetual danger from .the
subterfuge and evasion he has 'reeOurse to, that
he may avoid the .presi3ure of the Tak upon !jib.

The ill cire6ts of this acting restraint on' the oF-
der and symmetry of our houses is 'ezident on at-
tending to inost of those edifices on ‘vhich the
duty.lioes not attach, such HS Iyarchous_!s, manu-
factories, awl 'many public bnildings,
t-endered inure colo,voiliou; and convenient in the
divisions of their several apartments, bettedook-
ing, from being more duly proportioned, and
partaking of all those just degrees of light, that
can be obtained and are necessary for their, re-
spective purposes.,

Let this impediment to the improvement of our
buildings be removed, And they will assume, ere
long, that light, ,airy and cheerful appearance,
for want of which they havelong been the-re-
prOach of foreigners and men of taste.
It is -evidently an injudicious policy or assess-
ing; the duties oir houses for ally of t hose.quali-
ties that recommend them, tor that which tends
to check and -discourage their improvement di-
minishes the annual value of them, consequently
the revenue to he derived from them will always
be affected in proportion to the convenieneies aiel
accommodations they are capable of furnishing to
the occupier—even the look and beauty of th
premises will heighten their value.
I will point out the cruel policy, the severe-,
hardship of this duty from a fact to my know-
ledge, in the case of a well-bnilt and elegant house
at TenburY, in Worcestershire, that twenty-five
years ago was let for thirty-five pounds, a very in-
considerable rent, even then, in proportion to the
mirth of the house, when compared with others,
but which was all that could be obtained on ac-
count of its number of windows being sixty ; the
dial on which was then aboui Twenty Pounds,
exclusive of Llonse Tax. It at length became un-
tenanted, and as the duty increased, it proved frwu
Unit cause alone, impracticable to let it—several
windows were stopped up, but still it could not
be let. _

this was hardship/, a circumstivice which
happened (luring the•tinte it remained tmocenpied
rendered it still inor,e so:' The •law very prtyerl-7
exempts a dwelling from ithe House 'lax, ‘vllite.
empty,,although a person,. being'a servant, shall
reside therein for the sore purpose 'of taking care
of it ; but tinder the very same circumstances it
is not exempted fi.om the Window'Duty.
The house in question w'as robbed of some Of
the marble to a lire-place and of a leaden gutter,
and tts the paper tint! plaster 'began to fall from
the. walls, -and it •Nva repeatedly suffering trnru
depredatiOns and delvidations, the agent was.de-
sired to pia some poor person in, it to take care
of until let. This was no sooner done than it
was charged to the Window Ditty. ThtiBcircum-
stanced, the owner bad no alternative, bitt to
suffer the premises to. fall to decay, or -pay the
Duty if taken care of,‘trf pill it down, or,sell ;
the; tatter he was compelled td, as the best evil
the whole, and sold the materials for 8.001. which
before the increase of the Window Duty cast
2500,/, and had been recently valued on oath to.
dear alumna. Tufts, 13T an excess of taxation,
an individual suffered the loss of his roperty, and
the Government the loss of its revenue, which
bcith 'night have retained had tie Tax been pro-'
portionahly on the ,rent instead of the windows.
The incrtase of 'Old duty on the number of win;
(lows that house 'contained, would now have
amounted to about .lofty pounds, %vilich, toget!•er
with the intended tax of tour shillings in the
pound on' the house, as recently prOposed, when
aNled-to the landlord's Property Tax, would have
made the lirhole'reienue on the rent equal to 1401.
per tent.
When a tenant takes a house on lease, be na-
turally, reckons on those charges upon it as well
as the rent, which appear within the limits of his
income to defray. His distress then Must be very
obvious on every increase of Taxes thereon, when
-without the power of making void the lease if un-
able to unde&t it. t_ ,

An inequality in the scale of taxing houSes for
their windows is obServable in the cae of win-
donis of large dialensions 1)64; assessed as two,
if built since 1785,, whereas, !nun the fortuitous
circumstance of -being built prior thereto, the
same sized window; or a larger, shall be taxed
only as one.

There is another obicetion to a Tax on Win-
(lows, which was deemed to be a very immaterial
one by our ancestors: I mean that ohnoxiOus
power vested in Surveyors appointed by the Crown,
,of entering into and passing through any 1-Chtse
to inspect the windows ; for though we. find by'
the Doomsday Book that so early as the con-
quest, the duty of fuhrage or fuage,'or smoke tar-
things, was paid by custom to the King for every
chimney in the house ; and, in the reign of•charfes
the. Second, Pailiament established'an hereditary
revenue to the King for ever on every hearth in
all houses paying to Church and Poor ; yet, by
subsequent statutes fur the more regular assess-
&tent of duty, public ;Officers were tupo,vered
by the Crown to
.enter :and view the„inside
every house o-ace a year,, it became so vevy
ob-
noxious, that at the Revolution it was looked up-
on as one of those great evils that ought to be
abandoned, and " Hearth Money was declared to
be not only a great oppression; to the poorer sort,
but a badge of slavery upon the whole people, ex-
posing every man's house to be entered into and
searched at pleasnie by persons unknown to him,
and therefore to erect a lasting monument of their
'Majesties goodness (King William and Queen
Mary) in every house in the kingdom, the duty
of hearth money was taken away and abashed."
1 am.by no means disposed to take exceptrons,
at any reasonable method, that Government may.
devise to prevent any evasion of those Taxes,
which the wisdom and wants of the Legislature
have deemed right and necessary to be imposed
on the subject, but consistent with the above de-
elaratiiin,, it is equally revolting to ihe feelings of
,13ritotis to be subject tollotniciliary visits-,whether
to search for.lights or hearths. Amu as since the
first enactment of tbc' Window Duties, alt:iater:

nal or borroded'ligias are liable:to be paid for
The Crown Offieer, to, do his citify effectually; ...tas.=,
Much greater cause fit present to intrude ou the
'privacy of indixiduals than formerly..
•
• in the View of the remedy, that I shall propose
to get rid of midi measures, which sui•ely in the
,present slate of civilization arc still more objec-
tionable than 'in the time Of King William, Ii
Shall take for my guide the declaratiOn of Black-
stone, that " the. thing to lie wished and aimed
at in a land of liberty,. is ,by• no means the total
itholitkin of Takes, .which would draw after it
very pernicious constaptericeS, the very supposi-,
t,ion of which is the 'lei:4! t oof political absurdity.
For as tire true idea of Government and Magis-
tracy be found to consist in- this, that Some
few men are deputed by many othets to preside
over public •aiFairi so that--individuals may 'the
better be enabkd to attend their private coneems,
it is necessary that these individualS should be
'bound to cOntrihnte" a portion of 'their private
gains, in order to support that GOvernment and to
reward that MagisCracy, which prOtectS them in
the enjoyment of their respectiVe properties. But
' the things to be at are w isdotn and n'tode-
ration, nit d!4ly in granting, but also in the toe-.
,shod of raising the necessary Supplies; by con-
triving to do both in such a manner its may be
most conducive to 'the national welfare, and at
the. same tune most consistent with, ecOnomv
and the liberty of the subject, who, when properly
taxed, contributes only, as was before observed,
some part of his property in order to enjoy the
rest,"

Consistent- with thisopinkm, in order to adopt
a System-of Taxation with that moderation and
method.which is so mlsely recommended, I pro-
pose to aholish the Window Duty, or rather to
consolidate the House Tax and Window Duty in
one, as 'a general Building Tax, that is, on all pri-
vate Buildings of ecery description whatcrer, to be
assessed when occupied only, at a per iientage on
the'rents or annual value, the. only criterion by
which they ought to be taxed.
I have already strewn, that the House Tax and
Window Duties amount to thirty, and sometimes
to cent. per cent. on the rent. It appears that-the
rental in England of such houses only as pay tire
Tax and Witolow`.Duty, according to the
last returns, is 8,57-1,6931., and "the amount of
both House Tax and Window Duty paid on Utilc
rental, is 3,074,6.481. noun thence it follows,
that the average amount of Taxes paid on
Houses at present taxed, is nearly .3( per cent.
per annum on the rent;
,which, L11601;11 a general
relief it thus equalized, woold still prove a Tax
on that'description of property .at very much too
high a rate.
But the present House Tax does not aitach. on
"looses at a less rent ChM five pounds per mitium,-
mor,does the Window Duty attach on houses hay--
ing less than six ,wintlows-'; nor on man} (1c6c14-•
ed household and other offices, if let.separately ;
for on many •buildings, uhtreitouse.s, an niann-..
factories ; neither is there any 1-louse Tax on
.farm houses. Besides the deficiency to the re-
venue trout those descriptions of buildings escap-
ing taxation, great, loss occurs to it front much
.evasion throughota the kiugdom. •
I,,thereforc, propose, that the rental of every
:description of building whatever shall, he forth-
with returned to the assesstirs,"either according to
what it is let at, if at a rack rent, or worth to be
let at ; that they may be all assessed at an equal
per centage upon the rent .only in proportion to the
amount, whin the Governmeni oow derives flout
the House Tax and Window Ditties.

This per centage shall be the same in buildings
or whatever size or value, and not in an increased
ratio according as the rent.' is higher, which must
lie very heavy without such scale, for that would
be to-prohihit-the erection of buildings of ;peat
value, and to increase the building of small houses
which already produce a greater propoition
of profit than large houses.
In determining upon the annual value or rent
of a house, when first built or occupied by aft
owner, it has been too much.fhe Lad practice' of
late throughout the kingdom, and London in par-
ticular, to calculate the • interest
_on the purchase
money, at 5,6, 7, or nitre per cent., at thu ca-
price of Ole assessor, overseer, or surveyor, and
add .that to the ground rent, for the rent at which
the house be rated or assessed, a practice
which Adam :Smith, in his Wealth of Nations,
particutarly_condcinns, whO affirms, that the cost
cannot give any data on which such a c'ec6Lan
should be made.

fallacy of it is obvious for several reasons :
—Because the ground-rent may be a pepper-corn,'
or as high as a fourth of the rent, 'Nrhich-I know
to be very frequent. The house may be freehold,
Or Copyhold, or leasehold. It may have a heavy
land tax, or rent charge, or annuity upon it, or
no inCombranee whatever ; or the purchaser might
only have procured a contingent interest in it
from' one year to ninety-nine, or more.. It might
have been either in good or bad repair when sold.
All these circumstances must unavoidably regu-
late or affebt the cost. If taken to hire, the te-
nant may; or May ni)t, be compelled .to repair.
Some persons can • build- at less enense than
others. Probably, froM the state of the.markets;
or the wants of an individual, he may at one tiine
be compelled to sell at a lower price that; at an-
other, .Others,', to gratify their wishes, will give
a larger ‘siitif of money, or a higher rent for it,
than another will give. A .large old, or pew
'house, in one street or place, will not sell or let for
as much as houses of the same size or quality in
-another street or place. Two houses, costing the
same price, or of equal dimensions or qualities,
have unequal results in selling or letting
itt different• situations. It Is, therefore, clear,
that the annual value or rent of a' house cannot
be regulated by the cost.
Although a house should- not be let on
it is not always under• such circainstances attack.
Many °Feiners obtain them at very moder4re an'd
low rentbi, from the favour or affection of the
'owners,' .sprini;ing• frOia relationship or other
causes. Sonic tenants on lease pay a fine to pro-
cure a dithinution of rent.'
•- • ITO 'be -continued.] -

The gallery of pictures at Dulwich College leas
.bceu lately opened' vo• the Students of the 'Royal
Academy.

Inches
.15

Rai

Sept.
30
Oct.

29.70

•
53 60 I4i
51 53 44
Go 51
62 48
59' 62 51
51 -61 145

Fair
00. '
Po.
cloudy

30.0

‘29.9S

At E.xrno‘utb, the-Lail
Jones, of the Royal Navy,
On Wedrcstlay, at Big,
gan, Esq. of a son.
On tlit lst ,October,
Parves of a son:

11,11t'

Ic of a
:of a d
libary-1

at Scu

`l;ai a

Va. I
riao:l7
Pa: •
YAW

;Hs. • , ejtcandel
to flon. Captain
aught-cr.
4ace, the Wife of John •,4°C..
tthttropton, Mrs. ,17_.:2.>

A Gust°lls'
Ivla,,etsfdio)Sirtni.iitall.lni‘viv‘-‘llte-ithioEtiDe Sir F
art t 0 cfa
c„dt
re uer: c 300
j'otit•ke, of
only
hter
e
eiress of toe late • . PtoAr
On tiis chal, Leicestershire, B<
'e'l
Calvert,
to of laic:John Lan&r, Esl Hat'
• On Tuesday last, Oct. 10, R'.
ht. Ltiartl, E"I• ;.)tf e
,p,eldPeccrel,EsscK to Charlotte, .i;1,- (laughter of
. Gam ham, Esq. of' Follhani

DIED.
leccadillir
Yesterday niornin_g, at Cholniondeley House, -: jioll''
Lady Malpas, in the 20511 year of her age. Oa ;:a itior
was seeonu dau4liter of the late General C;atopselli 31 jjel)."
aribeoduttotlv,7.aiscloeTrist
aNluoly_asi\,,,e,l:lsessLs.on of Marquis H°lll'°l
_ • ' . 1)01/1'
RA
003,iit.fliert4iitlhoiyn,sat.gea(ti.C22aliteliiu ryt Lieutenant Cll3ls ...
s6'''
, liio, 4
At Dathfries, on the years.oth of September, 3"nu yra '
F.,:i
. i. iif Glengaber, and of Buff Bav River, ill et.: is'
Jao.aica. - . '

fele
• : by J. 'AILS'. r./ r;o>tior
; and published by W. A. 4CILI over
11, . VICE. No. 11-2, Stta.l,l:must b .11
'eut.);Orders, Letters (post%raid)isce. ,:
ll "