The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-10-26
SOME OF THE QUEER
TAXATION SCHEMES
ENGLAND HAS SEEN

Cnancellors in former times were at
thelr wits ends TO raise revenue. and
many We're the curious taxes they I'M
posed
Pitt. during the great war with
france tried every tax imaginable
says the London Daily Mail.
hats We're taxed once and had To
Dear a revenue stamp: so were gloves,
Illittens, almanaes. perfumes, tooth
powder and all sorts of toilet aru-
cies, glass, stone bottles and bricks.
Pltt put tax on hair powder. For
a hundred years the wig, introduced
from France. was very fashionable
but about tie middle of the eiShteen'h
century il began to fall into disuse.
ana hair powder took its place.
Men tied their natural hair in Il
queue and covered it with powder. TO
appear at any social function with UNI
Tense
Taking advantage of the fashion. Pitt
put on the guinea pig" tax as it was
called, charged on q householder In
respect OF every person in his house
who used hair powder
But them were many exemptions; in
ADDITION TO the royal family and their
servants, clergymen not possessing
hundred year. subalterns and pri-
- NAAt army anu OlAANCAH III liz
navy under the rank of commander
We're exempted.
And to relieve the man with large
FAMILY father with more than Two
unmarried daughters could get III
cense for any number by paying
guineas.
Pitt expected revenue of more than
100000. But the Wings, headed by
the Duke of Bedford. decided to balk
the chanCR1lnr hz-a Y,danino the
of hair powder.
In September of 1895 some of the
WING LEADERSHIP Duke of Bedford.
the Marquis of Anglesea, the Earl of
Jersey. Lord William Russell and 9th
ers-met in solemn conclave at Woburn
Abbey and there sorrowfully cut off
their queues
Curled and oiled whiskers took the
vacant place. but 1t was not until 1869
that Mr.. Lowe repealed the hair pow
der tax as not being worth the cost of
collection
War with France was the cause of
the tax on dogs In 1896 the impost
commenced. but it was limited to per-
sons keeping sporting dogs or a num-
Der of dogs.
For long time-1S4O-53-d own
ers paid a very heavy toll. For all
transporting dogs the tax was IS Sd.
hounds 81 Is.
But in 1858 Mr.. Gladstone changed
the tax to lbs for any kind of dog.
Even this was too high. Not one-fourth
of the owners paid. and so great be
came the number of dogs on the public
roads that something like a panic arose
throughout the country.
In London the parks were infested
by stray dogs. and it was common
iul1f 70 foil
riders in the Row barking at the
So TO prevent evasion the tax was |
reduced to IS, and afterwards raised
to the figure at which it now stands.
Probably the worst taxes ever i'm |
posed were those on paper, newspa-
pers and advertisements-the tax ON
knowledge. as it has been called.
How much these taxes retarded the |
progress of the country. there is no
calculating. The paper duty. William |
HIS invention, commenced in 1894 and |
lasted down to 1S6l-over a century and |
a half
1t was at one time eos a ton. and |
when Charles Knight published the /
Penny Cyclopedia" GSSO he had to |
pay 100000 duty on the paper
Only 1900 tons of paper were used |
in 1903. and only $4,000 tons in 1881
Then in 1711 Queen Anne put a duty /
on newspapers. a penny per sheet,
raised to I'd by George III, and not /
abolished until 1855
To make matters worse. an adver- |
tisement duty was imposed in 1712, also |
by Queene Anne. This amounted TO the /
prohibitive sum of IS Sd for each adver-
tisement.
For four years shopkeepers were /
taxed by Pitt QIS5-S9). 1t was not |
much. only sixpence in the pound up TO /
e10 rent and 2 shillings in the pound |
when the rent exceeded S25.
But a great cutlery arose. Pitt said /
the shopkeeper could pass the tax on to /
the customer; the shOpkeeper said he |
could not, and i'm the end the shOpkeep-
er was victorious.
A curious thing happened when the |