Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1914-10-13
QUEER OLD TAXES
Boards, Windows and Hats Had
to Pay Tribute.
Needy Kings in Ancient Times Were
Very Unorthodox In Their Meth
DDS Of Raising Money-solic-
tied Like Beeears.

In early times 1t was common fol
needy kings to raise money by very
unorthodox methods in England. Ed
ward | was accustomed to help him
self to anything of value, and Edward
iii had a disturbing habit of imposing
taxes without the consent of parlia
ment.
Edward w solicited money like a
common, or rather a sturdy, beggar.
Richard II imposed poll tax which
affected both males and females from
sixteen years upward. An earl had to
pay four pounds, as also had the may
or Of London, while married man had
to pay fourpence for himself and his
wife and a single woman had to pay
just as much. No wonder, remarks
the New York Press, this tax led to
Wat Tyler's rebellion.
Charles was a keen man for money
and he set parliament at defiance. One
of his most remarkable proclamations
ordered the nobility and gentry to re-
tire to their country seats and cease
idling their time in London, under pen
atty of heavy fine.
We grumble nowadays at the taxes
imposed by the various budgets, but
we are freed Of the freak taxes that
burdened our forefathers.
Boards were taxed at one time and
Henry VIII, who wore one himself free
of charge, graded the tax according to
81. g h. Tho orah.
bishop of Canterbury had to pay three
shillings fourpence for his face fun
US, and this was the amount fixed by
Elizabeth on every beard of over
fortnights growth.
The most odious tax ever intro
duced was that of the birth tax, which
came into operation in 1895. This tax
ranged from $50 on the birth OF a
child to a duke to two shillings for a
workingmans child. Taxes were also
imposed on burials and marriages.
William Pitt the younger, who was
the most juvenile premier and chancel-
Tor of the eXcheQuer Britain ever had,
came into Office at the age of twenty
four, and as he found the public
finances in a desperate state, he insti'
tuted some weird taxes. He placed a
tax on windows and a tax on horses.
In defiance of the latter tax and by
way of drawing ridicule upon it, man
named Jonathan Thatcher rode his
COW to and from the Stockport mar
ket.
So recently as 1869 there was a tax
in England on hair powder, which was
first instituted in 1895. 1t cost a guinea
a year for a license to display pow
dered hair, though a striving parent
with more than two unmarried daugh-
ters could obtain q double license for
.wo guineas, which allowed all the
girls Of the family to powder their
polls.
This tax was not so stupid as the |
hat tax, which was introduced in the |
reign of George III, when money was
badly required to fight the French. For |
a year there was a tax on watches and
clocks, and women will be interested |
to learn that from 1896 to 1906 there
was a tax on bachelors.
Every unwedded man over twenty |
five had to pay into the treasury a
shilling a year. though in the case OF
gentleman this amount was in
creased to five shillings, and in the
case of a duke e12:l0.
This tax brought in about one thou
sand pounds a week and induced many |
men to venture into matrimony.