Hearth tax

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Hearth tax (hearth money, chimney tax, chimney money) was an English tax imposed by Parliament in 1662^[1], to support the Royal Household of King Charles II.

Following the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, Parliament calculated that the Royal Household needed an annual income of £1,200,000 ^[2]. The Hearth Tax was a supplemental tax to make up the shortfall. It was considered easier to establish the number of hearths than the number of heads^[3], people move around but hearths don't. This form of taxation was new to the UK, but had precedents abroad^[4]. It genereated considerable debate, but was supported by Sir William Petty^[5]. The bill received Royal Assent on 19 May 1662^[6], with the first payment due on 29th September 1662, Michaelmas.

One shilling was liable to be paid for every firehearth or stove in all dwellings, houses, edifices or lodgings^[7] and was payable at Michaelmas, 29th September and on Lady Day, 25th March. The tax thus amounted to two shillings per hearth or stove per year.

The Hearth tax was intended to be fair in that it fell more heavily upon those with multiple property and larger/grander property, but there were practical difficulties. The original bill did not distinguish between owners and occupiers and there were no exemptions either^[8]. The bill was subsequently amended so that the tax was paid by the occupying family or household^[9].

Amendments to the original bill introduced a number of exemptions ^[10].

Exemptions from the Hearth Tax^[11].
Not paying Poor or Church Rates
Inhabiting a house, tenament or land worth less than 20 shillings (£1) rent per annum
Assets worth less than £10
Private ovens, furnances, kilns & blowing houses
Hospitals & Almshouses where revenue less than £100 per annum

Revenue generated in the first year was less than expected^[12], so from 1663, names & number hearths were required to be listed even if non-liable^[13], that additional detail has made the 'Hearth tax documents more useful to modern Historians and Researchers.

From 1664 everybody with more than two hearths were liable even if otherwise exempt^[14] and there were clauses which reduced the scope for tax avoidance^[15].

What had started out as a simple idea, perceived to be fair, had become over-complicated and bureaucratic. It was administered by receivers knowns as Chimney Men^[16], aided by sub-collectors and petty constables^[17]. Exemption certificates had to be signed by Minister & Churchwarden or Overseer of the poor and two Justices of the Peace ^[18] and was clearly not targetting the wealthier people with multiple or larger/grander property as originally intended. Wealthy Landowners and Landlords, who could best afford the tax, were exempt as the tax was now being paid by their tenants. The Landowners were often MPs or had links with the Royal Household and were seen as being in a good position to amend the original bill to their advantage.

The Hearth Tax was therefore much resented by those upon whom it fell, typically the middle classes. The tax was also resented because it entailed inspection of every dwelling by the sub-collectors and petty constables, who had legal authority to enter every property and inspect the number of hearths^[19].

Some people stopped up their chimneys so that the tax wasn't due on them, but where this was discovered by the assessors the tax was doubled^[20].

On 31 July 1684 a fire destroyed twenty houses and many other buildings, and killed four people, in Churchill, Oxfordshire; 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.

The tax was repealed by William and Mary in 1689^[21], , at least in part as a bid for popularity after their accession to the throne as a result of the Revolution of 1688.