A hearth tax was a property tax in certain countries during the medieval and early modern period, levied on each hearth, thus by metonymy on each family unit. It was calculated based on the number of hearths, or fireplaces, within a municipal area.
Hearth tax was levied in the Byzantine Empire from the 9th century, France and England from the 14th century, and finally in England, Scotland and Ireland in the 17th century.
Read more about Hearth Tax: Hearth Tax Research
Famous quotes containing the words hearth and/or tax:
“Nor does the man sitting by the hearth beneath his roof better escape his fated doom.”
—Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.)
“I have no doubt that it was a principle they fought for, as much as our ancestors, and not to avoid a three-penny tax on their tea; and the results of this battle will be as important and memorable to those whom it concerns as those of the battle of Bunker Hill, at least.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)