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.)
“People buy their necessities in shops and have to pay dearly for them because they have to assist in paying for what is also on sale there but only rarely finds purchasers: the luxury and amusement goods. So it is that luxury continually imposes a tax on the simple people who have to do without it.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)