The window tax was a property tax based on the number of windows in a house. It was a significant social, cultural, and architectural force in England, France and Scotland during the 18th and 19th centuries. To avoid the tax some houses from the period can be seen to have bricked-up window-spaces (ready to be glazed at a later date), as a result of the tax. It was introduced in 1696 and was repealed in 1851, 156 years after first being introduced. Spain and France both had window taxes as well for similar reasons.
Read more about Window Tax: Details, Daylight Robbery
Famous quotes containing the words window and/or tax:
“The mind too closes as it were. As the window might close of a dark empty room.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
“To tax and to please, no more than to love and to be wise, is not given to men.”
—Edmund Burke (1729–1797)