Window Tax - Daylight Robbery

Daylight Robbery

The term "daylight robbery" is thought to have originated from the window tax as it was described by some as a "tax on light". However, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, the phrase daylight robbery was first recorded in 1949, many years after the "window tax", which places doubt upon the claim. However, the phrase originates from at least 1916, when it was mentioned in Harold Brighouse’s play Hobson's Choice. It should be remembered that the OED records only the first provable written instance of the phrase that its etymologists can find, so the phrase might have been used in everyday speech beforehand, or even in published writing.