In the 17th & 18th century's A large number of male servants ( in stately homes in the UK ) was an indication of a man’s wealth. Employing males, instead of females, created a greater expense because a tax on male servants was introduced by Lord North in 1777. The tax was to be used for the cost of fighting the Americans and the war with the French. It cost a landowner £7 for each male servant if there were eleven or more in the household. Although it was gradually reduced over the years, the tax continued until 1937.
Compounding the issue of keeping powdered footmen increased by the duty placed on the hair powder. That tax remained in place from 1786 to 1869. Is it any wonder that some landowners forced their servants to use ordinary house flour to save on expenses. A smart footman might use the household flour and then claim the reimbursement for the expense of the duty.
Poll Tax :
A poll tax, also called a per capita tax, or capitation tax, is a tax that levies a set amount per individual. It is an example of the concept of fixed tax. One of the earliest taxes mentioned in the Bible of a half-shekel per annum from each adult Jew (Ex. 30:11–16) was a form of poll tax. Poll taxes are administratively cheap because they are easy to compute and collect and difficult to cheat. Economists have considered poll taxes economically efficient because people are presumed to be in fixed supply and poll taxes therefore do not lead to economic distortions. However, poll taxes are very unpopular because poorer people pay a higher proportion of their income than richer people.[4] In addition, the supply of people is in fact not fixed over time: on average, couples will choose to have fewer children if a poll tax is imposed. The introduction of a poll tax in medieval England was the primary cause of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt. It changed the attitude of the upper class for ever in UK. The citizens had to be "taken care of" in case of revolt.. Scotland was the first to be used to test the new poll tax in 1989 with England and Wales in 1990. The change from a progressive local taxation based on property values to a single-rate form of taxation regardless of ability to pay (the Community Charge, but more popularly referred to as the Poll Tax), led to widespread refusal to pay and to incidents of civil unrest, known colloquially as the 'Poll Tax Riots'. It was one of Mrs Thatchers key policy's .
Stamp Duty :
Stamp duty is a tax that is levied on documents. Historically, this included the majority of legal documents such as cheques, receipts, military commissions, marriage licences and land transactions. A physical stamp (a revenue stamp) had to be attached to or impressed upon the document to denote that stamp duty had been paid before the document was legally effective. More modern versions of the tax no longer require an actual stamp.
The duty is thought to have originated in Spain, being introduced (or re-invented) in the Netherlands in the 1620s,France in 1651, Denmark in 1657, Prussia in 1682 and England in 1694.
In the Republic of Ireland stamp duties are levied on various items including (but not limited to) credit cards, debit cards, ATM cards, cheques, property transfers, and certain court documents. Stamp duty was originally a progressive tax with more expensive the house bought the greater the stamp duty rate. Until the budget of 2008 when the stamp duty tax was set at 1% for properties brought up to the value of €1 million and 3% on the remaining amount with a certain exception for first time buyers.
