Tract relating to income tax

Manuscript volume containing an anonymous tract relating to the income tax proposed by William Pitt the younger, Prime Minister, 13 Dec 1798, entitled 'An humble attempt at removing one serious objection to Mr Pitt's new (intended) tax upon income', with particular reference to Bristol (where the manuscript is dated). The author counters the objection of many business men to disclosing their financial situation to commissioners, by suggesting that it should be optional for any person to elect to disclose his affairs to a Court composed of members not belonging to his district.

Great Britain was the first country to impose a general income tax (1799) to finance the Napoleonic Wars. It was alternately repealed and reimposed until the 1880s, by which time it was generally accepted as a permanent levy.

Single item.

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Part of the Goldsmith's Library of Economic Literature, initially collected by Herbert Somerton Foxwell and presented by the Goldsmith's Company to the University of London in 1903.

Collection level description.

Manuscript folio. Bound in half-morocco.

Compiled by Sarah Smith as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

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