On December 31, 1696, King William III levied a new tax on windows for the people of England. It was an elegant solution to a difficult problem: how to levy a proportionate tax on the people without utilizing a direct income tax, something agreed to be objectionable and invasive by the people of the monarchic nation. Essentially, tax assessors would roam the streets counting the windows visible from the street and then present the homeowner with a tax bill. It was simple to enforce and assess, and quickly remedied the need for more funds for the crown.
The reason the government was so hard up for cash had to do with the money itself. By the 1690’s, coin clipping, the process of removing little bits of the precious metals that comprised coins, had become a major issue. Neerdowells would trim coins little by little until the coins were no longer actually worth their face value, selling their excess pieces for pure profit. While it was relatively simple to do, the government aggressively discouraged the practice by making the penalties fall under the gruesome punishments of high treason. In 1690, a husband and wife team were drawn and quartered and burned at the stake respectively for clipping coins. Still, it was a big enough problem for the crown that a tax needed to be enacted to recover the value of the lost metals.
The window tax worked, but had subtle pernicious effects on the people and architecture of England. The immediate response by many was to sacrifice their air and light and brick up their windows to lower their tax bracket. As new homes and buildings were constructed, designers would keep the window tax in mind and limit the number of windows, often depriving rooms and residents of the life-giving light and air they needed. The tax remained in place, and was even increased, for over 150 years, and had a definite window-reducing effect on the architecture of that age. It was finally replaced with a general occupation tax, which allowed the people of England to enjoy as much fresh air as they wanted without paying the price.