Hearth Tax UK

About Hearth Tax UK

The hearth tax, or chimney money, was introduced in England in 1662 by Charles II. The tax charged 2 shillings per hearth or fireplace per year. The tax was deeply unpopular. It required tax collectors to enter homes and count fireplaces, seen as an invasion of privacy. The hearth tax was also economically damaging, as people avoided building additional hearths, leading to overcrowded and unhealthy housing. The tax was abolished in 1689 after the Glorious Revolution, one of the first acts of the new constitutional monarchy. The hearth tax records are valuable for historians, as they provide a census of households and their relative wealth. Similar hearth taxes existed in France and other European countries.