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Untitled Article
Hall , and the Duke of Marlborough for Blenheim ; twice as much as the Marquis Cholrnondeley for Cholrnondeley Castle , Earl Hardwicke for Wimpole Hall , Mr . Coke for Holkham Hall , the Duke of Rutland for Belvoir Castle , and the Duke of Northumberland for Alnwick Castle ; more than three times as much as
Earl Grey for Howick House , and four times as much as the Duke of Cleveland for Raby Castle , and the Earl of Scarborough for Lumley Castle . * And these are the poor , distressed creatures -whose burden hurts the sympathies of the Edinburgh reviewer . He would have them pay no higher rate of duty than the tenpound cottager . * Whatever the rate of house or window duty
may be , it ought to be uniform on all houses subject to its operation , whether they be worth 10 / . or 1000 ? ., or have 8 or 800 windows . ** What an amiable equalizer and philanthropic leveller ! The window tax is objectionable on account of the unsightliness and discomfort with which it has so extensively affected the habitations of our countrymen . Its imposition was a penal law against liofht and air , and architectural comeliness . It introduced the
blind style of building . The future antiquarian will be certain of the houses built in the Pitt era by their construction . But this is poor comfort to their darkened and half-stifled occupants . There is a political objection to these taxes , which , perhaps , like other of our objections , is to the reviewer a recommendation . They have the effect of disfranchising from one fourth to one
third of the poorer householders . They still keep the way partly open for a species of bribery which has long been practised , and by which alone , we believe , some very important elections have been decided . They prolong an irritating sense of partiality and oppression , from one election to another . They throw electioneering influence into the hands of the tax-collectors .
They add to the insolence of that already insolent and unwelcome class of visitants , making them feel , as registration time approaches , that the old course of procedure is reversed , and the payer must seek the receiver , on penalty of disfranchisement . Never was a great measure more debased by a paltry adjunct than when the Reform Bill was made a taxation screw . Were it
only for the enfranchisement of the tens of thousands who are unable to make up their accounts in time , and who are not one jot less independent , or mentally qualified , than a large proportion of their superiors in station , we should say , Off with the house
and window tax . Recognise the rights which that iniquitous clause has held in abeyance . Our strongest reason , however , for desiring the repeal , is the immense benefit which the industry of the country would derive from the remodelling of our whole system of taxation , simplifying * Vide Mr . R . M . Martin ' s work on Taxation , for these and many similar enormities .
Untitled Article
Itouse and Window Tax . 581
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Aug. 2, 1833, page 581, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2620/page/69/
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