Have you ever wondered why 18th-Century homes in England lack windows? Or why some homes are made with super-sized bricks? Maybe you’ve pondered what brought about the demise of the powdered wig. What’s the answer to all these conundrums? It’s taxation policy.
Throughout history, taxes have altered styles. Sometimes the style changes are inadvertent. At other times, taxes were used to prompt social change.
In 1712, England taxed printed wallpaper. Builders avoided this tax by hanging plain wallpaper and painting patterns onto the paper.
That same century, England taxed bricks. Builders circumvented that tax by using bigger — and fewer — bricks. It didn’t take long for the government to catch on to that scheme. Soon, larger bricks incurred larger taxes. The British brick tax was repealed in 1850.
In 1660, England taxed fireplaces. To avoid this tax, people covered their fireplaces with bricks. That tax was repealed in 1689, only to be replaced a few years later with a window tax.
The window tax, implemented in 1696, taxed houses based on the number of windows in a residence. In order to avoid this tax, houses were built with very few windows, leading to health problems. Despite the unintended consequences, the tax lasted for 155 years, and was finally repealed in 1851.
As if that wasn’t enough, Great Britain placed a 300-percent tax on glass in 1746. Many residents opposed these taxes and called the burden a tax on “air and light.”
Taxation policies also ushered in the 1705 beard tax, implemented by Russian Emperor Peter the Great. He wanted the men of his country to get with the times by sporting the clean-shaven look favored by many Europeans.
Peter the Great wasn’t the first royal ruler to impose a beard tax. In 1535, King Henry VIII of England taxed beards, even though he wasn’t clean shaved. His daughter, Elizabeth I of England, must have favored the clean-shaven look as she reintroduced the beard tax aimed at those men sporting beards with more than two weeks of growth.
In 1784, England decided to tax hats. It was purely intended to tax the wealthy, since the wealthy donned more hats than the poor. Tax cheats were subject to the death penalty! To avoid paying the tax, hat makers began calling hats by a different name.
Then, in 1795, England levied a tax on wig powder, which stay on the law books for 74 years, until 1869. In 1812, 47,000 people were subject to this tax. By the time the tax was repealed, only about 1,000 people were still paying the tax on the powder. Historians believe the tax helped lead to the demise of fashionable wigs.
While these taxes may seem bizarre and unreasonable, a tax that can lead to the end of men’s wig fashions may not be so bad, after all!