The Hearth Tax: Taxing the Fireplace

Before modern income tax, governments struggled to assess how wealthy a citizen was. The Hearth Tax of 1662 was introduced to solve this: assessors would simply count the number of hearths (fireplaces) in a house. More fireplaces meant a larger house, which implied greater wealth.

The tax was fiercely hated because it required tax collectors, known as 'chimney men', to enter private homes to count the hearths. To avoid the tax, some desperate homeowners would brick up or dismantle their fireplaces before the inspector arrived, opting to freeze rather than pay the Crown.