Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 51.djvu/176

166 poll tax of the United States finds few precedents in history. Under the Byzantine Empire a so-called universal poll tax was substituted in lieu of almost all the tithes, customs, and excises which had before been relied on for revenue; and this substitution and its influence was regarded by Hume as one of the chief causes of the decadence of the Roman state (see page 584, vol. xlviii, March, 1896).

The first so-called poll tax in England was granted in 1377, and from that date down to the time of Queen Anne was an important source of revenue, and, not being uniform, except in its incidence per capita, gave rise to great popular dissatisfaction, both by reason of its amount and inequality, and also by the inquisitorial methods employed for its assessment and collection. At first (1377) the rate was fourpence on every head, male and female, above fourteen years of age. Subsequently, under the reign of Richard II, in order to avoid the unfairness of subjecting all—rich and poor, noble and serf—to such a uniform tax, a more equitable system was introduced, the taxpayers being classified by reference to rank, condition of life, and property, the rate ranging from six pounds thirteen shillings for dukes and archbishops, to two pounds for barons and knights, and three shillings fourpence on those of "least estate." The retention of the former uniform rate of fourpence on all married laborers and upon all single men and women above fourteen years of age, who were presumed to be without estate, was, however, a cause of great dissatisfaction among the masses, and the attempt to collect it undoubtedly constituted the prime cause of the famous "Wat Tyler rebellion" of 1381. In the case of the last poll tax authorized in England under Queen Anne a like attempt at classifying persons was continued; the rate commencing at one shilling per annum on all persons worth more than fifty pounds, and rising to ten pounds for peers of the realm, both spiritual and temporal. One curious provision of this final enactment was, that in all cases Catholics were to pay double the rate imposed on Protestants. Bachelors and widowers without children were also subjected to special rates. Some writer has remarked that such exactions could only have been designed and authorized by a government of misanthropes; for if one with a view of escaping them abandoned single blessedness, he only involved himself in greater difficulties; for there was a tax upon marriages, a tax upon births, and, if the health of the victim broke down under these exactions, a sum varying from three to thirty florins, according to his station, had to be paid before his sorrowing relatives could bury him. These taxes on marriages were enforced in England from 1695 to 1705, and during the first five years of their continuance yielded an average annual revenue of about two hundred and fifty