John Wesley--Plate Tax--1776.

[dognose]

I came across this interesting snippet in a Georgian almanac:-

Plate Tax
An order was made in the House of Lords in May 1776, "that the commissioners of his majesty's excise do write circular letters to all such persons whom they have reasons to suspect to have plate, and also to those who have not paid regularly the duty on the same" In consequence of this order, the accountant-general for household plate sent to the celebrated John Wesley a copy of the order. John's answer was laconic:-

"Sir,
"I have two silver tea-spoons in London, and two in Bristol. This is all the plate I have at present; and I shall not buy any more while so many round me want bread. I am, Sir,
" Your most humble servant,
"John Wesley"

I wonder if this was some sort of patriotic plea from the Government, rather than a formal law, it certainly does seem to hi-light the fact that the Government was aware that much plate was being sold without the required Duty being paid.

Trev.
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[salmoned]

It sounds as if a property tax is being addressed, rather than the duty paid by manufacturers.
.

[dognose]

Hi Salmoned,

Yes, you could well be right, this was over twenty years before Income Tax was introduced, and I believe there were many experiments into methods of raising revenue.
Plate Duty had been introduced in 1720 and dropped in 1758 in favour of the Plate Licence, before it's re-introduction in 1784, so at this time there was no Duty to be paid at the point of sale, and if this was some attempt to tax the actual ownership of plate, then it is no surprise that it was doomed from the start.

Regards Trev.
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[dognose]

On re-reading my first post, I can see that it is badly worded. Of course, there was no Duty to be paid for at the sale, only by virtue of what overheads the silversmith passed on to the customer, the Duty as such was raised by the charge of the Licence to the silversmith and it was the revenue from this, that would appear to be insufficient to the Government.

Trev.
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[dognose]

Just to update this old post.

In 1756 an Act (31 Geo. II c.32) was passed that imposed an annual tax on any person that shall 'own, use, have or keep' any amount of silver in excess of one hundred ounces, at the rate of five shillings for every additional hundred ounces.

The tax was abolished in 1777 not only because of the difficulties of collection, but also with the fear that should such information fall into the wrong hands it would become a shopping list for a possible robbery of the taxpayer's premises.

Trev.