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Single person record details
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Person code |
NA20930 |
Corporate name |
Taxation Accounts and Records E59-E70 |
Activity |
Until the seventeenth century taxation was regarded as an extraordinary source of revenue, only to be levied for specific purposes, such as payment for the king's ransom (David II and James I), his marriage and the marriage of his son or daughter, sending embassies or defence of the realm. Surviving accounts of fourteenth and fifteenth century taxations are to be found in the exchequer rolls. By the sixteenth century taxation normally fell within the Treasurer's share of the revenue, but there are no actual accounts prior to James VI's reign. In a few cases a tax fell solely on one estate, (There is an account of a tax on the clergy 1532 (E21/27), printed Treasurers' Accounts vi, 143-6) but normally taxation was divided between them in a fixed proportion. Up to the sixteenth century barons (and freeholders) and the church each paid two-fifths to the burghs' one-fifth. Then the church's share was increased to one-half, with the others paying one-third and one-sixth respectively. The burghs' share was apportioned by the Convention Of Royal Burghs; the church's was divided among benefice holders according to an assessment known as Bagimond's Roll, the original basis of which was the valuation for papal taxation in 1274-75. Barons and freeholders paid according to an ancient customary valuation called the 'old extent'. By the sixteenth century both Bagimond's Roll and the old extent were divorced from the true value of lands, but they continued to be used with some modifications, for instance allowing superiors and benefice holders to apportion a share of their tax among their vassals and feuars. By the 1570s feuars of crown lands normally paid at the same rate as barons and freeholders. (See J Goodare, Parliamentary- Taxation, 23-52) By the early seventeenth century some ecclesiastical benefices had been turned into secular lordships, making the old division between clerical and lay taxation anomalous. From 1621 to 1633 an attempt was made to broaden the tax-base by levying 'extraordinary' taxation on loan interest and other payments of 'annualrent' (E61). Ordinary taxation continued to be levied on the old basis, until the exigencies of war and occupation led to its replacement by a more effective system. The old taxation system was to be used once more in 1665 before being finally superseded. After 1639 the Covenanters had to find new and more efficient ways of financing their army and other activities. One was to tax landowners according to the assessed rental of their lands, without any distinction between revenue which had or had not belonged to the church. Because this revenue was collected and disbursed under the direction of the committee of estate no trace of it appears in the exchequer records. The same applies to taxation imposed on the same basis during the English occupation of 1652-60. From 1667 onwards supply (also called cess) was collected according to the rent set out in the valuation rolls for each sheriffdom (see El 06). This was broadly similar to the English land tax, with which it was assimilated after 1707. During the 1690s the tax base was further widened by the imposition of hearth and poll taxes to meet costs arising from domestic and foreign wars, both with limited success. |
Dates |
c1300-c1707 |
Jurisdiction |
Exchequer |
Associated records |
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E | Records of the Scottish Exchequer, Treasury and Exchequer Court | 1287-1981 |
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