taxation

taxation. In early Christian Ireland all land not specifically exempted was subject to cís, congbáil ocus slógad (royal tribute, lodging of royal and ecclesiastical retinues, and military service). By the early 12th century lodging duty had extended from periodic visitations or ‘guesting’ (coinnmheadh) to the regular billeting (buannacht) of royal mercenaries. The Anglo‐Irish marcher lords were subsequently to adopt the system as suited to a subsistence economy. Like the chieftains, their exactions included ‘bonaght’ (buannacht), ‘coyne (coinnmheadh) and livery’, ‘chiefry’ or tighearnus (tribute from lands acknowledging the ruler's lordship), ‘coshering’ (a feast for the lord's household and followers), and ‘canes’ (from cáin), fines for law‐breakers. Expenses incurred by the lord through travelling, lawsuits, or fines were levied from his subjects by assessment. In the 16th century this led to regular tallaging (literally translated as ‘cutting’ or gearradh), notoriously without the consent of the taxpayers.

Taxation in Anglo‐Norman Ireland was initially based on the liability of all feudal tenants to contribute financially to meet the needs of their overlord, the king. In the late 13th century, the concept grew of a common necessity being dealt with by taxation granted with the free consent of the representatives of those being taxed. Grants of subsidy made in a parliament or great council became the normal form of taxation, usually based on land and moveable goods, with the clergy contributing a separate tax based on the value of their benefices. The money received from a subsidy was applied to the costs of the Dublin administration in dealing with unrest in various parts of Ireland, though on several occasions, ending in 1335, money was raised in Ireland for the Anglo‐Scottish wars. From the mid‐14th century onwards, taxes were frequently granted by local assemblies for the cost of local defence.

Taxation in early modern Ireland, growing out of these medieval foundations, comprised those taxes granted to the king by parliament at the outset of his reign, including customs and excise duties, along with more irregular subsidies granted by parliament as required. During the 1650s the high cost of the army in Ireland demanded more regular taxation and a monthly assessment was introduced. After 1660 this trend towards more regular taxation continued with the introduction in the parliament of 1661–6 of a continuing hearth tax and the perpetual grant to the crown of customs and excise. Up to the end of the 1680s these grants were sufficient to meet the expenses of government, and even to yield a surplus. From the 1690s, however, it became necessary to rely on the Irish parliament to pass regular money bills authorizing borrowing and permitting the levying of additional taxes. Ad hoc levies such as the poll tax were imposed in 1660 and again in the 1690s, but as emergency measures which were quickly abandoned. There were also a variety of local taxes such as the parish cess, levied by the parish vestry, and the county cess, levied by the grand jury for bridge building and after 1760 for road building.

By the end of the 18th century Ireland was paying £3.5 million annually into the exchequer, primarily in customs and excise duties. During the 19th century total annual revenue from taxes rose from just over £4 million in 1829 to almost £7 million in 1879–80. The burden of local taxation also increased. Annual receipts from county cess and poor law rates exceeded £2 million by the 1880s. Moves to equalize taxation in Britain and Ireland, beginning with the introduction of income tax in 1853, provoked allegations that overtaxation was stifling the Irish economy. Although a government inquiry in the 1890s concluded that Ireland had been paying more than her national income warranted, historians have judged the case for overtaxation not proven.

KS,/PhC,/RG,/ and Katharine Simms