Programme two - Tax

Powder your wig; pay your taxes

Revenue raised

There's much to interest the modern historian tucked away in tax records.

Past arms

Bethany Hughes travels the country in search of the stories told in the archives of Britain's military.

Burdens reduced

Nobody likes paying tax - but how far would you go to avoid it? Liberia? Monaco? Explore the rules of tax shelters.

A programme summary for Tax, the second programme of the BBC/OU's series Breaking the Seal.

If you think paying taxes is hard, spare a thought for monarchs and Parliaments who have struggled for a thousand years to come up with taxes that people can’t avoid. At first they just taxed wealth; in the fourteenth century they tried a Poll Tax and soon had to drop that. Domestic taxes like windows and hearths proved unpopular and not so hard to avoid.

By the eighteenth century practically everything was taxed – from servants to wigs and pets – and out of this lunacy, eventually, inevitably, parliament approved an income tax.

In this second programme, Bettany Hughes gets her hands on real history as she tours the country for the fascinating tales buried in the tons of public records.