paying for the failure of Empire - 99.25% income tax rate

The income tax was first implemented in Britain by William Pitt the Younger in his budget of December 1798 to pay for weapons and equipment in preparation for the Napoleonic Wars. Pitt's new graduated (progressive) income tax began at a levy of 2d in the pound (0.8333%) on incomes over £60 and increased up to a maximum of 2s (10%) on incomes of over £200. Pitt hoped that the new income tax would raise £10 million, but actual receipts for 1799 totalled just over £6 million.[5]

Income tax was levied under five schedules—income not falling within those schedules was not taxed. The schedules were:

* Schedule A (tax on income from UK land)
* Schedule B (tax on commercial occupation of land)
* Schedule C (tax on income from public securities)
* Schedule D (tax on trading income, income from professions and vocations, interest, overseas income and casual income)
* Schedule E (tax on employment income)

Later a sixth Schedule, Schedule F (tax on UK dividend income) was added.

Pitt's income tax was levied from 1799 to 1802, when it was abolished by Henry Addington during the Peace of Amiens. Addington had taken over as prime minister in 1801, after Pitt's resignation over Catholic Emancipation. The income tax was reintroduced by Addington in 1803 when hostilities recommenced, but it was again abolished in 1816, one year after the Battle of Waterloo. The UK income tax was reintroduced by Sir Robert Peel in the Income Tax Act 1842. Peel, as a Conservative, had opposed income tax in the 1841 general election, but a growing budget deficit required a new source of funds. The new income tax, based on Addington's model, was imposed on incomes above £150.
UK income tax has changed over the years. Originally it taxed a person's income regardless of who was beneficially entitled to that income, but now a person only owes tax on income to which he or she is beneficially entitled. ... The highest rate peaked in the Second World War at 99.25% and remained at about 95% till the late 1970s.

(WIKI)

The government had to tax high because it had to pay for the failure of it's empire. The average citizen did not rebel. It seems that they didn't mind the government stealing 99.25% to 95% plus property tax, inheritance tax.... from the "rich". Theft is theft.

http://libertysdictator.blogspot.com/2008/10/history-of-inco...