The Window Tax / 窗户税

Governments are always trying to raise more money, usually through taxes.

政府总是试图筹集更多资金，通常是通过税收。

One controversial tax introduced in the U.K. was the window tax.

英国引入的一项有争议的税种是窗户税。

This tax was introduced in England in 1696.

这项税于 1696 年在英格兰引入。

It was intended as a form of wealth tax.

它旨在作为财富税的一种形式。

At that time glass windows were very expensive.

当时玻璃窗非常昂贵。

Only rich people could afford to have lots of windows.

只有富人才能买得起很多窗户。

Initially, building with less than ten windows had to pay a fixed fee of two shillings.

最初，窗户少于 10 扇的建筑物必须支付 2 先令的固定费用。

However, buildings with ten or more windows had to pay more tax depending on the number of windows.

但是，拥有 10 个或更多窗户的建筑物必须根据窗户的数量缴纳更多的税款。

The tax worked well in rural areas but caused problems in towns and cities.

税收在农村地区运作良好，但在城镇和城市造成了问题。

In urban areas, many families lived in shared tenement buildings which of course had more than 10 windows.

在城市地区，许多家庭住在共用的唐楼里，当然这些楼有 10 多扇窗户。

This meant that each family in the building had to pay the higher rate of tax, so many windows on large buildings were boarded up.

这意味着大楼里的每个家庭都必须支付更高的税率，因此大型建筑物的许多窗户都被用木板封住。

In addition, new building were now constructed with insufficient windows.

此外，现在建造的新建筑窗户不足。

Another problem was that the interpretation of a window was very vague.

另一个问题是，对窗口的解释非常模糊。

Often any holes in the side of buildings such as air vents were also classified as windows.

通常，建筑物旁边的任何孔洞（例如通风口）也被归类为窗户。

Many buildings now had poor ventilation as a consequence.

因此，许多建筑物现在通风不良。

In 1766, the higher rate of tax was now applied to buildings with seven or more windows.

1766 年，现在对具有7 个或更多窗户的建筑物适用更高的税率。

After this tax change, the number of houses with more than seven windows fell by two-thirds.

在这次税收变化之后，窗户超过 7 扇的房屋数量减少了三分之二。

Doctors frequently complained that the window tax was seriously affecting peoples’ health.

医生经常抱怨窗户税严重影响了人们的健康。

There were many attempts to repeal this deeply unpopular tax law.

有许多尝试试图废除这项非常不受欢迎的税法。

Nevertheless, the tax remained in force until 1851 when a national campaign finally succeeded in repealing the tax.

不过，这项税收一直有效到1851年，当时一场全国性的运动终于成功废除了这项税。