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20 May 2008
From John Jeffrey-Cook
While welcoming the draft corporation tax bill, I was surprised that in Brief 12/2008, HMRC state that 'the charging of income under schedules and cases goes back to William Pitt's Act of 1799'.
Not so!
It was Henry Addington's Act of 1803 that brought in schedules and cases, together with deduction at source.
Addington's Act was so successful that in 1803-04, with a 5% rate, it yielded £5.3 million. This was almost as much as Pitt's Act had yielded in 1801-02: £5.6 million with a 10% rate.
Lord Henry Petty increased the rate to 10% in 1806-07 and by 1815-16 it yielded £15.6 million.
