A PROPOSAL For Raising a FUND for Supply of the Deficiency of the CLIPT MONEY, on Houses, Buildings, &c. which is hoped may be found more Equal than by that of the Windows; Humbly offered to the Consideration of the Honourable House of Commons.
| l. | s. | d. | |
| I. THERE being, according to Houghton (Quoted in Chamberlain's Present State of England) 1175951 Houses in this Kingdom, which may no doubt be very well computed (from the Palaces and Seats of the Nobility and Gentrey; The Houses in all Cities and great Towns to the meanest Cotts) to have Five Rooms or Distinct Apartments (such as Shops, Kitchens, Parlours, Withdrawing Rooms, Chambers and Garrets) each one with the other, will Amount to 5879755 Rooms, which at One Shilling each Room for one Year, to be paid by the Inhabiter, Renter or Occupier of the whole House, comes to | 293987 | 15 | 0 |
| Of the foregoing may be Exempted all Receiving Alms, Hospitals, Spittles, Houses Un-tenanted, the Cottages of all who live barely by Husbandry, such as Hedgers, Ditchers, Thrashers, Common Day Labourers, and Common Sailers, or more especially of the latter, those in His Majesties Service, Suppose these Exemptions Amounts to ⅙ part of the whole, the Rebate Amounts to | 48997 | 16 | 8 |
| Remains | 244989 | 18 | 4 |
| II. All Lodgers or Indwellers in particular Rooms in Houses, to pay 1 s. each Room per annum, to be Receiv'd of the said Lodgers at their first Entrance into each respective Lodging, by those who Lett the said Lodging Room or Rooms; and those so Receiving the same, to be Accomptable to the Collectors of this Tax; which supposing of the 8000000 of People computed in England, there be but 400000 Lodgers in all the Cities and great Towns in this Nation at 1 s. each per annum, over and above the Rate payable by the Renter of the whole House for One Year, Amounts to | 20000 | 00 | 0 |
| Travellers on the Road, in Inns or other Victualling-houses, may be here, without prejudice to the above Computation, Exempted, Except such as Reside One Month in the above Houses without a Horse. | |||
| III. All Servants (Receiving Diet and Wages) for their own Lodging Rooms may pay 6 d. each Person per annum, which Computing one Servant to one House one with the other, Deducting the ⅙ part, as by the Exemptions in the first Article, the Number will be 979960 Servants, which at the Rate above, Amounts to in One Year, over and above the Masters Tax, | 24499 | 00 | 0 |
IV.
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35000 | 00 | 0 |
| V. All Cellers and Vaults under Ground, with Warehouses, supposing there are ¼, the Number of Houses is 293987 at 2s. per Annum each for one Year, Amounts to | 29398 | 14 | 0 |
| Of these, all Merchants and Vintners, &c. Large Arched Vaults of Brick or Stone, may pay 1 l. per Annum, over and above the 2 s. or 10 s. Overplus. | |||
| VI. Of the Rooms abovementioned, one Common Dining, or Publick Room of Resort in all Taverns, Inns, Victualling Houses and Coffee Houses of [...] l. per Annum Rent or upwards, and one Publick or Work Room in the Houses of all Handycrafts, such as Weavers, Taylors, Shooemakers, Hatters, Throsters, &c. where Six Persons or more do frequently Work together, and the Rent of [...] l. per Annum, supposing there be but 20000 of all the beforementioned in the whole Kingdom, each Room at 1 l. per Annum, over and above the 1 s. Amounts to for one Year | 20000 | 00 | 0 |
| VII. All Houses or Buildings Erected on purpose, or set apart for the Manufacturing or Working of all English or Foreign Goods or Merchandises, that have been Wrought in for Three Months before the Commencement hereof, such as Glass-houses, Iron-Mills, Lead-Mills, or Blowing-houses for the Smelting of Lead, Tinn or Copper, Copperas, Callamint, Allum and Salt Workhouses, Dye-houses, Brew-houses, Mault-houses, Distilling-houses, (of the Four latter, double in London to others in the Countrey, viz. 5 l. each, in other Cities and Great Towns 2 l. 10 s. each, in the Countrey 1 l. 5 s. each) Sugar-houses, Water-houses, Rope-Yards, Tann-Yards, Coal-Yards, Vinegar Yards, Shipwrights Yards and Docks, Deal or Timber Yards, Fulling-Mills, Powder-Mills, Paper-Mills, and all other Mills that go by Wind or Water, or in actual Use, (except Grist Mills) All Publick Halls of Companies, Colleges and Corporations at 10 l. per Annum each, all Wharfs and Keys, or Places for Publick Shipping and Unloading of Goods and Merchandizes that are of [...] l. per Annum Rent and upwards, supposing of all but 5000 each, one with the other at 5 l. per Annum, is | 25000 | 00 | 0 |
| Total for one Year | 398887 | 12 | 4 |
| Which Sum laid for Four Years, will Amount to | 1595550 | 09 | 4 |
and will, no Question, Answer the Vote of 1200000 l. or if any Doubt should arise on the Sufficiency of the aforementioned Particulars, or any Rated too high, it may be lessened and made up by the following Supplements, viz.
- All Common Bakers Ovens at 5 s. each per Annum.
- All the Rooms in the Inns of Court and Chancery, in the Colleges of Both Universities.
- All Writing Desks or Seats in all the Publick Offices in England, at 1 s. per Annum each.
Which is Hoped may be a more Equal Lay, than by the Windows, by which many would happen to pay double, to some of it may be Six times their Substance.
Now by the foregoing Proposal, as it is most fit that all who are any way able to Pay, should bear a Suitable proportion towards the Redress of so General a Calamity; so on the contrary, it is as necessary, That the Miserable and Indigently Poor should be Exempt, as is hereby Represented. The Consideration of all which, is humbly offered by the Proposer.