Window tax is actually a creative attempt to levy housing tax. Before collecting the window tax, the British government tried to collect the fireplace tax. The basic principle for tax authorities to choose the number of fireplaces in a building as the tax basis is that the number of fireplaces is generally proportional to the living area. However, fireplaces are difficult to observe and easily hidden from the appearance of buildings, which makes it difficult for tax officials to accurately count the real number of fireplaces in houses. So the British government put forward the method of replacing the number of fireplaces with the number of windows as tax basis. Its basic principle is the same as fireplace tax, that is, the number of windows in a house should also be proportional to the overall area of the house, and compared with fireplace, windows are easier for tax collectors to observe from the outside.

However, after the implementation of window taxation, it still caused some confusion to the tax order. On the one hand, in order to avoid taxes, taxpayers choose to block residential windows or not open them at all. Results There was no ventilation and lighting indoors, which caused a great public epidemic prevention problem. On the other hand, for non-residential warehouses, commercial real estate, etc. Window tax can not be effectively distinguished, which also causes great trouble to operators.