The Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers

History of Tax Lectures

It is a traditional function of livery companies to maintain historical records of the livery and to foster interest in the history of their associated trades. The Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers has only a short history since its formation as a guild in 1995 but the imposition of taxes, in many diverse forms, goes back for millennia. Many members of the Company have a longstanding interest in the history of taxation, a rather neglected area for academic research, and in 2008 the Company formed a History of Tax Group. The profession of tax adviser is also a fairly young one and the Group's interests include the development of the profession and the history of tax administration.

The first meeting was held in February 2009 when the late John Jeffrey-Cook gave a talk on “The Remarkable William Pitt and his Taxes”, which formed the basis of an article published in the British Tax Review in 2010. Since then the group has met twice a year in February and October. These meetings are open to all with an interest in the history of taxation and are held in the early evening, and sometimes followed by lively discussion over supper in a nearby restaurant. Attendees at these meetings include a cross-section of company members, together with spouses and guests, students and professors of the history of tax, current and former members of HM Revenue and Customs, and members of the tax judiciary.

Meetings are open to all, Company members and non-members alike, but places must be booked in advance (Booking Form link below). If you would like to attend future meetings of the group please e-mail [email protected] to be included on email circulation.

Forthcoming meetings:

Our next session will be on Tuesday 18 February 2025 with Carrie de Silva. A flyer for further details can be found here: History of Tax 18 February 2025 Flyer

Past Meetings

The material included in this section has been written by the authors from the presentations given by them to members and guests of the History of Tax Group of the Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers and is reproduced for educational purposes with the permission of the authors and where applicable by agreement from the publishers. All rights reserved.

29 October 2024

David Goldberg KC presented on "A History of Tax Avoidance - An Overview from Pre-History to the Present Day."
A report by Caroline Turnball-Hall can be found here: History of Tax: “A history of tax avoidance – an overview from pre-history to the present day”
David Goldberg KC's speaking notes can be found here: A History of Tax Avoidance - DG Talk

27 February 2024
Pat O’Brien presented a centenary perspective on Irish taxation in a talk called “Out of the ruins”:

2023 marks the centenary of the establishment of an independent Irish tax system, with the creation of the Office of the Revenue Commissioners in February 1923. This came about following the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921, which created the independent Irish Free State, and against the background of the subsequent Irish Civil War. During the civil war the anti-treaty side initially sought to wrest control of tax collection from the government and subsequently to destroy the tax administration. Non-payment of taxes, a legacy of the revolutionary period, was also an endemic problem in the early years of the state. Double taxation, an unexpected result of independence and separation from the United Kingdom, quickly manifested itself in a most acute way and eventually led to the conclusion of the UK’s first international double taxation agreement in 1926.

Pat considered how the newly established Irish Revenue met these challenges, as well as the significant role played by the British Treasury and Inland Revenue in establishing an independent Irish tax system. The shared origins of the British and Irish tax systems continue to shape the Irish system down to the present day.

To view our speaker notes - Click Here
Report by Caroline-Turnbull-Hall

17 October 2023
History of Tax- Death Taxes: A Historical Comparison with Professor Martin Daunton
To view the full recording of the talk - Click Here
Report by Caroline Turnbull-Hall

February 2023
RESENTMENT OVER PAYING TAXES
Professor Jane Frecknall-Hughes gave a new light on avoidance examples from history.
Report by Caroline Turnbull-Hall

October 2022
On 18 October Jon Sherman gave the latest virtual History of Tax talk. It was a whistle stop tour of the key developments in stamp taxes over the last 300 years, from the physical stamping of documents, to the modern tax it is today.
To view the full recording of the talk - CLICK HERE
Slides of the talk
Stamp Taxes Timeline
Report by Morag Loader

February 2022
David Collison, mostly widely known as the author of eleven annual editions of Tiley & Collison: UK Tax Guide and with three articles on the history of Capital Gains Tax presented a talk of ''THE BIRTH OF CGT: IT'S 1965 AND A NEW TAX IS BORN Callaghan, Wilson and Kaldor create capital gains tax''
To view the full recording of the talk - CLICK HERE!
To view our speaker notes - CLICK HERE!
Report by Caroline Turnbull-Hall

October 2021
Andrew Loader, former history scholar of Christ’s College, Cambridge and Past Consort of the Worshipful Company of Tax Advisers on PAYING FOR THE RENAISSANCE – THE FLORENTINE CATASTO OF 1427
To watch the full recording of the talk - CLICK HERE!
To view the slide deck used for the talk - CLICK HERE!
To view our speaker notes - CLICK HERE!
Report by Caroline Turnbull-Hall

June 2021
Tony Ring, Past President - Chartered Institute of Taxation, Author on NOT EVEN JEEVES KNEW HOW TO AVOID INCOME TAX | P G Woodhouse and his tax affairs
To watch the full recording of the talk - CLICK HERE!
Report by Caroline Turnbull-Hall

February 2021
Chantal Stebbings, Professor of Law and Legal History at the University of Exeter on Tax in Historic Landscape.
To watch the recording of the talk CLICK HERE
If you wish to view the slides separately - CLICK HERE
Report by Caroline Turnbull-Hall
To view the answers from Professor Chantal Stebbings (via Slido) CLICK HERE

October 2020
Don Korb, former Chief Counsel for the International Revenue Service on History of US Taxes - 10 Key Dates.
To watch the recording of the talk CLICK HERE
Report by Caroline Turnbull-Hall
To view the answers from Don Korb (via Slido) CLICK HERE

June 2020
Professor Penelope Tuck, Dr Dominic de Cogan & Dr John Snape on A Tale of the Merger of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise.
To watch the recording of the talk CLICK HERE

February 2020
Professor Michael Braddick on the Case of Ship-Money (R v Hampden) (1637): Prerogatival Discretion in Emergency Conditions;
and Professor Martin Daunton on Thomas Gibson Bowles v Bank of England (1913): A Modern John Hampden?, both cases from the book "Landmark Cases in Revenue Law"; report by Caroline Turnbull-Hall

October 2019
Peter Allen: "Death Taxes - a UK History"
February 2019
Gottfried Schellmann: "Taxes in the Austrian Hungarian Empire"; report by David Williams
October 2018
Professor Caroline Barron: "Taxation in the medieval City of London (1066 - 1500)"
February 2018
Martin Daunton: "The Politics of Land Taxation in the British Empire" - Click here to view slides
October 2017
Helen Thornley: "The Women’s Tax Resistance League 1909-1918"
November 2020
An updated version of this talk was presented online and can be viewed via the link below:
NO VOTE NO TAX | The Women's Tax Resistance League - 4 November 2020

February 2017
Matthew Peppitt: "Taxing the ultimate luxury – Plate duty: the taxation of the goldsmiths’ and silversmiths’ trade 1719 – 1890"
February 2016
Professor Sir John H Baker: "The Curious Case of Mr Trull"
October 2015
Professor Chantal Stebbings: "Tax and Quacks: the Medicine Stamp Duty 1783 - 1941"
February 2015
Professor Martin Daunton: "Creating a new fiscal constitution in post-war Japan"
October 2014
Peter Fawcett: "Taxation in Classical Athens"
February 2014
Professor Julian Hoppit, FBA: "Scotland and the British Fiscal State, 1707 - 1800"
October 2013
Dr John Avery Jones CBE: "Seven Appeals and an Acquittal: the Singer Family and Their Tax Cases"
To access the presentation materials, please CLICK HERE
March 2013
John Pearce: "Rewriting Income Tax Law 1907-56"
October 2012
David Williams: "Surveying Taxes in the Great War 1914-1918"
February 2012
Prof. Jane Frecknall Hughes: "The History of the Tax Profession"
October 2011
John Pearce: "The Road to PAYE"
February 2011
Prof. Chantal Stebbings: "Victorian Asylums: the Tax Factor”
September 2010
John Brown CBE: “Paul de Voil’s VAT decisions”
September 2010
Prof.David Southern: “Inflation,Taxation & Revaluation:Germany 1920-1930”
February 2010
Prof. Jane Frecknall Hughes: “Magna Carta Revisited”
September 2009
Dr John Avery Jones CBE: “Finding historical tax material in the ‘PRO’”
September 2009
Richard Thomas: “Sir Sidney and Sir John: the Rowlatts and Tax"
February 2009
John Jeffrey-Cook: “The Remarkable William Pitt and his Taxes”