Brick tax

The brick tax was a property tax introduced in Great Britain in 1784, during the reign of King George III, to help pay for the wars in the American Colonies.

per a business licence) was calculated to generate considerably more revenue than the brick tax.

[1] The brick tax finally passed in 1784 to cover costs of War of American Independence.

[1] The reason bricks were chosen to be the subject of the tax was that there had been a significant growth in popularity of the material in the late 1700s.

[1] To mitigate the effects of the tax, manufacturers began to increase the size of their bricks.

[1] The brick tax was finally abolished in 1850,[2] by which time it was considered to be a detriment to industrial development.