100 years ago in COUNTRY LIFE

October 13, 1917

BACHELORS are to be taxed next year. That is the real meaning of the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s announcement that he proposes to make a ‘wife allowance’ of £25. It is often urged that a tax on bachelors is unfair because there are men who remain unmarried because they have elderly parents and young brothers and sisters dependent on them. There is a certain force in the objection, but their numbers are small. A bachelor is not necessarily selfish, but he undoubtedly has more opportunity for selfishness than the married man, and it is eminently fair that he should bear a larger part of the financial burden.