Two major problems make the use of Land Tax returns for the study of landholding difficult. First, the need to find an accurate acreage equivalent – a sum of tax representing acres – which can be used for all the land in a parish. Second, the need to be certain that all, or nearly all, landholders were taxed, allowing the influx of particular groups of landholders to be identified and measured.

ACREAGE EQUIVALENTS

A sum of tax paid per acre, or acreage equivalent (AE), is calculated by dividing the total parish tax sum by the number of acres of taxable land in the parish. But the accuracy of the result depends on a satisfactory answer to four questions. First, whether the tax on tithes was included in the pre-commutation returns. Second, whether common land or waste was taxed before and after its enclosure. Third, whether differing values of land in a parish led to different tax assessments and thus to different rates of tax per acre. Fourth, whether the inclusion of unidentified houses and buildings (with their lands) on the returns, and their misidentification as land, undermines the study of changes in smallholdings.

Taxation of tithes

The evidence of Northamptonshire Land Tax returns shows that before enclosure the value of the tithes was taxed, and that after enclosure wherever the tithe was commuted for land it was taxed also. In the returns of the parishes of Raunds, Eye and Abthorpe, the exact sum paid for tithe before enclosure is listed, and distinguished from the other taxes paid by the tithe-owner.