The Annuity Tax in Edinburgh was a local compulsory tax levied on householders to pay the stipends (salaries) of the ministers of the Church of Scotland. It had nothing to do with private annuities or pensions — it was effectively a church rate imposed on the whole city, including people who did not belong to the Established Church.

1. Timeline of the Edinburgh Annuity Tax up to its abolition

17th century origins

• 1650s: Edinburgh struggles to pay its ministers; the Town Council begins raising money on house rents to meet overdue stipends.sniggle.net+1
• Over the later 17th century this practice hardens into a regular local levy on property occupiers to fund the city clergy.

18th–early 19th century – formalisation

• By the 18th century the “annuity tax” is well established as a compulsory tax on house rents within the Royalty of Edinburgh, used specifically for burgh church ministers’ stipends.Cambridge University Press & Assessment+1
• The rate commonly cited for the later period is about 6% of the annual rent on houses within the city.euppublishing.com
• 1809: Parliamentary sanction is given to the tax in a local Act, regularising something that had previously been of doubtful legality.sniggle.net

Mid-19th century – growing resistance

• Through the early–mid 1800s, the tax becomes increasingly unpopular, particularly among:
  • Non-Established-Church residents and dissenters
  • Middle- and working-class occupiers resenting a compulsory church rate
• There is a long series of agitations, pamphlets, and test cases against the tax from at least the 1830s onward; some people simply refuse to pay and have their goods poinded (or themselves imprisoned).

The 1850s – crisis point

• By the 1850s, public agitation in Edinburgh is intense. A large portion of the tax is in practice uncollectable because of organised resistance.Hansard+1
• 1859: Things come to a head:
  • Non-payment cases lead to imprisonment of resisters, causing a political storm and street demonstrations in Edinburgh.archive.spectator.co.uk+1
  • The issue is raised in the House of Commons (e.g. Mr Hadfield’s question on 9 Aug 1859 about “compelling payment of the Annuity Tax by imprisonment”).Parliament API

1860 – abolition

• Parliament passes the Annuity Tax Abolition Act 1860 (23 & 24 Vict. c. 50) – formally titled An Act to abolish the Annuity Tax in Edinburgh and Montrose, and to make Provision in regard to the Stipends of the Ministers in that City and Burgh, and also to make Provision for the Patronage of the Church of North Leith.Wikipedia+1
• The Act:
  • Abolishes the old annuity tax in Edinburgh and Montrose.
  • Creates new arrangements for ministers’ stipends funded through seat-rents, endowments and civic arrangements, rather than a direct annuity rate.
  • Establishes the Edinburgh Ecclesiastical Commissioners to manage church finance thereafter.reshare.ukdataservice.ac.uk+1

Aftermath

• A later Act in 1870 (33 & 34 Vict. c. 87) tidies up and extends the 1860 arrangements, including abolition of the separate annuity tax in the Canongate and further provision for ministers’ payment and patronage.Legislation.gov.uk+1