Records relating to Bath City Council's responsibilities for the collection of excise licence duties (including vehicle licences)
Reference Number
BC/3/6/7
Level of Description
Series
Title
Records relating to Bath City Council's responsibilities for the collection of excise licence duties (including vehicle licences)
Date
1908-1916
Description
From 1910, Bath City Council was responsible for the administration of a number of 'local taxation licences' for matters such as ownership of dogs, the right to kill or deal in game, and the right to armorial bearings. These licences, introduced at various dates from the seventeenth century in order to raise revenue for central government, were originally administered by Quarter Sessions, and later by the Inland Revenue. The 1888 Local Government Act transferred the proceeds of the licences to County and County Borough Councils, but they continued to be administered by the Inland Revenue until 1910. At this date, under the provision of the Finance Act 1908, the responsibility for collection of the taxes was transferred to the Councils. Licences for the ownership of motor cars, introduced by the 1903 Motor Car Act, were also collected as part of the same 'local taxation licences' system.
Administration of the licensing system seems to have been complex. Licences could be bought at local post offices, but reminders were sent out annually by the Council, and visits were made if new licences were not bought. Newcomers to Bath also seem to have been visited to check whether they needed any licences.
There were six classes of licences: 1. Gun licences 2. Game licences (the right to kill game) 3. Armorial bearings, dog, carriage (horse or mule), hackney carriage (horse or motor), male servants 4. Motor cars not being hackney carriages 5. Hackney carriage licences and carriage plates (possibly only new issues) 6. Game dealers
There are three main series of registers, with partially overlapping information, and in addition several individual items.
The registers cover the period 1908 to 1916. Unfortunately, no registers have survived after this date.
