I’m visiting a friend in Gent and noticed that many houses have the upper left window completely sealed off. One street, it was every single house. Does anyone know why this is?
by RevelryByNight
I’m visiting a friend in Gent and noticed that many houses have the upper left window completely sealed off. One street, it was every single house. Does anyone know why this is?
by RevelryByNight
22 comments
Parce qu’il sont taxés sur les fenêtres pour sa quelle est condamnée
To lower their window tax on daylight.
with the vent i assume bathroom?
https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belasting_op_deuren_en_vensters
You’ll see this in old houses cuz at one point people were taxed per percentage of windows were in the facade of the house. So a lot of people removed one or more windows and permanently closed them
Tax on Windows from many years back. So people removed windows to pay less tax.
Same in the UK Btw
taxes
Because people used to be taxed per window. According to [Wikipedia](https://nl.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belasting_op_deuren_en_vensters) this lasted from 1798 until 1919 in Belgium.
The upper left window is often the window in the hallway (if it’s above the front door), so closing that one had less impact than closing a bedroom window.
Window tax!! A new concept for me! Thanks, all!
extra wall to put stuff against on inside.
Probably a closet
Not every house has a basement and every Belgian household is under statutory obligation to hold no less than two girls from the ages of six to 19 captive in a secluded part of the house. Also, heating costs, repurposing the room (like turning the spare bedroom into a storage space) or the fact that bricking up a window hole can be cheaper than replacing a window.
Taxes!!
I think this was tax related back in the day? I think they upped the taxes depending on the amount of windows or something, and some people opted to shut down one/multiple windows to avoid those extra taxes.
Iets met een tax van vroeger te maken, zo ziede da absurde taxen van alle tijden zijn.
https://i.redd.it/pufa2y0j4zpf1.gif
Perhaps an added staircase leading to the second floor?
Het is niet per se voor de ‘window tax’ bij mijn huis is dat gewoon als stijlelement gedaan. Want je ziet aan de stenen langs binnen niet dat het dichtgemetst is, da’s gewoon een muur
Easy way to spot the rich people, who has full window wealth!
Window tax. It got abolished because government realised some people got ill due to poor ventilation and lighting preventing them from going to work. Tax on labour is more profitable for government than tax on windows.
Imagine paying taxes cause you have natural light in your house, back in the days where heating system was a thing. sick society.
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