One of the first art works Reeves removed when she entered office was a famous satirical print attacking a smorgasbord of tax increases. The warnings were there…
In the weeks after the election on 24 July last year the Treasury removed James Gillray’s 1806 coloured etching “The Friend of the People” & his Petty-New-Tax-Gatherer, paying John Bull a visit, which has been widely displayed across leading art galleries and museums around the world. The Art Collection describes it:
“This satirical print explores, in an allegorical manner, the theme of the suffering of the British people represented by John Bull under the heavy taxation and debt imposed by the British Government during the war against Napoleon. Bull first appeared as a literary character in John Arbuthnot’s five pamphlets published in 1712, which were collected and reprinted later as The History of John Bull. He also appears in satirical prints in an allegorical form, as a national character. He is often involved in arguments about the relationship between consumption and taxation and is depicted as an overweight man with rosy cheeks, wearing a blue overcoat and a red shirt.”
In the piece the tax collector, hauling a loaded cart, raps at the door as Bull – with his family – shouts from a first floor window:
“Taxes? Taxes? Taxes? Why how am I to get Money to pay them all? I shall very soon have neither a House nor Hole to put my head in!”
The collector responds:
“a house to put your head in? why what the Devil should you want with a House? Haven’t you got a first-floor room to live in? & if that is too dear, can’t you move into the Garret or get into the cellar? Taxes must be had, Johnny! come down with your cash – it’s all for the good of your dear country!”
His tax book details “New Taxes” including a property tax, small beer tax, servant maid tax, new malt tax, soap, candles, new window tax, new stamp tax, hats, salt, tobacco, shoes, shirts, and stockings. God knows why Rachel had that one removed…
According to data obtained by Guido from the Government Art Collection Reeves in October 2024 – before the Budget – installed the 2o23 ink and pencil crayon on board piece Many of the TV Screens Everywhere; The Muppets; Sesame Street by Leslie Thomson. It’s a choice…
In May this year HMT installed John Morgan’s The Income Tax – Day of Appeal, which portrays a gathering of the public against an increase in income tax. Steeling herself for what was to come…
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