Saladin Tithe levied in England

March 27, 1188

Henry II, belatedly taking the cross, imposed a tax of a tenth on the income and movable goods of all his subjects to fund a crusade. It was the first income tax in English history and a template for subsequent royal fund-raising, deeply unpopular from the start. The tithe demonstrated that the English crown's administrative machinery was sophisticated enough to assess and collect a nationwide tax on personal wealth.