Fifteenth and tenth was a form of parliamentary taxation in medieval and early modern England, most commonly levied from the late 13th century until the 17th century. Originally conceived as a fractional tax on movable property, it later became a fixed-sum tax assessed by locality rather than by individual wealth.
The tax took its name from the fractions originally charged: a tenth on the value of movable goods in boroughs and a fifteenth in rural areas. It emerged in the late 13th century as the Crown increasingly sought parliamentary consent for taxation, particularly to fund warfare.
Early assessments were based on valuations of personal property, including livestock, household goods, and commercial stock. These valuations were often contentious and difficult to administer.
By the early 14th century, repeated reassessments proved impractical. As a result, the fifteenth and tenth evolved into a tax of fixed quotas assigned to each county, borough, and township, based on assessments made in the reign of Edward III.
Thereafter, Parliament granted the tax as a lump sum, with local communities responsible for apportioning the burden internally. It had become sufficiently prone to evasion and avoidance that by Richard II's reign it was being levied as a fixed sum, being negotiated with each town and borough by royal officials. [1]
This change meant that the tax gradually lost its proportional character and became regressive, as fixed sums did not reflect changes in population or wealth over time.
Economic historian Roger Schofield has argued that, by the late Middle Ages "the fifteenth and tenth was universally regarded as the normal form of parliamentary taxation", with the Commons declaring at the parliament of 1475 that
And for asmoch as wee remembre, that the moost easy, redy and prone payment, of any charge to be born within this Reame, by the Commens of the same, is by Graunt of Xvcs and xcs all the Levie whereof amongs your people is so useuell.
Collection was administered locally, usually by constables or specially appointed tax collectors. Communities determined how to divide the charge among inhabitants, often leading to disputes and petitions for relief.
Exemptions were sometimes granted to impoverished areas, and remissions were occasionally issued following famine, plague, or economic decline.
The fifteenth and tenth became one of the most common forms of direct taxation granted by Parliament. Its frequent use reinforced the principle that extraordinary taxation required parliamentary approval, contributing to the constitutional development of Parliament's control over supply.
Because the tax was predictable in yield, it became a standard fiscal tool during the later Middle Ages, particularly during periods of war such as the Hundred Years’ War.
By the 16th century, the fifteenth and tenth was increasingly criticised for its inequity and declining effectiveness. Inflation and economic change further reduced its fairness and real value. It was gradually superseded by subsidies based on assessed income or wealth, though it continued to be granted occasionally into the 17th century.