Punch cartoon showing Queen Victoria and Prince Albert paying income tax, 1842 Income tax on incomes over £150 was re-introduced in 1842 by Prime Minister Robert Peel as the only means of balancing the Exchequer's books. It was portrayed as a temporary measure and even today is still technically a temporary" tax which expires each year on April 5th so that Parliament has to reapply it with an annual Finance Act. As the Punch cartoon illustrates, so universal was its application that even Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had to pay it.
