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Pitt also introduced new taxes to raise the annual income of the country. The Window Tax was a tax based on the amount of windows a house has, in essence the richer you were the bigger the house you are likely to own, the bigger the house the more windows you are likely to have and thus you paid more tax. This tax was aimed mainly at the rich, the rich had the resources to pay the tax and thus it was less likely that they would rebel against it. The emergence of the middle-class aided the success of this tax greatly, as more middle-class people were building/ purchasing more properties the amount of income that the government received from the tax also greatly increased. .
One of Pitts' targets for financial reform was to destroy the threat of smugglers. Smugglers were a great annoyance to the government, so much so that it is estimated that in the early 1780s one-fifth of all imports were smuggled in. It is also estimated that between 3 and 4.5 tons of tea alone found there way into the country each year by the hands of the smugglers. This smuggling problem caused a huge loss in potential profit for the British government, as no tax could be collected from the smuggled goods. Pitt did a number of things to tackle the situation; one such move was to extend the right to be able to search suspect cargo. But probably Pitts' main and most important change was to strike the smugglers at there source, the prices themselves of these goods. Pitt embarked on a massive reduction of duties. For example he reduced the duty on tea from 119 per cent to 25 per cent via his commutation act in 1784. This reduction in tax made the smugglers prices seem not worth the hassle as now you could buy tea cheaply with out the risk. The commutation act did more than just reduce the price of tea; it also reduced the price of wines, spirits, tobacco and other goods as well as tightening up on revenue agencies, thus increasing the amount of trade that the government actually carried out.