Rates (tax)
In England they were started as part of the Poor Law.  They were agreed in the Act for the Relief of the Poor 1601.  They were first used to pay for workhouses and later for building roads. They paid for local government.   Buildings were given a rateable value based on the rent it could fetch. This meant that people with more valuable buildings paid more.  The  rateable value was to be calculated again every 5 years, but this was unpopular and often didnt happen. In 1990 Margaret Thatcher tried to replace it with the  poll tax. This only lasted 3 years and then there was Council Tax.