The heavy taxation of the Georgian era was a common theme in Thomas Rowlandson’s work. The present composition of a round, officious tax official demanding money from a poor old woman was one that Rowlandson returned to on a number of occasions. This theme appeared as a print in 1799 published by Rudolph Ackermann as the ‘Tax Gatherer’, and in 1805, in the print ‘Quarterly Dunns, or Clamorous Tax Gatherers’, published by Samuel Howitt. The inscription ‘Rag Bag Buildings’ inscribed on the work refers to the run down dwellings occupied by the poor individuals visited by the tax collector.
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