16. In 1816 the British Parliament abolished the income tax
1816 was a momentous year for Britain. Beau Brummell, former close friend of the Prince, fled to France to elude his creditors. Most of the wealthy did not consider such an act to be dishonorable. Brummell though left behind unpaid gambling debts, which was. He never returned to Britain, leaving several thousand pounds of unpaid debts behind him, and fell into a period of poverty and dissolution. The Prince made him persona non grata among his associates. George Augustus by then directed his attention to the completion of the Royal Pavilion at Brighton, supervised by John Nash. Its Indian-influenced style and décor were both flamboyant and expensive, which appealed to the Prince’s taste.
The pavilion did not adopt the elegant architectural style of the period in either its exterior or interior rooms. It appeared as something out of the Arabian Nights, with onion domes and minarets visible on all sides. The interior included tapestries and paintings, gilding and friezes. Nearby stables, sufficient for 60 horses, also represented the Indian style. While the Prince Regent spent lavishly on the pavilion, Parliament abolished the income tax, which had been necessary to fund the war against Napoleon. In a letter to the Prince Regent, Lord Castlereagh informed him that revenues for the year would be less than half of expenses, driving the government yet further in debt. As in other matters regarding the government, the Prince left it up to his ministers to resolve the issue.