Britain's income tax was first introduced by the Conservative Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger in his budget of December 1798. It was to raise money to pay for the Napoleonic wars with France. It started at 2 pence in the pound on incomes over £60, increasing to a maximum of 2 shillings on incomes of over £200. In 1894 Sir William Harcourt was the Chancellor of the Exchequer and was faced with a £4,500,000 deficit. He introduced a graduated rate on death duties of both real and personal property, together with a reduction on the liability of lower incomes to tax. Through a graduated scale, incomes over £500 would pay 8 pence in the pound and those of up to £160 would be exempt.