[skissane]

> The way I heard it, the move from Mar to Jan was not for political reasons, but for tax reasons.

The start of the year has moved more than once. The ancient Romans moved it from March to January.

For whatever reason, in early modern England, it was back to starting in March-legally speaking, although many of the common people followed the Continental practice of starting it in January. So, when the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 came into force in 1752, it didn’t just introduce the Gregorian calendar and skip 11 days in September, it also moved the start of 1752 from 25 March back to 1 Jan. So 1751 was only 9 and a bit months long - it went 24 Mar 1749, 25 Mar 1750, …, 31 Dec 1750, 1 Jan 1750, …, 24 Mar 1750, 25 Mar 1751, …, 31 Dec 1751, 1 Jan 1752

Scotland had already moved the new year from 25 Mar to 1 January in 1600.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_(New_Style)_Act_175...

[neilwilson]

Of course the tax year stayed precisely where it was - 25 March in the old calendar.

Hence why the British tax year still starts on April 6th in the “new” Gregorian calendar.