London, June 29 (ANI): More than 12 million historic tax records spanning 400 years that were released on Thursday show that Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson, one of the greatest naval heroes, paid a paltry 3 pounds to the Treasury.

The previously unseen returns from ancestry.co.uk show that despite owning plush homes, mansions and palaces, legendary Britons like Nelson, Arthur Conan Doyle, Benjamin Disraeli and even King George III handed over very small amounts of land tax.

Additionally, they didn't need to invest in a sophisticated Jersey-based avoidance scheme like comedian Jimmy Carr to keep a lot of their cash.

This is because when they lived they only had to pay a small amount of land tax to the Government, despite owning huge houses, mansions and palaces all over Britain.

Land tax existed from the 17th to the 20th century, before being abolished in 1968, and the new collections of returns list the owners and occupiers of properties subject to the tax in England and Wales.

The records show that Nelson paid just 3 pounds in the in 1798, which is the equivalent of 316 pounds today, for his house in idyllic Suffolk.

Damien Joyce, of anti-tax avoidance group UK Uncut, said he was not surprised by the revelations.

The rich and famous have a long and dishonourable tradition of dodging their taxes, the Daily Mail quoted him as telling Metro. (ANI)