Beatles manager Brian Epstein tried to persuade the Fab Four to accept a deal that would give them £50 each a week for life, with him keeping the rest.
The revelation is among many in the The Beatles Anthology concerning the band's finances.
"We got twenty-five quid a week in the early '60s when we were first with Brian Epstein," George Harrison says in the book.
"Twenty-five pounds each was quite good - my dad earned £10."
"Then we started earning much more, but Brian would keep it and pay us wages."
"He once tried to get us to sign a deal saying he would guarantee us £50 a week forever and he would keep the rest."
Harrison and the other three Beatles declined the offer.
At the time, the Beatles were paying 19 shillings and sixpence out of every pound in tax (there were 20 shillings in a pound).
The book also reveals that in 1996, the three surviving Beatles turned down a £113 million offer to perform 17 concerts in the US, Germany and Japan.
Sales of the $125 autobiography are expected to make up to $3 billion - John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, will get a quarter share of the profits.