A HISTORY OF TAXATION

“Taxes are what we pay

for a civilized society”

Taxation has been around in various forms for a very long time, dating back to the Romans. It has a long and influential history in the shaping of civilization through the world.

In Egypt, during the various reins of the Egyptian Pharaohs tax collectors were known as scribes. During one period the scribes imposed a tax on cooking oil. They had to audit household to insure that appropriate amounts of cooking oil were consumed and that citizens were not using leavings generated by other cooking processes as a substitute for the taxed oil.

In Greece, in times of war the Athenians imposed a tax referred to as eisphora. No one was exempt from the tax which was used to pay for special wartime expenditures. The Greeks are one on the few societies that were able to rescind the tax once the emergency was over. When additional resources were gained by the war effort the resources were used to refund the tax.

Athenians imposed a monthly poll tax on foreigners, people who did not have both an Athenian Mother and Father, of one drachma for men and a half drachma for women. The tax referred to as metoikion.

In Roman Empire, the earliest taxes were duties on imports and exports called portoria.

Ceasar Augustus was considered by many to be the most brilliant tax strategist of the Roman Empire. During his reign as “First Citizen” the publicani were virtually eliminated as tax collectors for the central government. During this period cities were given the responsibility for collecting taxes. Caesar Augustus instituted an inheritance tax to provide retirement funds for the military. The tax was 5 percent on all inheritances except gifts to children and spouses. The English and Dutch referred to the inheritance tax of Augustus in developing their own inheritance taxes.

During the time of Julius Caesar a 1 percent sales tax was imposed. During the time of Caesar Augustus the sales tax was 4 percent for slaves and 1 percent for everything else.

Saint Mattew was a publican (tax collector) from Capernaum during Caesar Augustus reign. He was not of the old publicani but hired by the local government to collect taxes.

In 60 A.D. Boadicea, queen of East Anglia led a revolt. Her revolt allegedly killed all Roman soldiers within 100 miles; seized London; and it is said that over 80, 000 people were killed during the revolt. The Queen was able to raise an army of 230, 000. The revolt was crushed by Emperor Neron and resulted in the appointment of new administrators for the British Isles.

VOCABULARY

Exercise 2