Taxation in ancient Rome
There were four primary kinds of taxation in ancient Rome: a cattle tax, a land tax, customs, and a tax on the profits of any profession. These taxes were typically collected by local aristocrats. The Roman state would set a fixed amount of money each region needed to provide in taxes, and the local officials would decide who paid the taxes and how much they paid. Once collected the taxes would be used to fund the military, create public works, establish trade networks, stimulate the economy, and to fund the cursus publicum.
Types
The ancient Romans had two classes of taxes: the tributa and the vectigalia.[1] Tributa included the tributum soli (a land tax) and the tributum capitis (a poll tax). The vectigalia consisted of four kinds of tax: the portoria (poll tax), the vicesima hereditatium (inheritance tax), the vicesima liberatis (postage tax), and the centesima rerum venalium (auction sales tax). Cities may have occasionally levied other taxes; however, they were usually temporary.[2] In ancient Rome there was no income tax, instead the primary tax was the portoria. This tax was imposed on goods exiting or entering the city.[3][4] The size of the tax was based on the value of the item itself. It was higher on luxurious or expensive items, but lower on basic necessities. It was abolished in 60 BCE as it was no longer needed. The Roman empire's increasing size allowed for the government to procure sufficient funds from tributaries.[5] Roman veterans were exempt from paying the portoria tax.[6] Augustus created the vicesima hereditatium and the centesima. The vicesima was an inheritance tax and the centesima was a sales tax on auctions.[7] Both policies were unpopular.[8] They were designed to fund the aerarium militare,[9] which was a service that provided money to veterans.[10] Caligula abolished the centesima rerum venalium on account of its unpopularity.[11][12] Caracalla granted Roman citizenship to all male residents of the empire, which was likely a method of increasing the taxable population of the empire.[13][14] Under Constantine, it had become difficult to pay taxes due to the continued debasement of the solidus, increasing the prevalence of payment in kind.[15]
Collection and management
Administration
Ancient Roman tax systems were regressive, they applied a heavier tax burden on lower income levels and reduced taxation on wealthier social classes.[16] In ancient Rome, taxation was primarily levied upon the provincial population who lived outside of Italy. Direct taxes on Italian land were abolished in 167 BCE and indirect taxes on certain transactions were removed in 60 BCE. The urbanized, populous, and important city of Rome possibly had greater influence on politics than the more dispersed and less prominent provincial population.[17]
Taxation in ancient Rome was decentralized, with the government preferring to leave the task of collecting taxes to local elected magistrates.[2] Typically these magistrates were wealthy landowners. During the Roman Republic finances were stored inside the temple of Saturn. Under the reign of Augustus a new institution was created: the fiscus. At first it only contained the wealth gained through taxes on Egypt; but it expanded to other sources later in Roman history. It also collected wealth from people who died without a will, half of the wealth of unclaimed property, and fines.[15]
The ancient
The emperor
Indiction
The indiction was a periodic reassessment for
The
Tax farming
By the time of the Roman Empire these private people or groups had become known as the
Usage and effects
Although the taxes levied upon the population, especially the poorer population, were likely very high, it seems probable that the exact amount of tax wealth which reached the state's treasury was lower than the amount collected. As the Roman empire expanded, it required more resources to maintain itself and continue growing, resulting in an increased level of taxation.[25] The Roman government would set a fixed amount of wealth each region needed to pay in taxes, while the magistrates were tasked with determining who would pay the taxes, and how much they would each pay. Certain regions, such as Egypt, paid some taxes in kind. Egyptian farmers supplied portions of their crop yield in tax to the rest of the Roman Empire,[37] where it would then be sold to the populace in other regions and therefore converted into monetary wealth.[38] Keith Hopkins, a British historian and sociologist, has argued that the ancient Roman tax economy contributed to urbanization by creating a system where natural resources were taxed in kind by Rome, supplying resources and trade to the city, and then these goods were sold to bring back wealth to the exporter. Taxpayer money was often abused in ancient Rome. Instead of funding public projects or internal improvements, it was often used for the more selfish pursuits of bureaucrats.[16] Hopkins argues that the tax collection systems of the Roman Empire funneled wealth into an aristocratic class, which was then primarily used to fund the Roman military and to maintain the luxurious lifestyle of Roman elites.[38] Emperor Julian stopped the city of Corinth from taxing the city of Argos, over which they had been given some power, and using that money to fund wild beast hunts.[16]
Throughout much of Roman history the tax burden was almost exclusively laid on the poorest people of the Empire while wealthier bureaucrats could avoid taxation. These systems may have contributed to the concentration of wealth and land in the hands of a small class of aristocrats.[16] Excessive taxation may also have limited the ability of provinces such as Egypt to provide goods to customers.[39] Tax debt was a prevalent issue in Roman Egypt. The Emperor Hadrian is recorded to have prided himself on writing off more tax debt than his predecessors. However, Julian the Apostate is recorded to have halted the practice of writing off tax debt to its disproportionately negative effects on the poorer Roman people, who had to pay more immediately than wealthier citizens.[16]
During the
Heavy taxation made the Roman government appear as oppressors, possibly contributing to the loss of provinces such as Africa.[42] Germanic incursions forced the emperors to lower tax rates in the year 413. The government of Rome also decreed that for five years, the tax rate of Italy was reduced by 80%. Despite these reductions, the provinces of Rome struggled to pay their taxes, and the Roman government was unable to receive the funding it needed.[44][45][46] Increased levels of inflation reduced the value of the money the government received in taxation. The difficulties in receiving proper tax funds impaired the Roman state's ability to adequately fund the army.[47] Most Late Roman tax money was used to pay off Germanic peoples.[48]
References
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- ^ Cicero ad Qu. Fr. i.1 §12, In Verrem iii.7, De Natura Deorum iii.19, Varro de re rustica ii.1.
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