Taxation

The Bible gives scant information concerning the secular or political taxes of the Jews. Practically all that can be gathered is the following: Just as Abraham (Genesis 14:20) voluntarily gave a tenth “of all” (i.e., according to the context, of the whole spoil taken in war), so the Israelitish and foreign subjects of the kings of Israel voluntarily brought presents to their rulers.These gifts were withheld by churlish people only (comp. 1 Samuel 10:27), but were given by all others (ib. 16:20; 2 Samuel 8:2, 11 et seq.; 12:30; 1 Kings 10:10, 25; 2 Kings 3:4; 2 Chronicles 9:24; Isaiah 16:1; Psalms 72:10). A chief source of the king’s income consisted in his landed possessions (1 Chronicles 27:25 et seq.; 2 Chronicles 26:10); but a money-or poll-tax is not mentioned among the royal prerogatives, even in the detailed description of them with which Samuel tried to deter the people from choosing a king (1 Samuel 8:11-17). The census of the people which was ordered by David (2 Samuel 24:1 et seq.) was intended perhaps to furnish a basis for a methodical distribution of the military burdens and taxes; but Solomon was the first monarch to systematize the furnishing of foodstuffs (1 Kings 4:7-28), and to demand toll from the merchants (ib. 10:15), and he, moreover, made the lot of the people an inordinately heavy one (12:4), probably imposing an additional money-tax. The later kings again received only voluntary gifts from their subjects, as is recorded of the time of Jehoshaphat and Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 17:5, 32:23), a money-tax being levied in time of war only, when the demands of victorious enemies had to be satisfied (2 Kings 15:20, 23:35).

The repugnance of the free Israelites to the payment of a money-tax was overcome by the post-exilic foreign rulers. Although the Persian kings exempted the priests and Levites (Ezra 7:24), they demanded toll (הלך) and other imposts which likewise had to be paid in money (Ezra 4:13; Nehemiah 5:4: “We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute”). The taxes often grew to be an especially heavy burden under the Ptolemaic and Seleucidan kings. These rulers employed tax-farmers, who, of course, endeavored not only to collect the taxes, but also to derive a large personal profit in addition (1 Maccabees 11:28, 13:15; Josephus, “Ant.” 12:4, §§ 1, 4 et seq.). Josephus (in the passage just cited) narrates that Joseph, the son of Tobias, accumulated great wealth as a tax-farmer, although he had to pay to the Egyptian king Euergetes the enormous sum of 16,000 talents. The Seleucidan kings likewise demanded a poll-tax (1 Maccabees 10:29: φόρους, according to “Ant. “xii. 3,§ 3, denoting what is paid per head).

This tax was imposed by the Roman rulers also. Julius (Cæsar, it is true, showed himself very lenient toward the Jews, and even was considerate with regard to the Sabbatical year (“Ant.” 14:8, § 3); but under Augustus conditions changed. During the latter’s reign a “descriptio orbis” was completed, in which the property of the inhabitants of the whole Roman empire was set down. He chose twenty of the most eminent men, and sent them into all the countries of the subjugated peoples, to make a list of persons and property; moreover he wrote with his own hand a “breviarium totius imperii,” which contained a list of the number of citizens carrying arms and of the allies, of the tributes or taxes, etc. This census was introduced into Judea when Herod’s son Archelaus was removed, in the year 760 of the foundation of Rome, and was exiled to Vienna in Gaul; it is mentioned in Matthew 22:17. The precise amount of this tax is not known, nor can it be estimated with certainty from the fact that the denarius is called the “coin of the census” (A. V. “tribute money”) in Matthew 22:19; for these words may mean also “a sample of the Roman coins with which the tribute is paid.” In any case the tax imposed by the Romans was high and oppressive.

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Author: Jewish Encyclopedia

Keywords: Taxation, Taxes, Tax, Poll tax, Revenue, Head tax, Publican, Tax collector

Source: Isidore Singer (editor), The Jewish Encyclopedia (12 Volumes), (1906).

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