Poll tax
A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual, without reference to income or resources. Poll is an archaic term for "head" or "top of the head". The sense of "counting heads" is found in phrases like polling place and opinion poll.
Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments from ancient times until the 19th century. In England, poll taxes were levied by the government of John of Gaunt in the 14th century and Charles II in the 17th century. In the United Kingdom a poll tax was levied by the government of Margaret Thatcher in the 20th century. In the United States, voting poll taxes have been used to disenfranchise impoverished and minority voters.
Poll taxes are regressive with respect to income, meaning the higher someone's income is, the lower the tax is as a proportion of income: for example, a $100 tax on an income of $10,000 is a 1% tax rate, while $100 tax on a $500 income is 20%. Its acceptance or "neutrality" depends on the balance between the tax demanded and the resources of the population. Low amounts generally go unnoticed, while high amounts may generate tax revolts such as the 1381 Peasants' Revolt in England and the 1906 Bambatha Rebellion against colonial rule in South Africa. However, both of those cases were additional taxation, and not a substitute for other taxes being lowered.
Religious law
Mosaic law
As prescribed in Exodus, Jewish law imposed a poll tax of a half-shekel, payable by every man above the age of twenty.The money was designated for the Tabernacle in the Exodus narrative and later for the upkeep of the Temple of Jerusalem. Priests, women, slaves and minors were exempted, but could offer it voluntarily. Payment by Samaritans or Gentiles was rejected. It was collected yearly in the month of Adar at the Temple or provincial collection offices.
Islamic law
is an obligatory charity that must be given by every Muslim near the end of every Ramadan, except for those in dire poverty. The amount is of wheat or barley, or its cash equivalent, to be given to the poor.is a land or poll tax decreed by the Quran, paid annually by non-believers in Islam living under Islamic law. began during the reign of Muhammad in places like Yemen, Bahrain, and Jerash. As a poll tax, the tax usually only applied to free, abled-bodied adult men. The amount could also vary with the income of the individual. However, according to Shibli Nomani, the word is an Arabicised version of the Persian, the war tax levied by the Persian empire, which served as a model for the conquering Arabs. The Sasanian Persian emperor Nawsherwan imposed a poll tax, termed by Arab historians, varying between 12 and 2 dirhams, exempting officials, soldiers, and nobles. During the Islamic rule of Muhammad, the magi of Iran and landowners of Bahrain paid of 1 dinar or its equivalent in clothing, while the landless paid 4 dirham and a striped woolen cloak. Elsewhere, the was graded according to three classes, e.g. 48 dirhams for the rich, 24 for the middle class, and 12 for the poor.
Although the tax is interpreted by many as a financial humiliation on non-Muslims, others consider it a sign of due allegiance to the political authority of Islam: part of a social contract by which non-Muslims, especially the Jews of Medina, were granted equal social and political rights, and protection of their life, property, and religion. According to some scholars, the paid by non-Muslims is parallel to the charity obligation on Muslims. However, Umar, the second Caliph, ordered a brand on the shoulder of payers, as well as requiring a tonsure and sumptuary laws to distinguish them from Muslims. Uman distinguished between and, where the former means the poll tax on non-Muslim individuals, and the latter means the land tax and sometimes the total sum of taxes paid by leaders of the non-Muslim community. Umar stressed that conversion to Islam provided exemption from, though not from.
Amr ibn al-As, after conquering Egypt, made a census for the according to wealth classes, so that the rich paid more. Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan reformed taxes in Mesopotamia based on a calculation of the income and expenses of a typical man, determining that each adult could pay of 4 dinars, a 400% increase over the previous tax; however, this burden seemingly did not increase conversions to Islam.
The Cairo Geniza records demonstrate the poll tax collection becoming very strict and burdensome for the Jewish community in Egypt during the 12th century. Evidence suggests that the guardian of a minor was responsible to pay the full poll tax on his behalf until the age of ten. Even the very sick and poor widows were subject to the tax. Shelomo Dov Goitein concluded that the intolerable burden of the might have caused the mass conversion of Jews in Egypt to Islam, while more prominent Jews embraced Islam for the possibility of government positions.
The treaty of 1535, known as the Franco-Ottoman alliance, revolutionised relations between the Christian and Islamic states, with the poll tax playing a significant role. Previously, a non-Muslim living in Muslim territory for more than a year became liable to the poll tax. Under the treaty, French Christians in the Ottoman Empire were exempted from all. In 1855, the Ottoman Empire abolished the tax as part of reforms to equalize the status of Muslims and non-Muslims. It was replaced by a military-exemption tax on non-Muslims, the bedel-i askeri. It was once believed that the Islamic poll tax derived from a previous Byzantine poll tax, but evidence for this tax has been re-dated to Islamic times.
reemerged in 2014 after the Islamic State conquered some parts of Iraq and Syria. Its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared that Christians would face the choice of conversion,, or death. This ultimatum was read out in mosques. Many Christians fled Mosul, home to the ancient Christian communities of Iraq, leading Louis Raphaël I Sako to say: "For the first time in the history of Iraq, Mosul is now empty of Christians." ISIS issued the same ultimatum in its capital of Raqqa, Syria, demanding of pure gold from Christians in exchange for their safety.
Canada
The Chinese head tax was a fixed fee charged to each Chinese person entering Canada. The head tax was first levied after the Canadian parliament passed the Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 and was meant to discourage Chinese people from entering Canada after the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The tax was abolished by the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, which stopped all Chinese immigration except for business people, clergy, educators, students, and other categories. The 1923 act was repealed in 1947.Ceylon
In Ceylon, a poll tax was levied by the British colonial government of Ceylon in 1920. The tax charged 2 rupees per year per male adult. Those who did not pay had to work on the roads for one day in lieu of the tax. The Young Lanka League protested the tax, led by A. Ekanayake Gunasinha, and it was repealed by the Legislative Council of Ceylon in 1925 following a motion submitted by C. H. Z. Fernando.Great Britain
The poll tax was essentially a lay subsidy, a tax on the movable property of most of the population, to help fund war. It had first been levied in 1275 and continued under different names until the 17th century. People were taxed a percentage of the assessed value of their movable goods. That percentage varied from year to year and place to place, and which goods could be taxed differed between urban and rural locations. Churchmen were exempt, as were the poor, workers in the Royal Mint, inhabitants of the Cinque Ports, tin workers in Cornwall and Devon, and those who lived in the Palatinate counties of Cheshire and Durham.14th century
In 1376 Britain had been fighting the Hundred Years War against France for about fifty years, and it was increasingly difficult to finance the war. In 1377 the Bad Parliament first levied a poll tax at the request of John of Gaunt the de facto head of government at the time. The tax covered a far greater share of the population than previous taxes. It was levied again in 1379 on a basis graded by social class. Finally in 1381 it was a combination of both flat rate and graduated assessments. The minimum amount payable was set at 4d, however tax collectors had to account for a 12d a head mean assessment. and has been credited as one of the main reasons behind the Peasants' Revolt in that year.17th century
The poll tax was resurrected during the 17th century, usually related to a military emergency. It was imposed by Charles I in 1641 to finance the raising of the army against the Scottish and Irish uprisings. With the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, the Convention Parliament of 1660 instituted a poll tax to finance the disbanding of the New Model Army through the ', as amended by the ' and the '. The poll tax was assessed according to "rank", e.g. dukes paid £100, earls £60, knights £20, esquires £10. Eldest sons paid two-thirds of their father's rank, widows paid a third of their late husband's rank. The members of the livery companies paid according to company's rank. Professionals also paid differing rates, e.g. physicians, judges, advocates, attorneys, and so on. Anyone with property paid 40 shillings per £100 earned, anyone over the age of 16 and unmarried paid twelvepence and everyone else over 16 paid sixpence.To finance the Nine Years' War, a poll tax was imposed again by William III and Mary II in 1689 with the ', reassessed in 1690 adjusting rank for fortune with the ', and then again in 1691 back to rank irrespective of fortune with the '. The poll tax was imposed again in 1692 with the ', and one final time in 1698 with the ', the last poll tax in England until the 20th century.
A poll tax was simultaneously imposed in Scotland by the Edinburgh parliament in 1693, again in 1695, and two in 1698.
As the greater weight of the 17th century poll taxes fell primarily upon the wealthy and powerful, it was not too unpopular. There were grumblings within the taxed ranks about lack of differentiation by income within ranks. Ultimately, it was the inefficiency of their collection that prompted the government to abandon the poll tax after 1698.
Far more controversial was the hearth tax introduced by the Fire-Hearth and Stoves Taxation Act 1662, which imposed a hefty two shillings on every hearth in a family dwelling, which was easier to count than persons. Heavier, more permanent and more regressive than the poll tax proper, the intrusive entry of tax inspectors into private homes to count hearths was a very sore point, and it was promptly repealed with the Glorious Revolution in 1689. It was replaced with a "window tax" in 1695 since inspectors could count windows from outside homes.