Taxation in ancient Rome
In ancient Rome, there were four primary kinds of taxation: 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 utilized a variety of terms for different types of taxations, including the words "tributum" and "vectigalia." Translators often render these terms as "direct tax" and "indirect tax" respectively, although the scholar Sven Günther suggests that the terms are best differentiated according to their own mode of assessment. Günther states that tributa, alternatively labeled "stipendia," were broadly defined as taxes determined by a census: the term initially referred to a type of tax levied to gather funds during wartime, although it soon came to describe other verities of taxes assessed according to a census, such as the tributum soli, the tributum capitis, or the tribute paid by the Roman provinces. The term vectigalia often designated taxes assessed without the usage of a census, such as the Portoria , although it developed into a generic term for all varieties of tax. Classicist Peter Brunt argued that the meaning of the term tributum varied throughout Roman history, stating that—during the Republic—it referred to tax levied by a city on its own citizens and—by the principate—became synonymous with the term "stipendium," both words now referring to taxes raised by the imperial administration.According to Cicero, the stipend stipendium was a fixed tax collected in the provinces, with the exception of Sicily. Cicero mentions that it applied to the majority of the Poeni in Africa, leading the historian A.H.M Jones to conclude that the collection of this tax—specifically in Africa—may have been facilitated by the mancipes stipendiorum, a set of public officials mentioned in an African inscription. Livy mentions that the stipendium was established in the year 407 BCE during the war with Veii; he states that the patricians in the Senate decreed that payment shall be provided for Roman soldiers from the coffers of the Senate. Previously, according to Livy, Roman soldiers had financed their own military service. Jones argues that the stipendium likely developed into a provincial tax during the Punic Wars, citing an account from Livy which mentions that—during the campaign in Hispania—the Roman government had difficulty supplying or paying the soldiers, leading Scipio to compensate by exacting funds from the local tributaries.
Cities may have occasionally levied other taxes; however, they were usually temporary. 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. 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. Roman veterans were exempt from paying the portoria tax. Augustus created the vicesima hereditatium and the centesima. The vicesima was an inheritance tax and the centesima was a sales tax on auctions. Both policies were unpopular. They were designed to fund the aerarium militare, which was a service that provided money to veterans. Caligula abolished the centesima rerum venalium on account of its unpopularity. Caracalla granted Roman citizenship to all male residents of the empire, which was likely a method of increasing the taxable population of the empire. Under Constantine, it had become difficult to pay taxes due to the continued debasement of the solidus, increasing the prevalence of payment in kind.
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. 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.Taxation in ancient Rome was decentralized, with the government preferring to leave the task of collecting taxes to local elected magistrates. 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.
The ancient Roman census, as administered by the censors, was important for the administration of taxes in ancient Rome. The results of their periodic census determined the amount of tax a citizen owed. They registered the value of each citizen's property, which determined the amount of property tax they had to pay. In Roman Egypt, Greeks were entitled to reduced taxation compared to other people in Egypt. These Greco-Egyptian persons were likely the members of a special social group referenced in other Roman documents called hoi apo tou gymnasiou, meaning "gymnasial group." Difficulty identifying which members of the Egyptian populace were entitled to reduced taxation likely prompted a special census of these groups in the year 4 or 5 CE. Following this census, the number of gymnasial groups per nome was limited to one and future members of gymnasial groups were required to prove their genealogy. The censors also participated in tax farming through their auctions; they auctioned off the space of a lustrum to the highest bidder in return for tithes and taxes. Censors had similar duties to a modern minister of finance. They could impose new vectiglia, sell government land, and manage the budget.
The 1st-century land surveyor Hyginus Gromaticus provides a description of land tax in ancient Rome, noting that there existed two varieties of land: ager immunis and ager vectigalis. Hyginus mentions that the rules for taxation varied across provinces, stating—in some editions of the text—that in some provinces the tax paid using either one-fifth or one-eighth of the crop yield and other provinces paid using money. However, other manuscripts read "now many in money" instead of utilizing the word "alii" ; historian Keith Hopkins favors the latter rendition, arguing the former derives from scribal error. He further mentions that these types of were categorized in various groups and valued based upon their alignment, noting that—in Pannonia—land was grouped into meadows, pasture, glandiferous trees ; common trees ; and first- and second-class arable land. According to Hyginus, this land was taxed iugerum according to their productivity and that disputes regarding the measurement of the land, and therefore the size of the tax burden, were frequent. Cicero describes a unique system of land tax in Sicily, mentioning that—as Sicily was, according to Cicero, a particularly valuable province—the Romans refrained from altering the preexisting tax policy of the region or imposing new taxes to ensure the loyalty of the local Sicilian population following Roman conquest. According to Cicero, this tax system ensured that the auctioning of the rights to collect land taxes would occur according to the previous laws of lex Hieronica, the set of laws instituted by Hiero II of Syracuse. He notes that several cities in Sicily are exempt from taxation by the Roman government due to special treaties, these being Tauromenium, Centuripa, Segesta, Halaesus, Halyciae, Panormus, and Messina. Within his speech, In Verrem, Cicero criticizes Verres, the propraetor of Sicily, for supposedly altering the tax code, an action Cicero deemed an abuse of power.
The emperor Diocletian changed the method of collecting taxes in ancient Rome. He replaced the local curial class with a bureaucracy. He established a new tax system known as the Capitatio-Iugatio to try to combat the rampant inflation of that time. This system combined the land rents, known as iugatio, and the capitatio, which affected individuals. Under this policy, arable land was divided into different regions according to their yield and crop. All land, income, and direct taxes were merged into a single tax. This policy tied the peasantry to their land, and those without land were taxed. Diocletian instituted the aurum oblaticium and the aurum coronarium which taxed landowning senators. He also taxed businessmen with a new tax called the collatio lustralis. These policies contributed to an improved accounting system for the Late Roman Empire. In the province of Syria Palaestina, taxation boundaries were formalized by inscribed boundary stones erected under Diocletian, which named villages and the officials responsible for surveying them.