List of Roman taxes
This is a list of the taxes levied by ancient Rome.
Land
[edit]- Tributum soli, the tax on land.
Trade
[edit]- Collatio lustralis, was a tax on anyone who makes a product, or provides a service, with the exception of physicians, teachers, and farmers.[1]
- Portoria, was a 2.5% customs tax. It was higher in the Near East.[2]
- Quadragesima Galliarum, was a 2.5% customs tax based in Lugdunum.[3]
Military
[edit]- Aes equestre was a tax on orphans (orbi) and widows to pay for the horses of the equus publicus.[4]
- Aes hordearium was a tax on orphans (orbi) and widows or single women (viduae), it was levied to pay for the upkeep of the horses of the equus publicus.[5][6]
Marriage
[edit]- Aes uxorium was a tax on unmarried men and women who could bear children.[7]
Inheritance
[edit]- Vicesima hereditatium was a 5% inheritance tax, close relatives were exempt from paying it.[8]
Sales
[edit]- Centesima rerum venalium was a tax on goods sold at auction, under Augustus it was a 1% tax, however under Tiberius it was only a 0.5% tax.[2]
Religious
[edit]- Fiscus Judaicus was an additional tax for an extra two denarii, it was applied to the Jews in the Roman empire.[9]
Poll tax
[edit]- Tributum capitis was a tax on citizens, which only towns with the Jus Italicum were exempt from it.[10]
Slave taxes
[edit]- Vicesima libertatis was a tax on owners who freed slaves, the owner would have to pay 5% of the value of the slave.[2]
- Quinta et vicesima venalium mancipiorum was a 4% tax on selling slaves.[2]
- A customs tax on a slave of one and a half denarii is recorded in a third-century tariff list from Zarai.[11]
State lands
[edit]- Vectigal was a tax on occupiers of Roman state land (ager publicus).[2]
References
[edit]- ^ Oxford Classical Dictionary, 2nd ed. 1970. p. 263
- ^ a b c d e Dilke, O.A.W. (1987). Mathematics and measurement (3rd impression. ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 51. ISBN 9780520060722.
- ^ Drinkwater, John (2014), Roman Gaul: The Three Provinces, 58 BC-AD 260, p. 100, ISBN 9781317750741
- ^ Livy (l.c.)
- ^ Liv. I.43
- ^ Cic. de Rep. II.20.
- ^ Harry Thurston Peck. Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York. Harper and Brothers. 1898.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ Jane F. Gardner, "Nearest and Dearest: Liability to Inheritance Tax in Roman Families," in Childhood, Class and Kin in the Roman World pp. 205, 213.
- ^ Schäfer (1998), pp. 113–114
- ^ Digest 50, tit.15
- ^ Keith R. Bradley. "Apuleius and the sub-Saharan slave trade". Apuleius and Antonine Rome: Historical Essays. p. 177.
