W. Marc Gilfillan CPA

Mithridates the Great was the leader of a small nation near what is currently known as Turkey. He had the extraordinary ability to rouse discontent among unhappy taxpayers. In 88 BC he led a rebellion fighting the Romans. By granting 5 years of tax exemption to each city that joined his army, he mustered substantial help.

The Roman Senate quickly took swift action and appointed General Sulla to muster an army and re-establish Roman rule in the east. Sulla was victorious in suppressing the rebellion after a 4-year war. When the revolt was crushed, Sulla told the leading citizens of the disgruntled cities to come to Ephesus. At that place the citizens were to denounce the 5 years of back taxes and pay Sulla for the cost of the war.

To enforce this tax, Sulla created “special agents.” These special agents were given the ability to scourge and behead, which was enough to make any taxpayer cooperative. Until this period there had been self-assessment tax collections, private tax collecting, military tax collectors and regular government tax collectors. But these newly instituted “special agents” were highly skilled specialized men with the arrogance of bureaucrats and the power of military executioners. Taxpayers lost all inclination to evade. If you are feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a Tax Preparer in Cary, NC for all your tax-related needs!

Special Agents have emerged several times in the past, surviving in modern times as “financial police” or simply “special agents”, given the title initially given by Sulla over two thousand years ago. As the use of the general’s special agents was instituted in neighboring provinces, soldiers came to realize that the rich spoils of war came from their general, not the Roman Senate. Roman generals returned to Rome with the unwavering loyalty of their soldiers. Huge civil wars broke out as rivalling armies slaughtered each other. With these semiprivate armies, the institution of a military dictator was inescapable. Thus, the Roman Republic died. Royalty, dictators, and generals would now rule for the next 2000 years. Democratically designed governments and republics would not see a large role in civilization again until the 1800s. Go here if you want help with modern-day Tax Preparation in Raleigh, NC.

Keep an eye out for W. Marc Gilfillan’s next chapter in his History of Taxes series: Taxes and the American Revolution.

http://www.marccpa.com/

Now that we are getting away from the Greeks, we now are at the Roman Empire. Scholars often speak of Roman taxation as “more or less organized stealing” and Roman tax men as “a band of thugs.” However, Roman tax law wasn’t always corrupt. There was a two hundred year period at the peak of the Roman Empire when taxes were modest. Actually, every kind of tax, as well as no taxes, marked the Roman period. Taxation was as necessary but as unpredictable in the Roman Empire as were the legions, the Senate and the Caesars. The arguably insane emperor Nero once offered to abolish every indirect tax and make an “amazing present to the human race.” If you’re feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a Tax Preparer in Raleigh, NC for all your tax-related needs!

Romans – The Early Years

The early Roman Republic did not require much taxation because it operated with free labor. The military, which is arguably the greatest expense in any society, was a citizen’s military, comprised of land-owners who served for 1 year without pay. They even provided their own uniforms and equipment. This spirit of volunteer free public service inspired most government offices. Even the judges worked for the city for free. It is hard to understand the importance of this ancient practice, especially in our age, where nobody seems willing to lift a finger for the government without a fat paycheck. Go here if you want help with modern-day Tax Preparation in Cary, NC.

The ideal method in reducing heavy taxation is to instil in all citizens a spirit of selfless service for the public good. It is not needed to curtail public programs and services; what is needed is the curtailment of the spirit of gain and profit that infects public servants and contractors.

The Romans, similar to many ancient civilizations, used the important people of their civilization to deal with tax law. Taxpayers loved and admired these men, and no doubt the integrity of these great men rubbed off on the taxpayers. By contrast, modern tax systems use professional public relations contractors to manipulate taxpayers with advertising campaigns that utilize fear more than integrity. Trouble started, however, when Roman armies lived off of the people and took tribute in block form called “stipendium”.

Keep an eye out for W. Marc Gilfillan’s next chapter in his History of Taxes series: Taxes and the American Revolution.

http://www.marccpa.com/

The island of Rhodes: a seminal connection to Rome and Greece. All shipping from the east stopped for restocking or to switch cargo at Rhodes. The harbor of the island, similar to every other harbor, had a tax on all transaction, which was two percent. Rhodes was prosperous and flourished, in the banking and commerce industry especially. The businessmen funded the creation of a 100-foot-tall bronze statue of Apollo near the entrance to the harbor. It named as one of the seven wonders of the ancient world (whether it really straddled the harbor entrance is unknown).

Rhodes was fine until 225 BC. An earthquake caused the statue to topple and not much more is known of Rhodes following the earthquake. Did the earthquake wipe out Rhodes? Destroy the harbor? Well, this is the remainder of the story. The Roman Senate was furious with Rhodes because during the late Rome-Macedonia War, Rhodes had declared a neutral state. After taking so much from Rome for so many years, Rome wanted more. They wanted Rhodes to side with them and help with the war effort. So, after the war, the Romans chose their move. They established a tax-free port on the nearby Isle of Delos. There was no two percent harbor tax! In the first year since the port was created, trade declined eighty-five percent in Rhodes. Rhodes was finished.

Did the earthquake do it? The answer is no, Rhodes had since rebuilt after the disaster (although they did not rebuild the colossus). What brought Rhodes down was no earthquake or natural disaster or war or disease. It was Roman taxation practices. All to dodge a two percent tax. The Switzerland of the ancient world, the commerce giant of the east was brought down because traders desired to avoid a two percent tax.

Keep an eye out for W. Marc Gilfillan’s next chapter in his History of Taxes series: Roman Taxes.

The Rosetta Stone, discovered by Napoleon, was possibly the single most helpful Egyptian archaeological find to date. The Stone had duplicated writing in 3 different languages: Egyptian hieroglyphs, demotic (also called Egyptian script) and Greek. Using the Greek translation, archaeologists figured out how to understand the Egyptian script and subsequently the pictographs. However, the query remains: Egyptians had paper, called papyrus, so why was the writing carved in stone? Furthermore, why 3 languages? And why Greek?

The Stone has been around since 3000 B.C. The Rosetta Stone was created around 200 B.C. while Ptolemy V was in power (an emperor of Greek origin). So what happened to the Pharaohs? By this point in history, Egypt was taken over in 700 B.C. by the Assyrians, after that the Persians, and finally the Greeks in 330 B.C. After an existence of 2000+ years, Egypt was in decline.

The Ptolemy dynasty were for the most part good kings, but in 200BC, during which the Rosetta Stone was etched, Egypt had just ended a 10-year long civil war. The civil war started over excessive and oppressing taxation put in place by tough Greek tax collectors. When the war ended there was still much unrest. Ptolemy V put into a effect a Proclamation of Peace which gave forgiveness for any rebel and tax debtors, lowered taxation practices, stopped forced conscription into the navy, and restored tax immunity to the priesthood, temples, and their crops and lands, as it had been in the reign of the ancient Pharaohs. If you’re feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a Raleigh NC CPA for all your tax-related needs!

This turned out to be a great edge and financial windfall for the priests and temples and they desired to be sure first all people knew it and, second, didn’t want it to be thrown away again at some point in the future.

As a result, “Rosetta Stones” were carved and put in front of each temple throughout Egypt. The Rosetta stones proclaimed to all that tax immunity had been given to the priesthood and this temple and was a “Do Not Enter” sign to cease the lawlessness of the king’s tax collectors. Go here if you want help with modern-day Tax Preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll in Raleigh NC.

This still begs the question: why carved into stone? The answer is because the priesthood wanted to make sure it wouldn’t fade in history or able to be easily disposed. Another question was why was it written in three languages? The Stone was written in three languages because all could see and follow the message the priests desired to send to everyone of the country. The stone was written in Greek to be very clear to the king’s tax collectors that they couldn’t even set foot in the gates of the temple.

So, the most important Egyptian archaeological find in history, the stone translated the mysterious language of the Egyptians, made us capable of discovering the secrets of hieroglyphic writing and thereby the key to unlocking the history and the understanding of the Egyptian way of life for 3000 years was, in truth, a tax document.

Keep an eye out for my next chapter in his History of Taxes series: Taxes and The Colussus of Rhodes.

The Greeks had two ways of taxing their people. One was liturgy, where wealthy citizens unselfishly gave more to the government than they were made to. The other taxation method was named “tax-farming,” which had a long and colorful history. Tax farmers were private citizens who bid at public auctions for the right to collect a specific tax, for example, a harbor tax, an inn tax, or a sales tax. With precise records from prior years, and excluding any misfortune, the amount of tax gain expected could be accurately calculated. The business was risky, but seems to have been profitable. In the city-states, tax farming was a better method to government taxation. The private contractor did a better and more economical job of collecting taxes.

The right to collect taxes is a huge delegation of sovereign power. But considering that taxes were low in Greek city-states, tax farming wasn’t a major enterprise. To the Greeks, it was a simple efficient method of collecting taxes in a nation in which tax evasion was not worth the effort. The most serious abuse of the system came from the tax farmers.

The modest system of tax farming, originally set up by the city-states, was completely different from the system of the later Greeks in the 3rd to first century B.C. We see accounts of how the world suffered under the terrible oppression of the tax farmers. And this was before the Romans were around! The Greek democrats who instituted tax farming would have been astounded to see that in a few hundred years their simple private collection method had evolved into a monstrosity of oppression. They would have been even more astounded, perhaps, to find out that tax farming flourished in Western civilization, in many bizarre methods, for 2,500 years, finally going out of style in the early 1900’s. Go here if you want help with modern-day Tax Preparation, bookkeeping, and payroll in Cary NC

Greeks were giants in the ancient world and had an interesting take on taxes and government. The Greeks said that the liberty and freedom of a society was best measured by its tax system. We, 2,500 years later, are less profound in our analysis of taxation. We seem to accept any tax adopted by our legislators. We let class politics form tax laws. And we let legislators tax just about anything they please in any way they want. If you’re feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a Raleigh NC Accountant for all your tax-related needs!

Overall, the bright spot in the Greek history was in their administration of taxes. Tax revenue was evaluated and administered by the taxpayers themselves, without the intervention of a massive government bureaucracy. Even more important was the response of the rich to the needs of the community. They shared their wealth with the community and did not hesitate to see that the city and its people benefited from the bounties bestowed on them.

The Greek view was simple – taxes are tyrannical, and hence illegal, if they are demanded by arrogance and compulsion. They are justifiable when based on reasonableness and loving care. We have retreated a great distance from those lofty ideas.

Keep an eye out for W. Marc Gilfillan’s next chapter in his History of Taxes series: Taxes and the Greeks.

Ancient Egypt wasn’t a land of terrible taskmasters and oppressed slavery – that is only the stigma we get from the tale of Moses, which came at a time of turmoil in Egypt. Modern translations of Egyptian language tell a tale of life in ancient Egypt was usually bountiful and peaceful. The land was rich, women and men had roughly equal rights and life was enjoyed. Now, there were tax collectors, as numerous as “the sands of the seas”. The high level of Egyptian life was maintained by these “scribes” whose job was enforcing the Pharoah’s tax policies. Almost everything was taxed – sales, slaves, foreigners, imports, exports, and businesses. Agriculture was taxed at a hefty 20%. There was also a tax on cooking oil and inspectors would make continuous visits to kitchens to ensure that free drippings were not being wasted instead of the taxed oil.

The word “freedom” ironically in ancient Egypt referred not to someone’s political or social liberty but to one’s tax level. If you were “free,” it meant that you paid no taxes. Interestingly, the word can’t be found anywhere in the Egyptian language. Good thing we live in this time eh?

However, the scribes were never brutal (at least in theory). They were taught to act kindly towards the poor and defenseless. One ancient translation instructs: “if a poor farmer is in arrears with his taxations, remit two-thirds of them.”

Another translation instructs scribes to “cheer up everyone and to direct them into a good mood.”

And, if someone is suffering under the stress of their taxes, or is at the end of his means to pay them, you must let the case go unchecked.” This lenient policy was called “philanthropa”. From this word we get the word philanthropy.

Over the 3000 years of the Egyptian empire, there were many periods of humane and decent tax administration.

Keep an eye out for W. Marc Gilfillan’s next chapter in his History of Taxes series: Taxes and the Greeks.