A History of Tax Practices, Chapter 6: Taxes and The End of the Roman Empire
W. Marc Gilfillan, CPA, NC, individual and business CPA and Tax expert, shares about the history of taxes…
Mithridates the Great ruled a small country near what is currently known as Turkey. He had the extraordinary power to create rebellion among unhappy taxpayers. In 88 BC he led a civil war against the Romans. By granting 5 years of tax exemption to each city that joined his army, he gathered considerable support.
The Roman Senate quickly took swift action and told General Sulla to muster an army and restore Roman rule in the east. Sulla was victorious in suppressing the rebellion, but only following a 4-year war. When the revolt was crushed, Sulla told the leaders of the revolting cities to come to Ephesus. There the citizens were to remit five years of back taxes and pay Sulla for the cost of the war.
To enforce this tax, Sulla instituted “special agents.” These special agents were given the ability to scourge and kill, which was plenty to cause most taxpayers cooperative. Up until this time there had been self-assessment tax collections, private tax collection, military tax collectors and the traditional government tax collectors. However, these newly instituted “special agents” were highly skilled specialists with the arrogance of bureaucrats and the power of military executioners. Taxpayers lost all inclination to evade. If you’re feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a Tax Preparer in Cary, NC for all your tax-related needs!
Special Agents have emerged time and again in the course of history, surviving in modern times as “financial police” or just “special agents”, using the title first given by Sulla over 2000 years past. As the practice of Sulla’s special agents was put in to place in neighboring nations, the army came to understand that the rich spoils of war came from their general, as opposed to the Roman Senate. Roman generals returned to Rome with the unwavering loyalty of their soldiers. Huge civil wars started as rival armies fought. With these semiprivate armies, the institution of a military dictator was inescapable. Thus, the Roman Republic died. Royalty, dictators, and military strategists would now rule for the next two thousand years. Democracies and republics wouldn’t see a large role in civilization again until the 1800s. Go here if you want help with modern-day Tax Preparation in Cary, 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/
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