Tax in New Testament Times

It intrigues me how little human nature has changed in 2000 years, if at all. In Jesus’ lifetime, the Jewish population’s feelings about tax was no different to ours today. In a word, resentful.

Tax Collectors in the Bible

Tax collectors in the Bible demanded two main taxes for Rome:

• Income Tax and 
• Poll Tax (Tributum Capitis)

Income tax was divided into two categories. Slaves, and everything else. Income from the sale of slaves was charged at 4% and everything else was charged at 1%.

Poll tax, on the other hand, was a flat rate paid by every adult, regardless of their wealth. Augustus Caesar ensured that the Roman empire took a regular census of its population in order to keep this poll tax accurate. Based on what we read in the Gospels, it is likely that Jesus was born during one of these census periods.

I don’t know exactly how much the poll tax was during Jesus’ lifetime but, it seems it was one denarius per year, roughly one day’s wages. Records show the tax was increased by two denarii, or two days’ wages after the Jewish revolt against Rome around 66-73 A.D. but this was forty years after Jesus’ death and resurrection.

In other parts of the Roman empire, it seems that this tax amounted to roughly 1% of the average person’s total assets.

Jews resented tax collectors in the Bible. They especially resented the poll tax for several reasons. First, it was a tax imposed only on non-Romans. Second, it was a bigger burden on the poor than on the rich.

By way of illustration, in contemporary terms, if every adult was charged $1,000/month as a poll tax, then someone who earned $1,200/month would be forced to pay almost their entire salary in tax and would be left with $200.00 on which to live. This amounts to a tax rate of roughly 83%. Conversely, a person who earned $100,000/month would only have to pay 1% of their earnings in poll tax.

The up-side of this tax policy is that it encouraged entrepreneurship and the Roman economy thrived as a result. However, this came at huge cost to impoverished communities and low-income households. As such, tax collectors in the Bible were held in very low esteem.

Tax Collectors Today

Considering, Israelites in the time of Jesus had to pay 1% of their net worth plus 1% of all their earnings, I wonder how they would have felt in the face of the tax burden most hard-working people face today?

Add to that the 10-20% VAT we have to pay on every purchase we make with the money that is left after paying the taxes above, and that amounts to a pretty hefty tax bill.

Makes Caesar and tax collectors in the Bible look like benign grandparents.