Editing Roman Empire (section)

===Taxation===
{{Further|Taxation in ancient Rome}}
[[File:Foro_romano_tempio_Saturno_09feb08_01.jpg|thumb|left|The [[Temple of Saturn]], a religious monument that housed the treasury in ancient Rome]]

Taxation under the Empire amounted to about 5% of its [[Roman gross domestic product|gross product]].{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=183}} The typical tax rate for individuals ranged from 2 to 5%.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=187}} The tax code was "bewildering" in its complicated system of [[direct taxation|direct]] and [[indirect taxes]], some paid in cash and some [[barter|in kind]]. Taxes might be specific to a province, or kinds of properties such as [[fishery|fisheries]]; they might be temporary.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|pp=185–187}} Tax collection was justified by the need to maintain the military,<ref>{{Harvp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=184}}; {{Harvp|Potter|2009|p=185}}.</ref> and taxpayers sometimes got a refund if the army captured a surplus of booty.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=185}} In-kind taxes were accepted from less-[[monetization|monetized]] areas, particularly those who could supply grain or goods to army camps.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=188}}

The primary source of direct tax revenue was individuals, who paid a [[Tax per head|poll tax]] and a tax on their land, construed as a tax on its produce or productive capacity.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=187}} Tax obligations were determined by the census: each head of household provided a headcount of his household, as well as an accounting of his property.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=186}} A major source of indirect-tax revenue was the ''portoria'', customs and tolls on trade, including among provinces.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=187}} Towards the end of his reign, Augustus instituted a 4% tax on the sale of slaves,<ref>[[Cassius Dio]] 55.31.4.</ref> which Nero shifted from the purchaser to the dealers, who responded by raising their prices.<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''Annales'' 13.31.2.</ref> An owner who manumitted a slave paid a "freedom tax", calculated at 5% of value.{{Efn|This was the ''vicesima libertatis'', "the twentieth for freedom"{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=187}}}} An [[inheritance tax]] of 5% was assessed when Roman citizens above a certain net worth left property to anyone outside their immediate family. Revenues from the estate tax and from an auction tax went towards the veterans' pension fund (''[[aerarium militare]]'').{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=187}}

Low taxes helped the Roman aristocracy increase their wealth, which equalled or exceeded the revenues of the central government. An emperor sometimes replenished his treasury by confiscating the estates of the "super-rich", but in the later period, the [[tax resistance|resistance]] of the wealthy to paying taxes was one of the factors contributing to the collapse of the Empire.{{Sfnp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=184}}