Premodern taxation

The study of the politics of premodern taxation allows us to put modern taxation in context, both by way of contrast and as an explanation of its origins. This chapter explores systems of taxation from the earliest states and empires through the early modern era, outlining the determinants of how much tax revenue premodern states could extract, who and what they taxed, and how they collected taxes in a wide range of cases. I show that taxation in premodern states was constrained by a lack of economic development, the power of elites, and their lack of administrative capacity. With few exceptions, they could not extract much tax revenue from their societies and could employ only a narrow range of taxes. Premodern rulers attempted to mitigate these constraints by employing a wide range of administrative systems, but very few of them were effective. We conclude the chapter with a brief discussion of the main forces that caused the transition from premodern to modern taxation - how states became able to increase their tax revenues, diversify their tax structures, and centralize and bureaucratize their tax administrations.