In
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...
, ''Tributum'' was a
tax
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...
imposed on the citizenry to fund the costs of war. The ''Tributum'' was one of the central reasons for the conducting of the
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
on assets, as it rose with wealth. It included cash assets, land, property and moveable goods (i.e.
slaves
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
). Several types of ''tributum'' have been attested to, including ''
tributum in capita, tributum temerarium'' (emergency levy)'','' and ''tributum ex censu'' (amount proportional to citizen's census financial rating).
Purpose
With money as the mainstay of the
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic ( la, Res publica Romana ) was a form of government of Rome and the era of the classical Roman civilization when it was run through public representation of the Roman people. Beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kin ...
’s military success, the collection and use of ''tributum'' allowed Rome and its allies to pay their soldiers and bestow their armies with food, transport, equipment and support personnel, which effectively enabled Rome’s
legions to remain in the field for lengths at a time. Long service, alongside the training undertaken during wartime, allowed legions to cultivate skill at arms and unit cohesion. The development of these skills and not being required to send soldiers home to attend to the agricultural needs of the state ensured many successful military campaigns.
The ''tributum'' can not be fully considered a 'tax', as there was an underlying idea that it could be paid back once military pressure was relieved. There was often an assumption that the military was supported by the monetary gains made in wartime conquests. However, it was very rare that spoils from an army’s victories equaled the money it took to win them – in fact, only half of the campaigns resulting in
triumphs
''Triumphs'' (Italian language, Italian: ''I Trionfi'') is a 14th-century Italian series of poems, written by Petrarch in the Tuscan language. The poem evokes the Roman triumph, Roman ceremony of triumph, where victorious generals and their armies ...
produced riches greater than the payments of the involved soldiers.
Origins
The origins of ''tributum'' are traditionally linked to the
Siege of Veii
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict characterize ...
(406 – 398), in which the fund was used to pay soldiers. The Siege of Veii was described as a campaign in which the army served for a time longer than usual, which prompted the
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
to decree Dionysius also comments on the origins of ''tributum'', however, notes that “due to a lack of reliable sources, it is impossible to describe or date with any degree of certainty either the genesis of the system or its subsequent development into the complex structure which Livy and Dionysius describe”. Furthermore, both Dionysius and Livy argue that tributum was an element of the
Servian system, with its introduction occurring in the sixth century under Servian reign. This view is not supported, with warfare in Rome's early city-state considering military service as an obligation without remuneration (''stipendium'') for soldiers. However, ''tributum'' and ''stipendium'' appear inextricably linked, with stating “theoretically, ''tributum'' could have existed prior to the war against Veii… the two institutions were so closely connected that imagining the one without the other is hardly feasible”.
Senate and decree
The introduction and the enforcement of''tributum'' relied on decisions made by the Senate. Unlike other Roman taxes, ''tributum'' was not established under a binding law but required a senatorial decree to be enforced. Throughout the history of the tax, it had been opposed by
plebeians
In ancient Rome, the plebeians (also called plebs) were the general body of free Roman citizens who were not patricians, as determined by the census, or in other words " commoners". Both classes were hereditary.
Etymology
The precise origins of ...
, and incited by
tribune
Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...
s, yet it was the authority of the Senate which saw it enforced, repaid when circumstances changed, and determined depending on the number of soldiers deployed and the material goods they demanded.
Assessment of wealth
Collection
''Tributum'' was not technically a tax in the true senseand was seen as a loan that must be paid by the ''
adsidui In ancient Rome, ''adsidui'' (sg. ''adsiduus''; also ''assiduus'', ''assidui'', Latin for "diligent, loyal", and collectively, "taxpayers") were the citizens who were liable to military service in the main line of battle, that is, for much of the hi ...
'' to fund Rome's military expansion. The assidui were Roman citizens who were eligible for military servicebecause of their wealth but were not conscripted to serve in any particular year. The loan was not usually expected to be repaid, but there were instances of reimbursement after victories, as was the case following the
defeat of the Samnites around 293 BCE. The ''tributum'' was paid proportionate to an individual's wealth established by their census group. It was not a flat rate of taxation but was instead determined by Rome's annual military needs. Some years' estimated military costs could be higher than others based on what military operations were to be undertaken in that given year, therefore a fluctuating rate of taxation was needed. This cost would have been divided by the total wealth of the ''adsidui'' to establish a rate of taxation for that year. This rate was multiplied by the wealth of each ''adsiduus'' to establish the amount of ''tributum'' owed by each group respectively. There is little evidence as to who physically collected ''tributum'', but it is believed that the ''tribuni aerarii'' were responsible for its collection.
[Rosenstein 2016, p. 91] Recent attempts to reconstruct the ''tributum'' owed in a particular year have been met with difficulty because of the impossibility of accurately calculating the estimated military expenditure for that year, as the cost of the logistical aspects of warfare are too difficult to ascertain.
Exemptions
While ''tributum'', as with any form of taxation was largely applicable to all, there were some cases in which the collection of ''tributum'' was suspended and of citizens being granted immunity and therefore exempt from collection. The collection of ''tributum'' was steady and an accepted aspect of civic life, where a brief period of suspension sparked by a significant acquisition of funds rendered ''tributum'' superfluous for the following century. After the defeat of
Macedon in 167BC, Rome began to function without the ''Tributum'' because of booty accumulated through battle and the decrease in legions which needed material support. After the death of
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
, the state demanded increased funds for the civil war and so reintroduced the ''tributum''.
Citizens in the provinces had continued to pay unless they were subject to immunity, as was seen in the case of Egypt, but that did not free them from their obligation to hand in a declaration for the census.
The Roman citizens who qualified to pay ''Ttibutum'' were known as ''
assidui In ancient Rome, ''adsidui'' (sg. ''adsiduus''; also ''assiduus'', ''assidui'', Latin for "diligent, loyal", and collectively, " taxpayers") were the citizens who were liable to military service in the main line of battle, that is, for much of the h ...
''; essentially, those who were not serving as legionaries paid for the benefit of those who were. The latter therefore paid no ''tributum'' as they effectively would have been paying double tax on both money and military service . In terms of exemptions, “those of the last century” (a kind of sixth class below the fiver property sratings), the ''
proletarii'' or ''
capite censi
''Capite censi'' were literally, in Latin, "those counted by head" in the ancient Roman census. Also known as "the head count", the term was used to refer to the lowest class of citizens, people not of the nobility or middle classes, owning little ...
'', were neither taxed nor liable for military service. Thisat also extended to individuals who did not own property if their lack of contribution to revenue exempted them from paying ''tributum'' .
Women
According to , while women were usually excluded, they voluntarily contributed to ''tributum'' during the
Second Punic War
The Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC) was the second of three wars fought between Carthage and Rome, the two main powers of the western Mediterranean in the 3rd century BC. For 17 years the two states struggled for supremacy, primarily in Ital ...
. The
Triumvirs
A triumvirate ( la, triumvirātus) or a triarchy is a political institution ruled or dominated by three individuals, known as triumvirs ( la, triumviri). The arrangement can be formal or informal. Though the three leaders in a triumvirate are ...
later demanded woman paid the tax.
Hortensia
''Hydrangea'', () commonly named the hortensia, is a genus of over 75 species of flowering plants native to Asia and the Americas. By far the greatest species diversity is in eastern Asia, notably China, Korea, and Japan. Most are shrubs tall, ...
then argued that woman had never paid tax before that point and were not obliged, which resulted in the exemption of most of the 1,400 womaen who were requested to pay.
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* {{Citation
, last = Rosenstein
, first = N.
, chapter = Tributum in the Middle Republic
, title = Circum Mare: Themes in Ancient Warfare
, publisher = Brill
, volume = 388
, year = 2016
, pages = 80–97
, doi = 10.1163/9789004284852_006
, isbn = 9789004284852
Roman law
Taxation in ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...