>I would have thought 10% is very low in many areas. Does anyone have any
>bright ideas on the taxes in, for example, Tarsh vs Sartar? I wouldn't be
>surprised at harsh taxing under a lunar occupation of 40-50%. That way they
>can have favourites who get taxed much less and there is an incentive to
>become one of the favourites ;-)
>
>In Tarsh, it may be as little as 20-30% as things have settled down since
the
>occupation.
The Romans farmed out taxation to private enterprise. Sort of like privatization of the IRS. They sold the rights to collect taxes from a certain province to the highest bidder. The bidders would bid depending on how much they thought they could squeeze out of the province over the time of the contract. I understand that it was more complicated than this and Roman policy changed over time and depending on what provinces there were, but I believe this was the basic method of tax collection in the late days of the Republic and early days of the empire.
I do not believe that it matters whether or not you like the general concept of privatization or not, I think most people would agree that the privatization of the IRS would be a bad, BAD idea. So it was in Rome. For the tax payer that is.
Jon Benignus
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