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A tax collector (also called a taxman) is a person who collects unpaid taxes from other people or corporations on behalf of a government. The term could also be applied to those who audit tax returns or work for a revenue agency. Tax collectors are often portrayed negatively, and in the modern world share a similar stereotype to that of lawyers.[ citation needed ]
Historically taxes were collected directly by the King or ruler of a State. As states and administrative regions grew larger this task was outsourced to aristocrats or dedicated tax collectors.
In the Roman Republic, taxes were collected from individuals based on the value of their total property. However, since it was extremely difficult to facilitate the collection of the tax, the government auctioned the collection of taxes every year. The winning tax farmers (called publicani) paid the tax revenue to the government in advance and then kept the taxes collected from individuals. The publicani paid the tax revenue in coins, but collected the taxes using other exchange media, thus relieving the government of the work to carry out the currency conversion themselves. [1]
Tax collectors, also known as publicans, are mentioned many times in the Bible (mainly in the New Testament). They were reviled by the Jews of Jesus' day because of their perceived greed and collaboration with the Roman occupiers. Tax collectors amassed personal wealth by demanding tax payments in excess of what Rome levied and keeping the difference. [2] They worked for tax farmers. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus sympathizes with the tax collector Zacchaeus, causing outrage from the crowds that Jesus would rather be the guest of a sinner than of a more respectable or "righteous" person. Matthew the Apostle in the New Testament was a tax collector. [3]
In modern times collection is done by a dedicated government tax collection agency known as a revenue services, a revenue agency or a taxation authority.
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer by a governmental organization in order to collectively fund government spending, public expenditures, or as a way to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax compliance refers to policy actions and individual behaviour aimed at ensuring that taxpayers are paying the right amount of tax at the right time and securing the correct tax allowances and tax reliefs. The first known taxation took place in Ancient Egypt around 3000–2800 BC. Taxes consist of direct or indirect taxes and may be paid in money or as its labor equivalent.
In antiquity, publicans were public contractors, in whose official capacity they often supplied the Roman legions and military, managed the collection of port duties, and oversaw public building projects. In addition, they served as tax collectors for the Roman Republic, farming the taxes of the Roman provinces, and bidding on contracts for the collection of various types of taxes. Importantly, this role as tax collectors was not emphasized until late into the history of the Republic. The publicans were usually of the class of equites.
Excise tax in the United States is an indirect tax on listed items. Excise taxes can be and are made by federal, state and local governments and are not uniform throughout the United States. Certain goods, such as gasoline, diesel fuel, alcohol, and tobacco products, are taxed by multiple governments simultaneously. Some excise taxes are collected from the producer or retailer and not paid directly by the consumer, and as such often remain "hidden" in the price of a product or service, rather than being listed separately.
The ferme générale was, in ancien régime France, essentially an outsourced customs, excise and indirect tax operation. It collected duties on behalf of the King, under renewable six-year contracts. The major tax collectors in that highly unpopular tax farming system were known as the fermiers généraux, which would be tax farmers-general in English.
Farming or tax-farming is a technique of financial management in which the management of a variable revenue stream is assigned by legal contract to a third party and the holder of the revenue stream receives fixed periodic rents from the contractor. It is most commonly used in public finance, where governments lease or assign the right to collect and retain the whole of the tax revenue to a private financier, who is charged with paying fixed sums into the treasury.
Tax revenue is the income that is collected by governments through taxation. Taxation is the primary source of government revenue. Revenue may be extracted from sources such as individuals, public enterprises, trade, royalties on natural resources and/or foreign aid. An inefficient collection of taxes is greater in countries characterized by poverty, a large agricultural sector and large amounts of foreign aid.
Major Simon Affleck was a Swedish tax official, of Scottish descent, who worked in then Swedish-ruled Finland. He had been appointed by the King of Sweden to collect taxes in the Pielisjärvi region, and also paid the rent of his mansion in Pielisjärvi to the King.
Income taxes in Canada constitute the majority of the annual revenues of the Government of Canada, and of the governments of the Provinces of Canada. In the fiscal year ending 31 March 2018, the federal government collected just over three times more revenue from personal income taxes than it did from corporate income taxes.
The ryotwari system was a land revenue system in British India introduced by Thomas Munro, which allowed the government to deal directly with the cultivator ('ryot') for revenue collection and gave the peasant freedom to cede or acquire new land for cultivation.
Privatized tax collection occurs wherever the state passes on its obligation to collect taxes to private companies or firms in return for a fixed or ad valorem fee. This contrasts with tax farming where a private individual or organization pays off a pre-determined tax debt, and then subsequently recoups that payment by collecting money from the people within a certain area or business.
Carucage was a medieval English land tax enacted by King Richard I in 1194, based on the size—variously calculated—of the taxpayer's estate. It was a replacement for the danegeld, last imposed in 1162, which had become difficult to collect because of an increasing number of exemptions. Carucage was levied just six times: by Richard in 1194 and 1198; by John, his brother and successor, in 1200; and by John's son, Henry III, in 1217, 1220, and 1224, after which it was replaced by taxes on income and personal property.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax law. It is an agency of the Department of the Treasury and led by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, who is appointed to a five-year term by the President of the United States. The duties of the IRS include providing tax assistance to taxpayers; pursuing and resolving instances of erroneous or fraudulent tax filings; and overseeing various benefits programs, including the Affordable Care Act.
Taxation in Finland is mainly carried out through the Finnish Tax Administration, an agency of the Ministry of Finance. Finnish Customs and the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom, also collect taxes. Taxes collected are distributed to the Government, municipalities, church, and the Social Insurance Institution, Kela.
Taxation in Norway is levied by the central government, the county municipality and the municipality. In 2012 the total tax revenue was 42.2% of the gross domestic product (GDP). Many direct and indirect taxes exist. The most important taxes – in terms of revenue – are VAT, income tax in the petroleum sector, employers' social security contributions and tax on "ordinary income" for persons. Most direct taxes are collected by the Norwegian Tax Administration and most indirect taxes are collected by the Norwegian Customs and Excise Authorities.
Taxation in the Ottoman Empire changed drastically over time, and was a complex patchwork of different taxes, exemptions, and local customs.
The Lex Hieronica was a unique system of regulations concerning the agricultural taxation of Sicily by the Roman Republic. The taxation system was named after King Hiero II of Syracuse. The basic provision requires that farmers pay ten percent of their produce in tax to Rome. It is likely that the Lex Hieronica was an appropriation of both Hiero II's taxation system of his Kingdom and the Carthaginian taxation system of western Sicily. The date of establishment of the law is uncertain. It was likely implemented sometime in between the first two Punic wars.
Dahsala is an Indian system of land taxation which was introduced in A.D. 1580 under the reign of Akbar. This system was introduced by the finance minister of Akbar, Raja Todar Mal, who was appointed in A.D. 1573 in Gujarat, and it helped to make the system of tax collection from non-muslims more organised.
The institution of the pacht or pacht-stelsel was a system of tax farming in the Dutch Republic. In this system tax is not collected by the government, but by a private individual who has leased the right to collect the tax. In the Dutch Republic, for example, this was common practise for a long time, especially for indirect taxes. Each year, the highest bidder acquired the right to collect certain taxes; he paid a rent for this to the government, and all he collected more was for the tax tenant himself. The rationale behind this system was that by outsourcing taxation, local governments could exert less influence on collection. Also, a tenant would collect taxes more scrupulously, because it would personally benefit him.
The Finnish Tax Administration is the revenue service of Finland. It is a government agency steered by the Ministry of Finance. The Finnish Tax Administration had 4,983 employees in 2016. It collects around two-thirds of the taxes in the country, with the rest being collected by the Finnish Customs and the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom. It collects around 55 billion euros and operates with a 408 million euro budget.
There were four primary kinds of taxation in ancient Rome: a cattle tax, a land tax, customs, and a tax on the profits of any profession. These taxes were typically collected by local aristocrats. The Roman state would set a fixed amount of money each region needed to provide in taxes, and the local officials would decide who paid the taxes and how much they paid. Once collected the taxes would be used to fund the military, create public works, establish trade networks, stimulate the economy, and to fund the cursus publicum.
tax collector.
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