Capitatio-Iugatio

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The late Roman tax system introduced under Emperor Diocletian (and often discussed in research) is referred to as capitatio-iugatio .

The tax reform was perhaps already carried out in 287 and aimed to create a uniform system throughout the empire and to put the calculation of taxes on a more secure basis: The property tax, the annona , was now based on the available labor and livestock ( capita ) as well as after the cultivated land ( iugera ) calculated by tax estimates ( censitores ). In this relatively complicated system, the assessment according to the categories of persons as well as animals ( caput ) and land ( iugum ) was combined with each other (which mainly affected the rural population) and Italy was also subjected to direct taxation, which had not been the case before . Ideally, the tax estimate should take into account the individual performance of those affected and also allow regional differentiations, which of course did not always happen in practice. Nevertheless, some of the related complaints in the sources (e.g. already with Lactantius ) are not to be seen as compelling evidence of an oppressive tax burden, but rather as subjective statements. The amount to be paid was initially determined every five years, and then every 15 years since 312 (cf. Indication ) and fell within the remit of the Praetorian Prefect . Overall, the new tax system enabled steadily flowing income, especially for the eastern part of the empire.

It is sometimes assumed that this system was the model for a similar tax reform in the Sassanid Empire in the 6th century .

literature

  • Walter A. Goffart : Caput and Colonate. Towards a history of late Roman taxation . Phoenix Supplementary Volume 12, Toronto and Buffalo 1974.
  • U. Hildesheim: Personnel aspects of the early Byzantine tax code. Personnel assessment and its integration into the system of capitatio - iugatio . Pfaffenweiler 1988.
  • Arnold Hugh Martin Jones : The Later Roman Empire 284-602. A social, economic and administrative survey . 3 vols., Oxford 1964 (reprinted in 2 vols. Baltimore 1986).
  • Roger Rees: Diocletian and the Tetrarchy (= Debates and Documents in Ancient History) . Edinburgh 2004.