W. Marc Gilfillan, CPA, NC, individual and business CPA and Tax expert, shares about the history of taxes…
Mithridates the Great was the leader of a small country near what is currently known as Turkey. He had the amazing ability to arouse discontent with disgruntled taxpayers. In 88 BC he led a rebellion against the Romans. By granting 5 years of tax immunity to each city that followed his army, he mustered substantial support.
The Roman Senate sprang into action and appointed General Sulla to muster an army and re-establish Roman authority in the east. Sulla was victorious in squelching the rebellion after a 4-year war. When the rebellion was crushed, Sulla ordered the leaders of the disgruntled cities to come to Ephesus. There the citizens were to remit 5 years of back taxes plus pay the general for the cost of the war.
To make sure the tax was collected, Sulla instituted “special agents.” These special agents were given the ability to scourge and kill, which was enough to make most taxpayers fall in line. Until this period there were self-assessment tax collectors, corporate tax collecting, army tax collectors and regular government tax collectors. But these new “special agents” were highly skillful specialized men with the ignorance of bureaucrats and the power of military executioners. Taxpayers lost all hope to evade. If you’re feeling the pressure with today’s taxes, call a Tax Preparer in Cary, NC for all your tax-related needs!
Special Agents have emerged time and again in the past, surviving in the modern age as “fiscal police” or simply “special agents”, using the title first given by Sulla over two thousand years ago. As the practice of Sulla’s special agents was put in to place in other provinces, soldiers came to realize that the rich spoils of war came from their commander, as opposed to the Roman Senate. Roman generals came back to Rome with the unwavering loyalty of their soldiers. Huge civil wars started as rival armies slaughtered each other. With these moderately private armies, the institution of a military dictator was inescapable. Thus, the Roman Republic died. Kings, dictators, and military strategists would now run the Roman Empire for the next two thousand years. Democracies and republics wouldn’t see a dominant role in civilization again until the 1800s. Go here if you want help with modern-day Tax Preparation in Cary, NC.
Keep an eye out for W. Marc Gilfillan’s next chapter in his History of Taxes series: Taxes and the American Revolution.
http://www.marccpa.com/
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