Taxation in the Ottoman Empire
Encyclopedia
Taxation in the Ottoman Empire
changed drastically over time, and was a complex feudal patchwork of different taxes, exemptions, and local customs.
As the Ottoman empire conquered new territories, it adopted and adapted the existing tax systems already used by the previous governments. For instance, at the conquest of Belgrade
, the Sultan instructed an official to gather information on the pre-conquest tax system, which would be replicated post-conquest. At the start of each area's tahrir (a tax ledger) was an outline of the traditional tax laws in that area.
This led to a complex patchwork of different taxes in different parts of the empire, and between different communities. In the Fertile crescent
, the Ottomans inherited muqasama (sharing), a proportional tax on agricultural output, from the Mamluk
s; it was distinctly different from the uniform tax rates in other newly conquered territories. As farmers reacted to locally varying taxes on different farm products, this increased variations in agricultural output between areas, or even between villages; farms subject to the highest taxes switched to alternative crops. Discriminatory rates tend to lead to production inefficiencies.
Even the Ottoman double-entry accounting method, merdiban, was inherited from the Abbasid empire.
was a tax register. It recorded names and property/land ownership; it categorised households, and sometimes whole villages, by religion. The names in defters names can give valuable information about ethnic background; these tax records are a valuable source for current-day historians investigating the ethnic & religious history of parts of the ottoman empire.
. In the Balkans, peasants on timars typically paid a tithe or a tax in kind, of around 10%–25% of their farm produce; they were also obliged to pay other charges and perform corvee
for the landlord, although these obligations may have been a lighter burden than in some contemporary Western European states. This system closely resembles the medieval Serb feudal system, which in turn inherited from the Byzantine
.
whilst non-Muslims paid İspençe
.
These taxes might be further graduated according to people's ability to pay. In 1530, the Eyalet of Rumelia had graduated taxes even between different religious subsets of a small ethnic minority; Muslim gypsies paid 22 aspers per household, nonmuslim paid 25.
In some cases, local taxes were imposed on nonmuslims specifically to encourage conversion; conversely, measures might be taken at other times to prevent conversion, in order to prop up tax revenues.
There was a practice of making villages communally responsible for the haraç
tax; if one villager fled (or converted to Islam), the others would have to pay more. In good years, community pressure would ensure compliance; but in bad years the difficulty of paying a share of other people's taxes could lead to a vicious circle, as more taxpayers fled:
In the Balkans, Vlachs had tax concessions under Byzantine and Serb rulers in return for military service, and this continued under Ottoman rule. There was a special vlach tax, rusum-e eflak: one sheep and one lamb from each household on St Georges day each year. Because Vlachs were taxed differently, they were listed differently in defters.
There could be considerable regional variance, and local lords might try to line their own pockets; around 1718 the kadi
of Janjevo complained to the Porte that the local lord had set İspençe
at 80 akçes, rather than the official rate of 32 akçes.
There was also a patchwork of tax exemptions called muafiyet
, which might be applied to towns, social groups, or even individuals.
—to both church superiors and Ottoman officials—to get a senior post, expecting that the cost could be amply recouped from tithes.
Sometimes, the "taxation" of churches by the Ottoman authorities could be shockingly direct: in 1603 Franciscan monks in Bosnia were imprisoned until they paid an arbitrary fee of 3000 aspers for permission to stay in their monasteries.
s were, in one sense, a form of tax avoidance; a perpetual trust which was not, itself, taxed. However, some were very well-endowed, and provided various local services such as education which compensated for the Ottoman government's inability to provide local services funded by taxation. Some became so powerful that whole towns developed around the social services they provided; there are towns in the Balkans which include the name "Vakuf". A well-endowed vakuf might even take on the role of helping a community pay their annual tax obligations.
The Ottoman state went bankrupt in 1590; this led to economic collapse and several years of revolts across the empire.
, a centralised cash tax, became the norm rather than an exception.
There was a shift towards fully owned hereditary estates rather than feudal lords; ciftlik
were preferred to timar, because tenants had fewer rights – hence more cash could be extracted from them.
The Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane declared the equality of different ethnic and religious groups – abolishing the Kanun-i Raya – and reformed taxes. However, not all these changes percolated to the outer areas of empire.
In Bosnia, haraç
was not abolished until 1855, at the same time that Christians were permitted to serve as soldiers; however, a new charge in lieu of military service appeared and was levied to haraç, so the only real change was a tax increase on those Muslims not serving in the military. An 1859 decree set a tax-in-kind of one third for peasants on Agaluk
(formerly Timar
) estates, which became known locally as "tretina". This was in addition to a state tithe set at 10% of crop value. Other charges would push the total tax burden over 40% – all this in a state which could not provide the social benefits that are offered in modern countries with similarly high tax rates.
In 1839, Sultan Abdülmecid I
pushed a set of major new reforms to the tax system, including the abolition of tax-farming. The Tanzimat
reforms introduced a new income tax; they also did away with many of the complex old taxes, although cizye remained. Taxation on corporate profits, in the modern sense, only really became possible after a cadastral survey in 1858–1860; the temettu
(profit tax) was set at 3% in 1860, and later raised to 4% in 1878.
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
changed drastically over time, and was a complex feudal patchwork of different taxes, exemptions, and local customs.
Inheritance
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
, the Sultan instructed an official to gather information on the pre-conquest tax system, which would be replicated post-conquest. At the start of each area's tahrir (a tax ledger) was an outline of the traditional tax laws in that area.
This led to a complex patchwork of different taxes in different parts of the empire, and between different communities. In the Fertile crescent
Fertile Crescent
The Fertile Crescent, nicknamed "The Cradle of Civilization" for the fact the first civilizations started there, is a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia. The term was first used by University of Chicago...
, the Ottomans inherited muqasama (sharing), a proportional tax on agricultural output, from the Mamluk
Mamluk
A Mamluk was a soldier of slave origin, who were predominantly Cumans/Kipchaks The "mamluk phenomenon", as David Ayalon dubbed the creation of the specific warrior...
s; it was distinctly different from the uniform tax rates in other newly conquered territories. As farmers reacted to locally varying taxes on different farm products, this increased variations in agricultural output between areas, or even between villages; farms subject to the highest taxes switched to alternative crops. Discriminatory rates tend to lead to production inefficiencies.
Even the Ottoman double-entry accounting method, merdiban, was inherited from the Abbasid empire.
Defter
The defterDefter
A Defter was a type of tax register in the Ottoman Empire. The information collected could vary, but tahrir defterleri typically included details of villages, dwellings, household heads , ethnicity/religion , and land use.The defter-i hakâni was a land registry, also used for tax...
was a tax register. It recorded names and property/land ownership; it categorised households, and sometimes whole villages, by religion. The names in defters names can give valuable information about ethnic background; these tax records are a valuable source for current-day historians investigating the ethnic & religious history of parts of the ottoman empire.
Feudal estates
The primary role of the Timar system was to collect feudal obligations, before cash taxes became dominant. The Ottoman empire had a hierarchy of different types of estate; a Hass was larger than a Zaim estate, which in turn was larger than a timarTimar
Timar is a land granted by the Ottoman sultans between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with a tax revenue annual value of less than 20 000 akçes. The revenues produced from land acted as compensation for military service. A Timar holder was known as a Timariot...
. In the Balkans, peasants on timars typically paid a tithe or a tax in kind, of around 10%–25% of their farm produce; they were also obliged to pay other charges and perform corvee
Corvée
Corvée is unfree labour, often unpaid, that is required of people of lower social standing and imposed on them by the state or a superior . The corvée was the earliest and most widespread form of taxation, which can be traced back to the beginning of civilization...
for the landlord, although these obligations may have been a lighter burden than in some contemporary Western European states. This system closely resembles the medieval Serb feudal system, which in turn inherited from the Byzantine
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...
.
A patchwork of different communities and taxes
As well as regional variation, there were different taxes applied to different religious and ethnic groups; Muslims paid resm-i çiftResm-i çift
The Resm-i Çift was a tax in the Ottoman Empire. It was a tax on farmland, assessed at a fixed annual rate per çift, and paid by land-owning Muslims. Some Imams and some civil servants were exempted from the resm-i çift.The tax was collected annually, on the 1st of March, by the holder of the...
whilst non-Muslims paid İspençe
İspençe
İspençe was a tax in the Ottoman Empire.İspençe was a land-tax on non-Muslims in parts of the ottoman empire; its counterpart, for Muslim taxpayers, was the resm-i çift - which was set at slightly lower rate...
.
These taxes might be further graduated according to people's ability to pay. In 1530, the Eyalet of Rumelia had graduated taxes even between different religious subsets of a small ethnic minority; Muslim gypsies paid 22 aspers per household, nonmuslim paid 25.
In some cases, local taxes were imposed on nonmuslims specifically to encourage conversion; conversely, measures might be taken at other times to prevent conversion, in order to prop up tax revenues.
There was a practice of making villages communally responsible for the haraç
Haraç
The Haraç, or Harač, was a poll-tax in the Ottoman empire.It developed from an earlier form of land taxation and was, in principle, only payable by non-Muslims; it was seen as a counterpart to zakat paid by Muslims...
tax; if one villager fled (or converted to Islam), the others would have to pay more. In good years, community pressure would ensure compliance; but in bad years the difficulty of paying a share of other people's taxes could lead to a vicious circle, as more taxpayers fled:
In the Balkans, Vlachs had tax concessions under Byzantine and Serb rulers in return for military service, and this continued under Ottoman rule. There was a special vlach tax, rusum-e eflak: one sheep and one lamb from each household on St Georges day each year. Because Vlachs were taxed differently, they were listed differently in defters.
There could be considerable regional variance, and local lords might try to line their own pockets; around 1718 the kadi
Kadi
Kadi may refer to:*Kadi, Gujarat, a city and municipality in Mehsana district, Gujarat, India*Kadhi, an Indian dish*Kadı, an official in the Ottoman empire*Qadi or kadi, Islamic judge*Al-Qadi, an Arabic surname*Quadi, an ancient Germanic tribe...
of Janjevo complained to the Porte that the local lord had set İspençe
İspençe
İspençe was a tax in the Ottoman Empire.İspençe was a land-tax on non-Muslims in parts of the ottoman empire; its counterpart, for Muslim taxpayers, was the resm-i çift - which was set at slightly lower rate...
at 80 akçes, rather than the official rate of 32 akçes.
There was also a patchwork of tax exemptions called muafiyet
Muafiyet
Muafiyet was a tax exemption mechanism for Ottoman towns or villages; an individual decree of tax exemption was called a muafname.After a muafname was issued to a town, the urban population would be exempted from some of the taxes on raya, such as resm-i çift...
, which might be applied to towns, social groups, or even individuals.
Church taxation
Orthodox churches were allowed to raise taxes among their communities; this led to a position where priests would pay very large amountsSimony
Simony is the act of paying for sacraments and consequently for holy offices or for positions in the hierarchy of a church, named after Simon Magus , who appears in the Acts of the Apostles 8:9-24...
—to both church superiors and Ottoman officials—to get a senior post, expecting that the cost could be amply recouped from tithes.
Sometimes, the "taxation" of churches by the Ottoman authorities could be shockingly direct: in 1603 Franciscan monks in Bosnia were imprisoned until they paid an arbitrary fee of 3000 aspers for permission to stay in their monasteries.
Vakufs
WaqfWaqf
A waqf also spelled wakf formally known as wakf-alal-aulad is an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law, typically denoting a building or plot of land for Muslim religious or charitable purposes. The donated assets are held by a charitable trust...
s were, in one sense, a form of tax avoidance; a perpetual trust which was not, itself, taxed. However, some were very well-endowed, and provided various local services such as education which compensated for the Ottoman government's inability to provide local services funded by taxation. Some became so powerful that whole towns developed around the social services they provided; there are towns in the Balkans which include the name "Vakuf". A well-endowed vakuf might even take on the role of helping a community pay their annual tax obligations.
Conflict
Taxes were often difficult to collect, especially from rebellious areas. Conversely, high taxes could often provoke rebellion. The demand for taxes was higher during times of war; these factors together could provoke a vicious circle of taxation and rebellion – in 1585, 2000 villagers near Debar revolted over an increase in cizye.The Ottoman state went bankrupt in 1590; this led to economic collapse and several years of revolts across the empire.
Complexity and reform
In 17th–18th century, changes in warfare (favouring professional infantry over feudal cavalry) put more emphasis on taxes rather than on military duties; hence, when timars fell vacant they were taken over by the state and converted into tax-farms and private estates. AvarizAvariz
Avariz was a tax in the Ottoman Empire, an annual cash tax paid by households registered in a defter.-History:In early Ottoman history, the state depended on the timar system of feudal dues; but over time - especially due to the need to hire professional soldiers rather than peasants serving a...
, a centralised cash tax, became the norm rather than an exception.
There was a shift towards fully owned hereditary estates rather than feudal lords; ciftlik
Chiflik
Chiflik, or chiftlik , is a Turkish term for a system of land management in the Ottoman Empire. Before the chiflik system the Empire used a non-hereditary form of land management called the Timar System...
were preferred to timar, because tenants had fewer rights – hence more cash could be extracted from them.
The Hatt-ı Şerif of Gülhane declared the equality of different ethnic and religious groups – abolishing the Kanun-i Raya – and reformed taxes. However, not all these changes percolated to the outer areas of empire.
In Bosnia, haraç
Haraç
The Haraç, or Harač, was a poll-tax in the Ottoman empire.It developed from an earlier form of land taxation and was, in principle, only payable by non-Muslims; it was seen as a counterpart to zakat paid by Muslims...
was not abolished until 1855, at the same time that Christians were permitted to serve as soldiers; however, a new charge in lieu of military service appeared and was levied to haraç, so the only real change was a tax increase on those Muslims not serving in the military. An 1859 decree set a tax-in-kind of one third for peasants on Agaluk
Agaluk
An Agaluk was a feudal unit of the Ottoman Empire governed by an Aga, or lord.In Bosnian history, an agaluk may often refer to land owned by an Aga....
(formerly Timar
Timar
Timar is a land granted by the Ottoman sultans between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with a tax revenue annual value of less than 20 000 akçes. The revenues produced from land acted as compensation for military service. A Timar holder was known as a Timariot...
) estates, which became known locally as "tretina". This was in addition to a state tithe set at 10% of crop value. Other charges would push the total tax burden over 40% – all this in a state which could not provide the social benefits that are offered in modern countries with similarly high tax rates.
In 1839, Sultan Abdülmecid I
Abdülmecid I
Sultan Abdülmecid I, Abdul Mejid I, Abd-ul-Mejid I or Abd Al-Majid I Ghazi was the 31st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and succeeded his father Mahmud II on July 2, 1839. His reign was notable for the rise of nationalist movements within the empire's territories...
pushed a set of major new reforms to the tax system, including the abolition of tax-farming. The Tanzimat
Tanzimat
The Tanzimât , meaning reorganization of the Ottoman Empire, was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. The Tanzimât reform era was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire, to secure its territorial integrity against...
reforms introduced a new income tax; they also did away with many of the complex old taxes, although cizye remained. Taxation on corporate profits, in the modern sense, only really became possible after a cadastral survey in 1858–1860; the temettu
Temettu
Temettu was a tax introduced by the tanzimat reforms in the later Ottoman Empire.Temettu was a tax on estimated business profits; it was mostly paid by merchants and artisans. An early form of temettu was attempted in 1839 , but it was impractical without detailed information on business incomes...
(profit tax) was set at 3% in 1860, and later raised to 4% in 1878.