History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c45.s7.17

v3.c45.s7.17

The rates of taxation were fixed at 12, 24 and 48 *dirhams* a year for the three classes respectively,—or Rs. 3 1/3, Rs. 6 2/3 and Rs. 13 1/3. On the poor, therefore, the incidence of the tax was at least 6 per cent of the gross income; on the middle class it ranged from 6 to 1/4 p. c., and on the rich it was always lighter even than 2 1/2 per thousand. In violation of modern canons of taxation, the *jaziya* hit the poorest portion of the population hardest. It could never be less than Rs. 3 1/3 on a man, which was the money-value of nine maunds of wheat flour at the average market price of the end of the 16th century. (*Ain*, i. 63.) The State, therefore, at the lowest incidence of the tax, annually took away from the poor man the full value of one year's food as the price of religious indulgence. Secondly, all Government officials were exempted from the tax, though they were the wealthiest members of their respective classes in society.