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The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c11.t26: c) Direct Taxes

The Political Institutions and Theories of the Hindus: A Study in Comparative Politics c11.t26

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c) Direct Taxes

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In Kautilya's list we do not have the taxes on looms, oil-mills, etc that are mentioned in the Chola inscriptions. Nor do the Tamil taxes on "sonship" or inheritance and succession appear in the Maurya statements. But, as we have seen, weights and measures were taxed.² Gamblers had to pay a license.³ Dramatists, players, singers, and musicians were charged 5 *paṇas* ($ 1.25).³ This figure does not, however, explain the rate. A tax was levied from prostitutes as in Athens⁴ and in Rome under Caligula.⁵ As a rule, cattle were not taxed *per capita*. They figured in the *samâhartâ's* (collector-general's) books only in connection with excise on sale. But under abnormal conditions, when an emergency finance was the problem, a special due was charged on domestic quadrupeds.⁶ The same circumstances brought painters, sculptors, and artists generally within the tax-collector's grip.⁷

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² See details, *Ind. Ant.* 1905, pp. 50, 51.

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³ *Ibid*, 58.

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⁴ Schömann, p. 449.

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⁵ Seligman's *Essays*, pp. 36, 37.

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⁶ *Ind. Ant.* 1905, p. 114.

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⁷ *Ibid*, p. 59.

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It seems, on the whole, however, that the Mauryas considered the taxes on property rather as a safety-valve to fall back on in dire necessity than as a normal source of regular imperial revenues. And when the necessity arose (e. g. through war conditions) the Empire did not hesitate to levy what were virtually "super-taxes" on both immovable and movable properties of the wealthier classes. In the first place, the rates of land tax were enhanced.⁸ But regions barren or difficult to cultivate were exempted from this emergency taxation. And persons engaged in "essential industries", e. g. in agriculture, forestry, and elephant-training, were likewise granted a privilege. In the second place contributions in "services" were levied from "lacklanders", especially from culprits and bad characters. The government in cooperation with the *samâhartâ* and the superintendent of agriculture was to improvise "war-farms" and "war-gardens" and induct such able-bodied persons into the work of cultivation.¹

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⁸ See details, *Ibid*, p. 115; also *Ind. Ant.* 1909, pp. 260, 261; *Artha*, V, ii.

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¹ See details, *Ibid*, p. 115; also *Ind. Ant.* 1909, pp. 260, 261; *Artha*, V, ii.

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In the third place, persons rearing pigs and cocks had to contribute 50 per cent of their stock. Those who had sheep and goat farms were taxed 16⅔ per cent, and herdsmen who reared cows and buffaloes 10 per cent.² In the fourth place, a special levy of 500 *paṇas* ($ 125) was raised from merchants in diamonds, horses, and elephants. Dealers in cotton goods had to pay 400 *paṇas*, dealers in grains and liquids 300, traders in glass and glassware 200, artisans and carpenters 100, and dealers in mud-pots, inn-keepers and small retailers 50.² In the fifth place, dramatists (and theater managers?) as well as prostitutes had to surrender half their annual earnings.² And lastly, as in Athens,³ the government exacted extraordinary donations and gifts from temples and religious establishments.⁴ The process might almost be described as a legalized looting of ecclesiastical property by the secular authorities.

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² See details, *Ibid*, p. 116. Vide Gupta's "Courtesanship in Buddhist India" in the *Hindustan Review*, Aug. 1919.

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³ Schomann, p. 454.

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⁴ *Ind. Ant.* 1905, p. 117.

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Some of the war-taxes were described by Kautilya euphemistically as *praṇaya* or "love"-gifts.⁵ The Empire used to pose as "beggar" and appeal to the "patriotism" of the citizens for "voluntary" subscriptions. And in order that the "modernism" of Maurya finance may be appreciated still further it has to be pointed out that titles of honor were conferred by the government on the patriotic contributors. Subscribers to the "liberty fund" were honored, for instance, with a rank in the court, an umbrella, or a turban or some ornaments in return for their gold.⁶ Moreover, the government took special steps to advertise and give publicity to the donations of the patriots in order to create a spirit of rivalry among the rich in the acts of self-sacrifice.

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⁵ *Ibid*, pp. 115, 117; *Cf.* "benevolences" in British fiscal history, Dowell, Vol. I, pp. 155—157, 202, 203, 243, etc.

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⁶ *Ibid*, 1909, p. 261; *Artha*, V, ii.

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It was not with an alleged Machiavellian wickedness but in quite the scientific methods of "high finance" that Kautilya approached the problem of financing a war or meeting an emergency. The financial experts of the Maurya civil service knew how to cause the rich to "vomit" (*vamana*) their accumulated wealth or otherwise deplete and drain (*karṣaṇa*) of their property.¹ Exploitation of "gold-lords" by the state was a process of expropriation that the *Artha-śâstra* does not hesitate to pronounce as the objective of the "ways and means" committee. Like the "liturgies" and *eisphora* of the Athenian city state ² high imposts of various denominations were therefore borne by people of large incomes in Maurya India. And the impact of war or emergency finance must have tended to make the demands of the government even in normal times "progressive" in spirit, if not mathematically so.

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² *Enc. Brit.* (Finance).

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