State revenue consists of many types of payments, and the bulk of it falls on taxes, which are subject to mandatory payment. The tax code defines who is the tax collector. It can be state and other authorized organizations, self-government bodies. Directly tax collector - an official who is authorized to collect payments and transfer them to the budget.
What is tax
The existence of any state, regardless of its structure, directly depends on taxes and fees, which replenish the budget and allow spending on the maintenance of government bodies, the army, etc. What is a tax? First of all, it is a mandatory, individual and gratuitous payment, since it is not uniform for everyone, but depends on the income received. Without taxes, the existence of the state and its financial activities are impossible.
Both citizens (individuals) and organizations (legal entities) are subject to taxation. In other words, every citizen of a country or organization that has received profit from their activities is required to pay a certain percentage to the state. Property is also subject to taxation, for example, real estate, vehicles, and so on. The amount of taxes is determined by law.
Tax collection
At all times, tax collectors existed to carry out accounting and collect necessary payments. In the modern state, this is a whole system that records, verifies and directly collects funds. The modern tax collector is the tax office. Most citizens know it well. But few people know who collected taxes at various times, and what such people were called.
The tax collection system developed with the state and went through various stages. The first tax is believed to be sacrifice. This can be found in the Pentateuch of Moses, which says that the tithe of the seed on the earth and the fruits of the tree belongs to the Lord. In further development, this tithe acquired secular significance and was levied in favor of rulers, princes. In addition, the church gathered its tithe.
Initially, the tax collector is a prince with his retinue, who independently collected tribute from his subjects. In the future, they began to charge the collection to special persons - tax collectors.
Ancient Rome
In ancient Rome, tribute determination was carried out by censorship officials, to whom all citizens of Rome brought statements about the condition of the property, the composition of the family. These were the first tax returns. And the collection process itself was carried out by farmers, whose activities the state was not able to control. Emperor Augustus Octavian began to create special financial organizations that conducted accounting and verification of payment.
I would like to note that in the Roman Empire, military leaders were collecting taxes from land plots. But anyone could charge a tribute on the import and export of goods. To do this, it was necessary to issue a special permit, which was quite expensive. The tax collector of this plan called himself a tax collector. is he at its core was the same as the modern customs officer.
Ancient Judea
Ancient Judea was a vassal state of the Roman Empire. The Roman governor ruled it, and Roman laws acted on the territory. Taxes, as in Rome, were dealt with by special offices. By the way, the tax collector in Judea was the most despicable person.He belonged to a certain class in a society to which the Jews were deeply contemptuous, since they were dishonest, often exceeded the tax rate, served in the service of the procurator, and collected tribute in favor of Rome. Engaged in this, as in Rome, the publican.
This word was abusive. It was considered shameful to communicate with them, eat and drink together. It is well known that the disciples of Christ Matthew and Zacchaeus were publicans, but sincerely repented and ceased to engage in this activity. Subsequently, Matthew was proclaimed an apostle - a messenger.
Tax collection in ancient Russia
The taxation system of Rome passed to Byzantium, whence the word "tax collector" came to Russia after baptism. His value remains the same, the tax collector is a customs officer. The collection of tribute (main tax) took place in the month of November. The tax collector is the prince with his retinue, who traveled around all the people who filed and collected "polyudy". This duty did not have a certain size, except that during the detour the prince conducted the courts.
It was after the gathering of "Polyud" that Prince Igor was killed. And his wife, Princess Olga, severely avenged the residents of Iskorosten. He besieged him with his troops, and after the conquest he burned. Residents, however, imposed a heavy tribute. This event forced her to reconsider collection methods.
A certain size and place of collection of tribute was appointed - camps and graveyards, a form of delivery of tribute by the population (wagon) to special places was determined. The poll tax was called "tax", and later received the name "file". Tax collectors were created - orders. Such activities as archery, pit, and others were also imposed on her. For example, the Streletsky lodge was paid to the Streletsky order.
What is a file
In Russia, from the time of Peter I, the tax collector is a special office, and each tax has its own. Lodging is a fee that was levied on state-determined units subject to taxation: courtyard, plow, obzh, etc. At the end of Peter's reign, a poll tax was determined, which was levied on all males, except for nobles who were in the service, as well as the clergy.
Gradually, the circle of those exempted from taxes increased. An exception to the list of taxes was the non-serving nobles and merchants. The “taxable estate” was composed only of artisans and peasants.