Post by Tular on Dec 17, 2004 15:27:03 GMT -5
Fitting in with my work on noble houses and their estates, I'm trying to figure out just exactly how taxation worked in the Wheel of Time world. Here's what I have in mind so far (yet to be fleshed out) but I thought I'd post here so people are free to give feedback or respond with any reference in books I haven't seen.
Nations are ruled by monarchs (except Tear), who in theory own all the land in their nation. In turn, they award swathes of it to the various Houses in return for homeage and fealty. The heads of these Houses in turn award smaller swathes to other members of House and lessor lords that may be vassaled under them, and so forth down until the lowest lord has land. In turn, these nobles are free to trade estates between each other, but all remain ultimately responsible to the crown.
My debate is as to whether those estates pay taxes in form of coin from earnings, or percentage of yield. I'd tend to lean toward the second, though there is some memory of Elayne talking to her first clerk that is nagging at me.
In the first instance, tax moneys would be passed up to the High Seat of the local House, and then passed onto a crown tax collector (or possilbly just to regional powers if enough tax collectors are in service). The crown would then use these moneys to purchase anything it needed for the upkeep of its kingdom.
With option B, tax would take the form of produce, so an estate may be required to turn over 20% of the wheat grown in its fields (or much more, depending on ruler). This would then be taken to crown granaries located in larger towns and cities across the nation, and either used to feed armies/starving populous, or sold to fund other ventures. As a nation would have use for a myriad of objects, crates of pottery from potters or reams of cloth from weavers would also prove a valid tax.
Option C would be a combination of both. Tax could either be paid as a percentage of production, which could always be paid, or gold to the value of what the crown believes that portion of product to be worth. Gold, of course, requires the payer to have been able to find a market for their product.
That covers tax for nobles, but then we have to look at commoners. I put these in three classes.
1) Free man. The commoner lives on his own land rather than in the lands of a noble. These are usually found at the finges of a nation, where a tax collector may not have been seen in generations.
2) Tennant. The commoner is granted a small parcel of a lord's land to work, and in return is required to give homeage to the lord, and service for a certain number of days a week/year, and must attend court if called on to do so. The produce of their land is theirs to own and sell as they please.
3) Indentured Servant. The commoner is bound to serve the lord for a given period of time (sometimes life). All their basic needs are provided by the lord, who they must work for in return as a form of payment. This may be part of fulfilling a punishment (S,L&Min with Lord Byrne, for example), or may be undertaken as a means to avoid starving to death. The commoner will be supported for life, but they will not be able to advance their personal wealth at all.
Looking back, of the three classes of commoner, only the second would pay tax (The first dodges it, and the third's liege pays theirs). Tax for the commoner could therefore take the form of 3 days service to lord per tenday, or payment of coin to excuse them from it. Since they are effectively a tennant, it would be up to the lord to decide which is preferred, since eviction can be quite a powerful negotiation tool.
Ok, that looks about it for now. Like I said at the beginning, if you can find any references to tax in the books, respond here and let me know what they are. Once the infrastructure is figured out, it should flow over into more quests for you guys, since people will go to elaborate lengths to avoid tax ;D
Nations are ruled by monarchs (except Tear), who in theory own all the land in their nation. In turn, they award swathes of it to the various Houses in return for homeage and fealty. The heads of these Houses in turn award smaller swathes to other members of House and lessor lords that may be vassaled under them, and so forth down until the lowest lord has land. In turn, these nobles are free to trade estates between each other, but all remain ultimately responsible to the crown.
My debate is as to whether those estates pay taxes in form of coin from earnings, or percentage of yield. I'd tend to lean toward the second, though there is some memory of Elayne talking to her first clerk that is nagging at me.
In the first instance, tax moneys would be passed up to the High Seat of the local House, and then passed onto a crown tax collector (or possilbly just to regional powers if enough tax collectors are in service). The crown would then use these moneys to purchase anything it needed for the upkeep of its kingdom.
With option B, tax would take the form of produce, so an estate may be required to turn over 20% of the wheat grown in its fields (or much more, depending on ruler). This would then be taken to crown granaries located in larger towns and cities across the nation, and either used to feed armies/starving populous, or sold to fund other ventures. As a nation would have use for a myriad of objects, crates of pottery from potters or reams of cloth from weavers would also prove a valid tax.
Option C would be a combination of both. Tax could either be paid as a percentage of production, which could always be paid, or gold to the value of what the crown believes that portion of product to be worth. Gold, of course, requires the payer to have been able to find a market for their product.
That covers tax for nobles, but then we have to look at commoners. I put these in three classes.
1) Free man. The commoner lives on his own land rather than in the lands of a noble. These are usually found at the finges of a nation, where a tax collector may not have been seen in generations.
2) Tennant. The commoner is granted a small parcel of a lord's land to work, and in return is required to give homeage to the lord, and service for a certain number of days a week/year, and must attend court if called on to do so. The produce of their land is theirs to own and sell as they please.
3) Indentured Servant. The commoner is bound to serve the lord for a given period of time (sometimes life). All their basic needs are provided by the lord, who they must work for in return as a form of payment. This may be part of fulfilling a punishment (S,L&Min with Lord Byrne, for example), or may be undertaken as a means to avoid starving to death. The commoner will be supported for life, but they will not be able to advance their personal wealth at all.
Looking back, of the three classes of commoner, only the second would pay tax (The first dodges it, and the third's liege pays theirs). Tax for the commoner could therefore take the form of 3 days service to lord per tenday, or payment of coin to excuse them from it. Since they are effectively a tennant, it would be up to the lord to decide which is preferred, since eviction can be quite a powerful negotiation tool.
Ok, that looks about it for now. Like I said at the beginning, if you can find any references to tax in the books, respond here and let me know what they are. Once the infrastructure is figured out, it should flow over into more quests for you guys, since people will go to elaborate lengths to avoid tax ;D
