APPLETONS' 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY. 



MAECH, 1896. 



PRINCIPLES OF TAXATION. 



BY DAVID A. "WELLS, LL.D., D. C.L., 



CORBESPONDANT DK 1,'lNSTITUT DK TBANCE, ETC. 



II. THE PLACE OF TAXATION IN LITERATURE AND HISTORY. 



PART II. 



rriAXATION IN ANCIENT GREECE. In Athens, according to 

 -L Boeckh, the revenues of the state were derived from receipts 

 from the public domains, including mines, partly from taxes 

 analogous to our " customs " and " excise," and some taxes upon 

 industry and persons which only extended to aliens and slaves ; 

 from fines and justice fees, from the proceeds of confiscated prop- 

 erty, and from tribute from allied or subject states. All exports 

 and imports into Athens, at one period, were subject to a small 

 duty of two per cent ; and in addition to this, foreign ships lying 

 in the harbor paid a small fee, as did also aliens for the privilege 

 of selling commodities, arriving by sea, in certain designated 

 market places. "A special tax was also levied upon the pro- 

 prietors or occupants of houses, the doors or windows of which 

 opened outward on the public footway. And, as throwing further 

 light on the social system of ancient Greece, we have the state- 

 ment on good authority that the Greeks, having no pockets, used 

 to leave valuable articles in sealed packets, trusting to the laws 

 which punished the violation of a seal. Direct taxes/' according 

 to Boeckh, " imposed upon the soil, upon industry, or upon persons, 

 excepting in cases of emergency, were looked upon in Greece as 

 despotic and arbitrary ; it being considered as a necessary element 

 of freedom that the property of a citizen, as well as his occupation, 

 should be exempt from all taxation, except when a free community 

 taxed itself, which, however, is obviously an essential part of lib- 



VOL. XLVIII. 41 



