tax farmers
Privatized tax collectors
Tax farmers were private individuals or companies who purchased the right to collect taxes on behalf of a government.
They paid the state a fixed sum upfront, then kept whatever they could extract from taxpayers—profiting from the difference.
The system was common in ancient Rome, medieval Europe, and pre-revolutionary France, where it bred corruption and brutal collection practices.
The tax farmers squeezed every last coin from the peasants.
The term now appears mainly in historical contexts, though it occasionally describes modern outsourced revenue collection with similar incentive problems.
- publicansPub managers or owners
- tributeOffering of respect
- render unto CaesarGive what's owed to authority
- ancient RomeEarly Italian empire city
- collectorsThose who systematically acquire
revenue · tithe · extortion · Roman · provincial · contracts · bidders · public auction · auction · lease · ancient · oppression · Matthew · biblical · Judas Iscariot · customs · tolls · toll booth
tax farmerscivil servants
Government agency employees
public officials · government employees · customs officials · bureaucrats
tax farmersgovernment employees
Staff of the state
public servants · government bureaucracy · treasury department
tax farmerscivil servants
Government agency employees
IRS agents · public officials · state employees · customs officers
tax, farmer, farmers, taxes, taxed, taxing, taxation, taxable, taxman