The Bible and Taxes

So, what percentage of the income of an Old Testament believer was taken from his pocket in by way of direct taxes and how much by indirect taxes? Most Christians would answer 10%, since that is what has been preached from pulpits for several generations. But, is that actually the case? Various scholars from a variety of theological backgrounds have tried, at different times, to calculate what the actual expected rate of giving was. After taking everything into consideration, the result is a tax rate in the range of 25 to 40%. Here is how they arrived at this figure.

10% was the Temple tax. Additional fees were charged for the firstborn, for special offerings, etc.
The religious requirement that the corners of your field not be harvested but rather left for the poor was itself a type of tax.

The first-fruits of the year was in addition to the 10%. The law enjoined that no fruit was to be gathered from newly-planted fruit-trees for the first three years, and that the first-fruits of the fourth year were to be consecrated to the Lord (Lev. 19:23-25). The first animal to break out of the womb of each of your animals was also to be offered to the Lord, so you “lost” that income. According to Jewish law, the corners of fields, wild areas, left-overs after harvesting (gleanings), and unowned crops were not subjected to (and could not be used as) the tithe of First Fruits. The first-fruits offering had to come from your regular crop.

I am sure that I have missed some “charges,” but the faithful Old Testament believer was taxed well beyond 10%.

Then the King would add his tax, which sometimes included both forced labor in times of peace and a form of the draft in times of war. According to the Book of Samuel, the King’s tax was an additional 10%, and those were not the only taxes levied. These taxes were in the form of both direct and indirect taxes. Here is a quote on that type of tax:

Indirect Taxes: These indirect taxes were of various types, such as custom duties or sales taxes. An excise tax on articles consumed was called “belo” in Hebrew, and a road toll or customs tax was termed “halakh.” In Ezra 4:20, these indirect taxes are termed “tribute” and “duty” respectively in the modern English version. Other words used in various places in the Old Testament were “mas” (forced labor) [I Kings 5:13; v. 27, Hebrew text], “massa” (burden) [II Chronicles 17:11], “mekhes” (measure) [Numbers 31:25-31], and “middah” (tribute) [Ezra 4:20]. These numerous terms were perhaps necessary because the Hebrew language had no general word corresponding to the English word “tax” [Orr, 1956, p. 2918].

In both the Old Testament (Joshua, Nehemiah, etc.) a per head poll tax on males is mentioned, as well as in the New Testament. Do you remember when Jesus, Peter, and the other disciples came to the city entrance and were asked whether they paid the Temple tax on people? That was a poll tax and Jesus sent Peter out to catch a fish, in whose mouth the coin required to pay that tax was found. This is a direct tax. Caesar is also recorded in Scripture as levying his own head tax on people which was different from the Temple poll tax..

Scripture expected additional free-will offerings on top of what I have enumerated thus far. However, I am not counting these since these were to be freely given.

So, next time someone tells you about how ancient Israel made the country run on only 10%, do not believe him/her.