Near a hilltop citadel in Athens, Greece stands a monument to an honest tax assessor: Athenian General Aristides who lived approximately five hundred years before Christ. Why would the people of Athens choose to bestow such recognition on a tax assessor?
History records it was for this upright man’s ability to completely reform the property tax assessment system of Athens. Known as the most competent and impartial person who ever held the position, Aristides acted—above all else—in the interests of everyone. His prestige was so great that the citizens of Athens dubbed him “Aristides the Just.” Even the ancient historian Herodotus paid him tribute by declaring, “I have come to believe through my inquiries into his character that he was actually the best and most just of all Athenians.” Socrates too, praised him as an exceptional instance of good leadership.
Regrettably, it didn’t last. The good and fair tax system established by Aristides fell apart during the Peloponnesian War fought between the powerful Greek city-states of Athens and Sparta. The war dragged on for nearly three decades while taxes continued to increase. Athenian citizens complained that real and personal property taxes were just plain too high. They demanded that the government lower expenditures.
Then, a little over a century later, along came Alexander the Great who set for himself no small task but to conquer the known world. While considered a military genius, he was also an able administrator. Well aware that, prior to his conquest, the people were oppressed with taxes, Alexander’s tack was to substantially cut taxes and devote more of the money to public improvements that people would genuinely value. As a result, people not only paid fewer taxes while receiving greater benefits for their money, they also became far less likely to revolt.
When another world conqueror arrived on the scene – this time a familiar Roman with the name of Julius Caesar – he quickly proclaimed, “taxes are the chief business of a conqueror of the world.”
During the early years of the Roman Republic, the tax rate was just one percent of the value of all land, buildings and personal property. The tax rate climbed during war and crisis to three percent. However, as Rome expanded public benefits the budget was stretched thin.
Prior to Julius Caesar, over 300,000 people received food from the state. Caesar thought that many of these people should be working instead of receiving public benefits and therefore cut the number of recipients of public welfare in half. The result was that expenditures went down, and with more people plowing fields, the tax revenue increased.
Unfortunately, other Roman emperors were far less insightful. They implemented disastrous policies that were largely to blame for the collapse of one of the largest empires in world history, containing
20 percent of the world’s population at the time. Public expenditures compounded with more expensive entertainment. Entire months of the year became holidays and public welfare systems became increasingly generous. Over time, fewer people produced goods and the tax rates began to soar.
Fast forward a thousand years to yet another would-be world conqueror–William the Conqueror (even included the word “conqueror”in his name, in case anyone had any doubts as to what he was up to). The illiterate king of Viking descent created an early form of land taxation. He had town officials keep a public register showing details of everyone who owned property. Each parcel was measured and its value estimated. Each town kept a book of the assessment of each property and the total amount of property tax due for each person. This book was called – get ready for this – the Doomesday Book! That’s right, and the name stuck for hundreds of years. Even to this day, some of our friends across the Atlantic refer to the assessor’s records as the Doomsday Book.
So what can we learn from all these ancestral conquerors?
In the words of Richard H. Carlson, director of Evaluation for the City of Boston Assessing Department, whose 2004 address to his peers provided the basis for much of this column, “Our everyday decisions have significant consequences on residential and commercial taxpayers. We need to have a balanced view that considers our obligations to both the taxpayers and their jurisdictions. People make the difference in making the system better or worse. Those people are us. It is up to us to think, work hard, be prospective, anticipate problems, and come up with creative solutions to those problems.”
In the eyes of the citizens of Athens and historians, “Aristides the Just” was a man who was able to accomplished this.
“No government can exist
without taxation. This money
must necessarily be levied on
the people; and the grand art
consists of levying so as not to
oppress.”
Frederick the Great
Former Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble is writing this ongoing column about the various ways government works.
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