5 – They Shamed Rich People into Paying Tax
How I wish we could implement such a system in the modern era! While giant corporations and billionaires are able to use all sorts of trickery to get away with paying tax, things were a little bit different in ancient Greece. Citizens believed that direct taxes were tyrannical so democratic cities tried to avoid directly taxing people as much as they could. While there was no outcry when a non-citizen was taxed, the Greeks seldom hit people with punitive tax rates and preferred to rely on civic commitment.
In other words, they believed the wealthiest people in the state should pay tax because their wealth was only possible due to the hard work of others. It was also believed that achieving wealth was a matter of good fortune. As there were no major industries or big businesses in ancient Greece, money was inherited; this usually happened when a family owned a lot of land and made a healthy profit from rent. As a result, this ‘aristocratic’ class was under pressure to show their worthiness to the city they lived in.
There were two main methods of taxing the wealthy. The first option was to levy a special tax known as an eisphora on wealthy citizens during times of emergencies such as war. This was a tax on assets rather than on income and while we don’t know how much they paid, it appears as if people in the top 30% in terms of wealth were taxed. The other method involved getting the rich to pay for public services. Examples include paying for the choruses for plays at festivals and government works such as warships. The wealthy hardly ever complained about the system and many of them paid more tax than was required.
Those who failed to comply were shamed so very few people would refuse to perform their duty. In addition, their reputation was based on the quality of the work they provided. For instance, if they subsidized the creation of a colonnaded street and it subsequently fell down, they would be known as a cheapskate. On the upside, they were honored when they got it right. To this day there are statues with inscriptions on them celebrating the generosity of the patron.