Taxes


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Taxes

Taxes:  To run a family ,money is needed.That is the reason why your parents work .Similarly, to manage a country, more money is needed. Money was required by new Rajas for building forts and armies. Most of this money is got in the form of taxes.They started collecting regular taxes from the people .tax could be paid either in cash or in kind.

In Vedic India ,taxes were imposed by the rulers on the revenue or income earned by the people of the kingdom.

As the rulers of the mahajanapadas were ,buildings huge forts, maintain big armies, they needed more resources. And they needed officials to collect these. So instead by people, as in the case of the raja of the janapadas, they started collecting regular taxes.

  • Taxes on crops were the most important. This was because most people were farmers. Usually, the tax was fixed at1/6th of what was produced. This was known as bhaga or a share.
  • There were taxes on crafts persons as well. These could have been in the form of labour. For example, a weaver or a smith may have had to work for a day every month for the king.
  • Even cattle and sheep herders paid taxes in the form of animals and animal products.
  • Traders were taxed on goods bought and and sold.
  • The King was considered the owner of wasteland and the jungles,and so hunters and gathers also had to give a part of their produce to be rajan.
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