Big landowners constitute separate taxable units. The are called "persons" (prosopa), as opposed to villages. Their domains, called prosateia, are cultivated by tenants, by dependent tenants (paroikoi), or by slaves. That are supposed to assume the same fiscal obligations as the villages.
A geographical region containing several basic taxable units is called a enoria; several enoriai form a dioikesis, the largest provincial fiscal unit, which sometimes correspond to an entire theme, sometimes a part of it.
Although the strategos wield full powers inside his theme, taxation is in the hands of special officials who, although administratively subordinate to him, report directly to the central financial administration at Constantinople. The revision of the cadastre and the establishment of the amount of the taxes is the work of subordinates of the logothete of the genikon (anagrephis, epoptai, exisotai, dioketai). The census of the military lands is done by the chartularioi, subordinates of the logothete of the stratiotikon. All fiscal obligations concerning the postal service and the maintenance of the roads is controlled by the logothete of the drome. The protonotsarios of the theme, a subordinate of the imperial sakelle, is the head of the financial services of the province.
The main taxable good is land, classified, for fiscal purposes, into three categories according to its productivity. The basic tax on it (demosios kanon, demosion) is established at 4.17 percent of its value per year. For example, one nomisma per year is due for twenty-four modioi (about 24,000 square meters) of land of first quality, for forty eight modioi of third quality, and for seventy-two modioi of third quality. This principal remains constant throughout the life of the empire.
From the eight century on, this basic tax gradually increased with the addition of special and "temporary" taxes, such as the dikeraton (one-twelfth nomisma), and the hexaphollon (one-forty-eighth nomisma), introduced by Leo III or the repairs of the walls of Constantinople, and the synetheia and the elatikon, which are supposed to pay for the expenses of tax collectors and of their armed escorts. These taxes ended up being incorporated into the basic one. This basic tax is to be paid in gold nomismata (charagma), which are not readily available in the countryside.
The land tax is paid by the landower. Several other taxes are paid by the individuals who cultivate the land, whether they own it or not. The kapnikon (heart tax), similiar to the capitatio, is paid by eac farmer's household. To this basic personal tax is added a second one, proportionate to the farmer's productivity; it is evaluated according to the number of oxen he possesses and, consequently, to the quantity of land he can cultivate efficentl. This tax is called synone. It and the kapnikon are calculated according to the pricniple of 4.17 percent of the value.
Special tithes (dekate) are paid for the use of pastures by the owners (individuals or village collectives) of all kinds of domestic animals prducing revenue, especially sheep, swine and bees.
There is also a long list of extraordinary corvees (aggareia) and taxes that can be exacted whenever the need appeared: for cultivating state land; for building or repairing roads (odostrosia), bridges (gephyroktisia), fortresses (kastroktisia), and warships (katergoktisia); for providing fortresses or army detachments with victuals at low prices. Particularly unpopular is the obligation to provide quarters to state officials or military that are passing through (aplekton) and, even worse, to provide winter uarters to an army contigent (metaton). Equally unpopular is the participation in extraordinary levies of lightly armed soldiers (archers, lancers, sailors). The list of these extraordinary exaction (epereiai) has become incredibly long and contributes to the growing dissatisfaction of farmers with their central government.
Not all farmers are subject to the above mentioned exactions. Those who are inscribed as regular soldiers or sailors are exempted from all these epereiai. Their land, branded as "military land" (stratiotike ge), has a special, hereditary obligation called the strateia; the owner should have the necessary equipment and serve, whenever asked, in the armed forces of his theme. If, for some reason, he is unable personally to perform his military duties, he has to pay a tax, also called strateia, amounting to the sum that is necessary for hiring a mercenary to replace him for one campaign. The obligations are proportionate to the means of each individual. When soldiers are too poor to assume the whole obligation by themselves, it could be shared by groups of two or more persons. A similar system exists for groups of people who are in charge of the postal service and of the care and feeding of the horses that are needed for it (exkoussatoi ton dromou).
Tax exemptions are granted by the emperors to big landowners, state officials and ecclesiastcal institutions, especially monasteries. It has to be stressed that such exemptions ainly concerned the secondary taxes or corvees, and very seldom the basic property tax of the land.
Beyond the basic kommerkion there are several secondary taxes, for example the tithe on wine (dekateia oinarion, obviously a customs duty), the pratikion (obviously a sales tax), and various local duties paid for crossing a bridge, for using a port, and for weighing merchandise.
This system of indirect taxes varies through the centuries. Tax emeptions are granted to individuals and certain institutions trated as "moral persons" - especially monasteries - usually on a very limited scale. Foreign merchants obtain much more important exemptions, especially the Venetians (privileges in the tenth century; complete immunity from 1082), the Genoese (privileges in the twelfth century, complete immunity from 1261), the Pisans, the Catalans, and the French. Tis fiscal policy that favors foreigners is partly responsible for the decline of Byzantine trade from the twelfth century on.
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Last modified: Thurs Dec 10, 1998