:: wikimiki.org ::

Tithes

Tithes

A tithe (from Old English teogotha "tenth") is a one-tenth part of something, paid as a voluntary contribution or as a tax or levy, usually to support a Jewish or Christian religious organization. Today, tithes (or tithing) are normally voluntary and paid in cash, checks, or stocks, whereas historically tithes could be paid in kind, such as agricultural products. There are still European countries today that allow some churches to assess a mandatory tithe which is enforced by law.

Tithing in the Bible

The practice of regular tithes was not established until after Exodus. Tithes were common throughout the ancient Near East, as well as in Lydia, Arabia, and Carthage. Tithes were not adopted by the Christian church for over seven centuries. Although rejected, they were mentioned in councils at Tours in 567 and at Mâcon in 585. They were formally recognized under Pope Adrian I in 787. Tithing in Christian churches today is frequently preached from the pulpit, but denominations and sects view tithing differently. As tithing was only a requirement found in the Old Testament, some consider it to be a practice that has no place in modern Christianity. Others, such as Word of Faith advocates, espouse that tithing which is inspired in the individual by God will enable blessings, usually financial, with references to ten or hundred-fold increases. Despite the widespread preaching of the tithe in many christian churches, very few church members actually consistantly contribute 10% or more. The tithe and tithing first appear in the Bible in the Hebrew Old Testament (OT) in the book of Genesis in connection with the figure of Abraham. The origin of tithing is intimately linked with both Abraham's cultural background and the figure of the Canaanite king and priest Melchizedek.

Old Testament origins

In the time of Abraham/Abram the Hebrew

According to the Genesis account, "Abram the Hebrew," returning from a military sortie which rescued his nephew Lot and Lot's clan from a group of foreign kings probably intent upon seizing the copper mines south of the Dead Sea, was hailed by Melchizedek, the Canaanite king of the city-state of Salem (Jerusalem) who was also the high priest of the local Canaanite god of that region, El-Elyon. :(Gen [http://scriptures.lds.org/gen/14#18 14:18]) And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was priest of El-Elyon. ::(19) He blessed him [i.e. Abram the Hebrew], saying, ::"Blessed be Abram by El-Elyon, ::Creator of heaven and earth. ::(20) And praised be El-Elyon, ::Who has delivered your foes to you." :And he [Abram] gave him a tenth of everything." :[E.A. Speiser, Genesis, Anchor Bible, Vol.1, (1964)] When Melchizedek appeared and offered him bread and wine and blessed him in the name of his Canaanite deity, Abram presented Melchizedek with a tithe from his booty.

The standard Babylonian one-tenth tax

Hebrew was a Semitic language, related to Akkadian, the lingua franca of that time. An Akkadian noun that Abraham was most likely familiar with given his Babylonian background was esretu, meaning "one-tenth." By the time of Abraham, this phrase was used to refer to the "one-tenth tax," or "tithe." Listed below are some specific instances of the Mesopotamian tithe, taken from The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Vol. 4 "E": [Referring to a ten per cent tax levied on garments by the local ruler:] "the palace has taken eight garments as your tithe (on 85 garments)" :"...eleven garments as tithe (on 112 garments)" :"...(the sun-god) Shamash demands the tithe..." :"four minas of silver, the tithe of [the gods] Bel, Nabu, and Nergal..." :"...he has paid, in addition to the tithe for Ninurta, the tax of the gardiner" :"...the tithe of the chief accountant, he has delivered it to [the sun-god] Shamash" :"...why do you not pay the tithe to the Lady-of-Uruk?" :"...(a man) owes barley and dates as balance of the tithe of the
- years three and four" :"...the tithe of the king on barley of the town..." :"...with regard to the elders of the city whom (the king) has
- summoned to (pay) tithe..." :"...the collector of the tithe of the country Sumundar..." :"...(the official Ebabbar in Sippar) who is in charge of the tithe..." Because of this standard one-tenth tax in Babylon, Abraham of the Genesis account was most likely familiar with the concept of giving up ten-percent of goods as tax.

In the time of Moses

The tithe is specifically mentioned in the book of Numbers in connection with the establishment of the cultus by Moses. Numbers [http://scriptures.lds.org/num/18#24 18:24-28] concerns the tribe of Levi, and especially the family of Aaron. Because members of the tribe of Levi were assistants to Aaron, his family, and the Israelite priests and did not own or inherit a territorial patrimony, goods donated from the other Israeli tribes were their source of sustenance. They received from "all Israel" a tithe of food or livestock for support, but would first set aside a portion of that tithe for the Aaronic priests.

In the time of King Hezekiah

LMLK seals may represent the oldest archaeological evidence of tithing. About 10 percent of the storage jars manufactured during Hezekiah's reign (circa 700 BC) were stamped (Grena, 2004, pp. 376-8). See 2 Chronicles 29-31 for a record of this early worship reformation.

Tithing in the Books of the (Minor) Prophets

The book of Tobit (1:6-8) provides an example of all three classes of tithes practiced during the Babylonian exile: But I alone went often to Jerusalem at the feasts, as it was ordained unto all the people of Israel by an everlasting decree, having the firstfruits and tenths of increase, with that which was first shorn; and them gave I at the altar to the priests the children of Aaron. The first tenth part of all increase I gave to the sons of Aaron, who ministered at Jerusalem: another tenth part I sold away, and went, and spent it every year at Jerusalem: And the third I gave unto them to whom it was meet, as Debora my father's mother had commanded me... Jews, Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant Christians who tithe, understand that no man may outdo God in the act of charity. (Malachi [http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/r/rsv/rsv-idx?type=DIV1&byte=3574267 3:8-12]): : 8 Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, `How are we robbing thee?' In your tithes and offerings. : 9 You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me; the whole nation of you. :10 Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house; and thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you an overflowing blessing. :11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil; and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the LORD of hosts. :12 Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the LORD of hosts.

Tithing in the New Testament

According to Catholics, as those who serve the altar should live by the altar ([http://www.ccel.org/c/challoner/douayrheims/1_Corinthians/09.html 1 Cor 9:13)]), provision of some kind had necessarily to be made for the sacred ministers. In the beginning this was supplied by the spontaneous offerings of the faithful. In the course of time, however, as the Church expanded and various institutions arose, it became necessary to make laws which would insure the proper and permanent support of the clergy. Many Christians (both Catholic and Protestant) support their churches and pastors with monetary contributions of one sort or another. Frequently these monetary contributions are called tithes whether or not they actually represent ten-percent of anything. However, as tithing was an ingrained Jewish custom by the time of Jesus, no specific command to tithe per se is found in the New Testament. References to tithing in the New Testament can be found in Matthew, Luke, and the book of Hebrews. For Catholics, the payment of tithes was adopted from the Old Law, and early writers speak of it as a divine ordinance and an obligation of conscience, rather than any direct command by Jesus Christ. Some Protestant denominations cite Matthew [http://scriptures.lds.org/matt/23#23 23:23] as support for tithing. :Away with you, you pettifogging Pharisee lawyers! You give to God a tenth of herbs, like mint, dill, and cumin, but the important duties of the Law -- judgement, mercy, honesty -- you have neglected. Yet these you ought to have performed, without neglecting the others. :(Albright & Mann, Matthew, Anchor Bible, Vol. 26 (1971)) and its parallel Luke [http://scriptures.lds.org/luke/11#42 11:42] :Woe to you, Pharisees! You tithe mint and rue and every edible herb but disregard justice and the love of God. These were rather the things one should practice, without neglecting the others. :(Fitzmyer, Luke, Anchor Bible, Vol.l, 28A (1985)) Because of Jesus' specific mention of tithe in this passage, it is often felt that he thereby gave his endorsement to the practice of tithing in general and specifically to tithing herbs like mint, dill and cumin. Some scholars disagree, however, pointing out that Jesus was simply obeying Mosaic law as an obedient Jew. The only other occurrence of "tithe" in the New Testament is found in Hebrews, chapter 7. Hebrews is an attempt to convince Jewish Christians that the entire sanctuary system, especially its priesthood, had been replaced by the Melchizedek-type high priesthood of Jesus Christ and the individual priesthood of every believer. Chapter 7 uses the ineffectiveness of tithing to illustrate that the laws governing the priesthood (including tithing) were "changed" and "abolished" (7:5, 12, 18). However, the book "Anabasis" by the Greek writer Xenophon mentions tithing in connection with the burnt offering sacrifices he made to his pagan god. How both cultures related, borrowed ideas from each other, and intermingled is aptly displayed by such overt Hellenistic influences in Judaic tomes, such as the Pentateuch.

Governmental collection of religious offerings

England

The right to receive tithes was granted to the English churches by King Ethelwulf in 855. The Saladin tithe was a royal tax, but assessed using ecclesiastical boundaries, in 1188. Tithes were given legal force by the Statute of Westminster of 1285. Adam Smith criticised the system in The Wealth of Nations (1776), arguing that a fixed rent would encourage peasants to farm more efficiently. The Dissolution of the Monasteries led to the transfer of many tithe rights from the Church to secular landowners, and then in the 1530s to the Crown. The system ended with the Tithe Commutation Act 1836, which replaced tithes with a rent charge decided by a Tithe Commission. The records of land ownership, or Tithe Files, made by the Commission are now a valuable resource for historians. At first this commutation reduced problems to the ultimate payers by folding tithes in with rents (however it could cause transitional money supply problems by raising the transaction demand for money). Later the decline of large landowners led tenants to become freeholders and again have to pay directly; this also led to renewed objections of principle by non-Anglicans. The rent charges paid to landowners were converted by the Tithe Act 1936 to annuities paid to the state through the Tithe Redemption Commission. The payments were transferred in 1960 to the Board of Inland Revenue, and finally terminated by the Finance Act 1977.

France

In France, the tithes -- called "la dîme" -- were a land tax. Originally a voluntary tax, in 585 the "dîme" became mandatory. In principle, unlike the taille, the "dîme" was levied on both noble and non-noble lands, although it fell heaviest on non-nobles. The dîme was divided into a number of types, including the "grosses dîmes" (grains, wine, hay), "menues" or "vertes dîmes" (vegetables, poultry), "dîmes de charnage" (veal, lamb, pork). Although the term "dîme" comes from the idea of "one tenth", the "dîme" rarely reached this percentage and (on the whole) it was closer to 1/13th of the agricultural production. The "dîme" was originally meant to support the local parish, but by the 16th century many "dîmes" went directly to distant abbeys, monasteries, and bishops, leaving the local parish impoverished, and this contributed to general resentment. In the Middle Ages, some monasteries also offered the "dîme" in homage to local lords in exchange for their protection (see Feudalism) (these are called "dîmes inféodées"), but this practice was forbidden by the Lateran Council of 1179.

Germany

Germany levies a (voluntary) church tax for both the Protestant and Catholic churches of roughly 10% of the income tax, which is effectively (very much depending on the social and financial situation) typically between 0.2% and 1.5% of the total income.

Ireland

Tithes were local religious tax-like payments paid in Ireland by members of other faiths as well as its own adherents to maintain and fund the established state church, the Anglican Church of Ireland, to which only a small minority of the population belonged. The collection of tithes was violently resisted in the period 1831-36, known as the Tithe War. With the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland, tithes were abolished.

References

- Albright, W. F. and Mann, C. S. Matthew, The Anchor Bible, Vol. 26. Garden City, New York, 1971.
- The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, Vol. 4 "E." Chicago, 1958.
- Fitzmyer, Joseph A. The Gospel According to Luke, X-XXIV, The Anchor Bible, Vol. 28A. New York, 1985.
-
- Speiser, E. A. Genesis, The Anchor Bible, Vol.1. Garden City, New York, 1964.
- Kelly, Russell Earl, "Should the Church Teach Tithing? A Theologian's Conclusions about a Taboo Doctrine," IUniverse, 2001.

External links

The links to the Bible in the text above link to the King James Version of the Bible. Other Bible translations may present the text using other words and with different interpretations.
- The (biblical) prayer of the tithe, in isolation, at wikisource
- [http://prayershack.freeservers.com/programs/REK-Tithing2.pdf Should the New Testament Church Teach Tithing?]
- [http://www.agape.com/tithe.htm Is Tithing Compulsory For The New Testament Christian?]
- [http://www.mindspring.com/~k.w/tithe/tithe.html Should Christians Tithe?]
- [http://www.gty.org/bible_faqs/bible_content.php?qa=tithe.htm Article by Dr. John MacArthur]
- [http://www.etpv.org/2001/ontith.html On Reconsidering Tithing]
- [http://associate.com/ministry_files/The_Reading_Room/Doctrines_n_Theology_2/Robbing_GodTithing.shtml Robbing God?]
- [http://prayershack.freeservers.com/tithing/ Study References & Quotes (Subject: Tithing)]
- [http://koinonia99.tripod.com/tithing.html The Truth About Tithing]
- [http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/3658/tithing.html Tithing - What Does the Bible Really Teach?] (also available at an [http://caic.org.au/biblebase/abuse/tithing.htm Australian Site])
- [http://www.harvestnet.org/articles/truthoftithe.htm The Truth Of Tithing]
- [http://www.memorare.com/reform/giving.html Catholic Giving and Tithing Guide]
- [http://www.saint-mike.org/library/Rule/Excerpts/Principles_Tithing.html Catholic Principles of Tithing] Category:Christian law Category:History of England Category:History of Ireland Category:Taxation ko:십일조

Old English language

Old English (also called Anglo-Saxon) is an early form of the English language that was spoken in parts of what is now England and southern Scotland between the mid-fifth century and the mid-twelfth century. It is a West Germanic language and therefore is similar to Old Frisian and Old Saxon. It is also quite similar to Old Norse (and by extension, to modern Icelandic). Old English was not static, and its usage covered a period of approximately 700 years – from the Anglo-Saxon migrations which created England in the fifth century to some time after the Norman invasion of 1066, after which the language underwent a major and dramatic transition. During this early period it assimilated some aspects of the languages that it came in contact with, such as the Celtic languages and the two dialects of Old Norse from the invading Norsemen who were occupying and controlling the Danelaw in northern and eastern England. The term Old English does not refer to older varieties of Modern English such as are found in Shakespeare or the King James Bible, which are called Early Modern English by linguists. In some older works (such as the 1913 edition of Webster's Dictionary), Old English refers to Middle English, or also more specifically Middle English as used from 1150 to 1350, with the older form of the language referred to exclusively as Anglo-Saxon. [http://machaut.uchicago.edu/?resource=Webster%27s&word=English]. Middle English developed from 1150 to 1500, and was the form of English which was used by Chaucer.

Germanic origins

The most important shaping force on Old English was its Germanic heritage in vocabulary, sentence structure and grammar that it shared with its sister languages in continental Europe. Some of these features were specific to the West Germanic language family to which Old English belongs, while some other features were inherited from the Proto-Germanic language from which all Germanic languages are believed to have been derived. Though many of these links with the other Germanic languages have since been obscured by later linguistic influences, particularly Norman French, many remain even in modern English. Compare modern English 'Good day' with the Old English Gōdne dæg, modern Dutch Goedendag, or modern German Guten Tag. Today the European language most similar to Old English is Frisian, a language spoken by several hundred thousand people in the northern Netherlands and northern Germany. Like other West Germanic languages of the period, Old English was fully inflected with five grammatical cases, which had dual plural forms for referring to groups of two objects, in addition to the usual singular and plural forms. It also assigned gender to all nouns, even to those that describe inanimate objects: for example, sēo sunne (the Sun) was feminine, while se mōna (the Moon) was masculine. In terms of morphology modern German is more similar to Old English than modern English itself is, because it still has complex gender, case, and verb conjugation systems similar to those of Old English, as well as many similar words of Germanic stock which have been displaced by French or Latin words in modern English.

Latin influence

A large percentage of the educated and literate population (monks, clerics, etc.) were competent in Latin, which was then the prevalent lingua franca of Europe. It is sometimes possible to give approximate dates for the entry of individual Latin words into Old English based on which patterns of linguistic change they have undergone, though this is not always reliable. There were at least three notable periods of Latin influence. The first occurred before the ancestral Saxons left continental Europe for England. The second began when the Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity and Latin-speaking priests became widespread. However, the largest single transfer of Latin-based words occurred following the Norman invasion of 1066, after which an enormous number of Norman French words entered the language. Most of these Oïl language words were themselves derived ultimately from classical Latin, although a notable stock of Norse words were introduced, or re-introduced in Norman form. The Norman Conquest approximately marks the end of Old English and the advent of Middle English. The language was further altered by the transition away from the runic alphabet (also known as futhorc) to the Latin alphabet, which was also a significant factor in the developmental pressures brought to bear on the language. Old English words were spelt as they were pronounced; the silent letters of Modern English therefore did not often exist in Old English. For example, the 'hard-c' sound in cniht, the Old English equivalent of 'knight' was pronounced. Another side-effect of spelling words phonetically was that spelling was extremely variable – the spelling of a word would reflect differences in the phonetics of the writer's regional dialect and also idiosyncratic spelling choices which varied from author to author. Thus, for example, the word "and" could be spelt either and or ond. Therefore, Old English spelling can be regarded as even more jumbled than modern English spelling, although it can at least claim to reflect some existing pronunciation, while modern English in many cases cannot. Most students of Old English in the present day learn the language using normalised versions and are only introduced to variant spellings after they have mastered the basics of the language.

Viking influence

modern English spelling and the green area is the extent of the other Germanic languages with which Old Norse still retained some mutual intelligibility]] The second major source of loanwords to Old English were the Scandinavian words introduced during the Viking raids of the ninth and tenth centuries. In addition to a great many place names, these consist mainly of items of basic vocabulary, and words concerned with particular administrative aspects of the Danelaw (that is, the area of land under Viking control, which included extensive holdings all along the eastern coast of England and Scotland). The Vikings spoke Old Norse, a language related to Old English in that they both derive from the same ancestral Germanic language. It is very common for the intermixing of speakers of different dialects, such as occurs during times of political unrest, to result in a mixed language, and one theory holds that exactly such a mixture of Old Norse and Old English helped accelerate the decline of case endings in Old English. Apparent confirmation of this is the fact that simplification of the case endings occurred earliest in the North and latest in the Southwest, the area farthest away from Viking influence. Regardless of the truth of this theory, the influence of Old Norse on the English language has been profound: responsible for such basic vocabulary items as sky and the modern pronoun they.

Celtic influence

The number of Celtic loanwords is of a remarkably lower order than either Latin or Scandinavian. Only twelve loanwords have been identified as being entirely secure. Out of all the known and suspected Celtic loanwords, most are names of geographical features, and especially rivers.

Dialects

To further complicate matters, Old English was rich in dialect forms. The four main dialect forms of Old English were Mercian, Northumbrian (the latter two known collectively as Anglian), Kentish, and West Saxon. Each of these dialects were associated with an independent kingdom on the island. Of these, all of Northumbria and most of Mercia were overrun by the Vikings during the 9th century. The portion of Mercia and all of Kent that were both successfully defended, were then integrated into Wessex. After the process of unification of the diverse Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in 878 by Alfred the Great, there is a marked decline in the importance of regional dialects. This is not because they stopped existing: regional dialects continued even after that time to this day, as evidenced both by the existence of middle and modern English dialects later on, and by common sense – people do not spontaneously develop new accents when there is a sudden change of political power. However, the bulk of the surviving documents from the Anglo-Saxon period are written in the dialect of Wessex, Alfred's kingdom. It seems likely that with consolidation of power, it became necessary to standardise the language of government to reduce the difficulty of administering the remoter areas of the kingdom. As a result, paperwork was written in the West Saxon dialect. Not only this, but Alfred was passionate about the spread of the vernacular, and brought many scribes to his region from Mercia in order that previously unwritten texts were recorded. The Church was likewise affected, especially since Alfred initiated an ambitious programme to translate religious materials into English. In order to retain his patronage and ensure the widest circulation of the translated materials, the monks and priests engaged in the programme worked in his dialect. Alfred himself seems to have translated books out of Latin and into English, notably Pope Gregory I's treatise on administration, "Pastoral Care". Due at least partially to the centralisation of power and to the Viking invasions, there is little or no written evidence for the development of non-Wessex dialects after Alfred's unification.

Phonology

The inventory of Old English surface phones, as usually reconstructed, is as follows. The sounds marked in parentheses are allophones:
- is an allophone of occurring after and when geminated
- is an allophone of occurring before and
- are allophones of respectively, occurring between vowels or voiced consonants.
- are allophones of occurring in coda position after front and back vowels respectively
- is an allophone of occurring after a vowel The front mid rounded vowels occur in some dialects of Old English, but not in the best attested Late West Saxon dialect. 2. It is uncertain whether the diphthongs spelt ie/īe were pronounced or . The fact that this diphthong was merged with in many dialects suggests the former.

Standardised orthography

Old English was at first written in runes (futhorc), but shifted to the Latin alphabet with some additions: the letter yogh, adopted from Irish; the letter eth and the runic letters thorn and wynn. Also used was a symbol for the conjunction 'and', a character similar to the number seven ('7'), and a symbol for the relative pronoun 'þæt', a thorn with a crossbar through the ascender (' '). Also used occasionally were macrons over vowels, abbreviations for following 'm's or 'n's. All of the sound descriptions below are given using IPA symbols.

The alphabet

- a: (spelling variations like land/lond "land" suggest it may have had a rounded allophone before in some cases)
- ā:
- æ:
- :
- b:
- c (except in the digraphs sc and cg): either or . The pronunciation is sometimes written with a diacritic by modern editors: most commonly ċ, sometimes č or ç. Before a consonant letter the pronunciation is always ; word-finally after i it is always . Otherwise a knowledge of the historical linguistics of the word in question is needed to predict which pronunciation is needed. (See Old English phonology#The distribution of velars and palatals for details.)
- cg: (the surface pronunciation of geminate ); occasionally also for
- d:
- ð/þ: and its allophone . Both symbols were used more or less interchangeably (to the extent that there was a rule, it was to avoid using ð word-initially, but this was by no means universally followed). Many modern editions preserve the use of these two symbols as found in the original manuscripts, but some attempt to regularise them in some fashion, for example using only the þ. See also Pronunciation of English th.
- e:
- ē:
- ea: ; after ċ and ġ, sometimes or
- ēa: ; after ċ and ġ, sometimes
- eo: ; after ċ and ġ, sometimes
- ēo:
- f: and its allophone
- g: and its allophone ; and its allophone (when after n). The and pronunciations are sometimes written ġ or by modern editors. Before a consonant letter the pronunciation is always (word-initially) or (after a vowel). Word-finally after i it is always . Otherwise a knowledge of the historical linguistics of the word in question is needed to predict which pronunciation is needed. (See Old English phonology#The distribution of velars and palatals for details.)
- h: and its allophones . In the combinations hl, hr, hn and hw, the second consonant was certainly voiceless.
- i:
- ī:
- ie: ; after ċ and ġ, sometimes
- īe: ; after ċ and ġ, sometimes
- k: (rarely used)
- l: ; probably velarised (as in Modern English) when in coda position.
- m:
- n: and its allophone
- o:
- ō:
- oe: (in dialects with this sound)
- ōe: (in dialects with this sound)
- p:
- q: – Used before u representing the consonant , but rarely used, being rather a feature of Middle English. Old English preferred or in modern print cw.
- r: ; the exact nature of r is not known. It may have been an alveolar approximant , as in most Modern English accents, an alveolar flap , or an alveolar trill .
- s: and its allophone
- sc: or occasionally
- t:
- u:
- ū:
- (wynn): , replaced in modern print by w to prevent confusion with p.
- x: (but according to some authors, )
- y:
- :
- z: . Rarely used as ts was usually used instead, for example bezt vs betst "best", pronounced . Doubled consonants are geminated; the geminate fricatives ðð/þþ, ff and ss cannot be voiced.

Syntax

As a West Germanic language, Old English syntax has a great deal of common ground with Dutch and German. Old English is not dependent upon S (subject), V (verb), O (object) or "SVO" word order in the way that Modern English is. The syntax of an Old English sentence can be in any of these shapes: SVO order, VSO order, and OVS order. The only constant rule, as in German and Dutch, is that the verb must come as the second concept. That is, in the sentence 'in the town, we ate some food', it could appear as 'in the town, ate we some food', or 'in the town, ate some food we'. This variable word order is especially common in poetry. Prose, while still displaying variable word order, is much more likely to use SVO ordering. Similarly, word order became less flexible as time went on: the older a text is, the less likely it is to have a fixed word order. To further complicate the matter, prepositions may appear after their object, though they are not postpositions, as they may occur in front of the noun too, and usually do, for example: God cwæð him þus tō (lit.) God said him thus to that is God said thus to him

Morphology

Unlike modern English, Old English is a language rich with morphological diversity and is spelled essentially as it is pronounced. It maintains several distinct cases: the nominative, accusative, genitive, dative and (vestigially) instrumental, remnants of which survive only in a few pronouns in modern English.

Sample text

This text is from the epic poem Beowulf.

External links

- [http://www.wmich.edu/medieval/research/rawl/IOE/index.html The Electronic Introduction to Old English]
- [http://www.kami.demon.co.uk/gesithas/OEsteps/ First steps in Old English - a course for absolute beginners]
- [http://www.omniglot.com/writing/oldenglish.htm Old English (Anglo-Saxon) alphabet]
- [http://home.comcast.net/~modean52/oeme_dictionaries.htm Old English - Modern English dictionary]
- [http://lonestar.texas.net/~jebbo/learn-as/origins.htm The Origins of Old English]
- [http://tlt.its.psu.edu/suggestions/international/bylanguage/oegermanic.html Guide to using Old English computer characters] (Unicode, HTML entities, etc.)
- [http://www.doe.utoronto.ca Dictionary of Old English Project at the University of Toronto]
- [http://www.ling.upenn.edu/~kurisuto/germanic/language_resources.html The Germanic Lexicon Project]
- [http://www.georgetown.edu/faculty/ballc/oe/oe-texts.html Text Collections - Texts and Translations]
- [http://wandership.ca/collect/links/oe.php Links relating to Old English, including learning resources]

References

-
-
-
- English, Old ja:古英語 simple:Old English language

Tax

A tax is a compulsory charge or other levy imposed on an individual or a legal entity by a state or a functional equivalent of a state (e.g., tribes, secessionist movements or revolutionary movements). Taxes could also be imposed by a subnational entity. Taxes may be part of a direct tax or indirect tax, and may be paid in money or as corvée labor. In modern, capitalist taxation systems, taxes are levied in money, but in-kind and corvée taxation are characteristic of traditional or pre-capitalist states and their functional equivalents. The means of taxation, and the uses to which the funds raised through taxation should be put, are a matter of hot dispute in politics and economics, so discussions of taxation are frequently tendentious. Public finance is the field of political science / economics that deals with taxation.

A history of taxation

Political authority has been used to raise capital throughout history. In many pre-monetary societies, such as the Incan empire, taxes were owed in labor (see Mita). Taxation in labour was the basis of the Feudal system in medieval Europe. King Solomon of the Old Testament pointed to the need for taxes to be applied for civil purposes (1 Kings 4:7; 9:15; 12:4), and these amounts were increased during times of foreign occupation. In more sophisticated economies such as the Roman Empire, tax farming developed, as the central powers could not practically enforce their tax policy across a wide realm. The tax farmers were obligated to raise large sums for the government, but were allowed to keep whatever else they raised. Many Christians have understood the New Testament to support the payment of taxes, through Jesus's words "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's". It is even recognized as a duty whether as a "telos" on merchandise or travelers ([http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Matthew%2017:25;&version=31 Matthew 17:25]), an annual "phoros" on property tax ([http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Luke%2020:22;23:2;&version=31 Luke 20:22;23:2]), a "kensos" or poll tax ([http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Matthew%2022:17;&version=31 Matthew 22:17], [http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Mark%2012:14;&version=31 Mark 12:14]), or the tribute money of a temple-tax ([http://www.biblegateway.net/passage/?search=Matthew%2017:24-27;&version=31 Matthew 17:24-27]). Other Christians, such as Christian anarchists, hold a contrary interpretation. There were certain times in the Middle Ages where the governments did not explicitly tax, since they were self supporting, owning their own land and creating their own products. The appearance of doing without taxes was however illusory, since the government's (usually the Crown's) independent income sources depended on labour enforced under the feudal system, which is a tax exacted in kind. Many taxes were originally introduced to fund wars and are still in place today, such as those raised by the American government during the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the telephone tax instigated at the start of World War I (War Tax Revenue Act of 1914). Income tax was first introduced into Britain in 1798 to pay for weapons and equipment in preparation for the Napoleonic wars and into Canada in 1917 as a "temporary" tax under the Income War Tax Act to cover government expenses resulting from World War I. The current income tax in America was set up by Woodrow Wilson in 1913. It was called The Federal Income Tax and was deducted from incomes at rates varying from 1-7%. But, since then, the American Tax Code has been modified and new taxes have been added, especially over the World War I and II periods. Since World War I, the American Tax Code has increased in size four-fold.

Purposes and effects of taxation

Funds provided by taxation have been used by states and their functional equivalents throughout history to carry out the functions such as:
- military defense,
- enforcement of law and public order,
- protection of property,
- redistribution of wealth,
- economic infrastructure — roads, legal tender, enforcement of contracts, etc.,
- public works,
- the operation of government itself. Most modern governments also use taxes to fund welfare and public services, such as:
- education systems,
- healthcare systems,
- pensions for the elderly,
- unemployment benefits
- energy, water and waste management systems,
- public transportation. Colonial states and moderning states have also used cash taxes to draw or force reluctant subsistence producers into cash economies. Governments use different kind of taxes and vary the tax rates:
- to distribute the tax burden between individuals or classes of the population involved in taxable activities, such as business,
- to redistribute resources between individuals or classes in the population. Historically, the nobility were supported by taxes on the poor; modern social security systems are intended to support the poor, the disabled or the retired by taxes on those who are still working,
- to influence the macroeconomic performance of the economy (the government's strategy for doing this is called its fiscal policy) (see also tax exemption),
- to modify patterns of consumption or employment within an economy, by making some classes of transaction more or less attractive. The resource taken from the public through taxation is always somewhat greater than the amount which can be used by the government. The difference is called compliance cost, and includes for example the labour cost and other expenses incurred in complying with tax laws and rules. The collection of a tax in order to spend it on a specified purpose, for example collecting a tax on alcohol to pay directly for alcoholism rehabilitation centres, is called hypothecation. This practice is often disliked by finance ministers, since it reduces their freedom of action. Some economic theorists consider the concept to be intellectually dishonest since in reality money is fungible. Furthermore, it often happens that taxes or excises initially levied to fund some specific government programs are then later diverted to the government general fund. In some cases, such taxes are collected in fundamentally inefficient ways, for example highway tolls. Some economists, especially neo-classical economists argue that all taxation distorts the market and results in economic inefficiency. They have therefore sought to identify the kind of tax system that would minimise this distortion. A theory is that the most economically neutral tax is a tax on land. A government's primary duty is to maintain and defend title to land, and therefore it should collect most of its revenues for this unique service. Since governments also resolve commercial disputes, especially in countries with common law, this doctrine is often used to justify a sales tax or value added tax. Others (e.g. libertarians) argue that most or all forms of taxes are immoral due to their involuntary (and therefore eventually coercive/violent) nature. The most extreme anti-tax view is anarcho-capitalism, in which the provision of all social services should be a matter of voluntary private contracts.

Tax rates

Taxes are most often levied as a percentage, called the tax rate, of a certain value, the tax base (how much income and assets one has, earns, spends, inherits, etcetera). An ad valorem tax is one where the tax base is the value of a good, service, or property. Sales taxes, tariffs, property taxes, inheritance taxes, and value added taxes are different types of ad valorem tax. An ad valorem tax is typically imposed at the time of a transaction (sales tax or value added tax (VAT)) but it may be imposed on an annual basis (property tax) or in connection with another significant event (inheritance tax or tariffs). An alternative to ad valorem taxation is an excise tax, where the tax base is the quantity of something, regardless of its price: for example, in the United Kingdom, a tax is collected on the sale of alcoholic drinks that is calculated by volume and beverage type rather than the price of the drink. An important distinction when talking about tax rates is to distinguish between the marginal rate and the average rate. The average rate is the total tax paid divided by the total amount the tax is paid on, while the marginal rate is the rate paid on the next dollar of income earned. In a “progressive” tax system, these can be very different. For example, if income is taxed on a formula of 5% from $0 up to $49,999, 10% from $50,000 to $99,999, and 15% over $100,000, a taxpayer with income of $175,000 would pay a total of $18,750: :((0.05
- 50,000) + (0.10
- 50,000) + (0.15
- 75,000)) :=18,750 His average rate would be 10.7%: :(18,750/175,000) := 0.107 However, his marginal rate would be 15%.

“Flat”, “Progressive”, and “Regressive” taxation

An important feature of tax systems is whether they are "flat" (the total tax paid is constant over all income levels), “proportional” (the tax as a percentage of income is constant over all income levels), “regressive” (the tax as a percentage of income falls as income rises), or “progressive” (the tax as a percentage of income rises as income rises). Progressive taxes reduce the tax incidence of people with smaller incomes, as they shift the incidence disproportionately to those with higher incomes. In the United States, the popular press uses the term "flat tax" to refer to what is, technically, a proportional tax, and "poll tax" to refer to what is, technically, a flat tax.

Direct and indirect taxation

Taxes are sometimes referred to as direct or indirect. The meaning of these terms can vary in different contexts, which can sometimes lead to confusion. In economics, direct taxes refer to those taxes that are collected from the people or organizations on whom they are ostensibly imposed. For example, income taxes are collected from the person who earns the income. By contrast, indirect taxes are collected from someone other than the person ostensibly responsible for paying the taxes. From whom a tax is collected is a matter of law. However, who pays the tax is determined by the market place and is found by comparing the price of the good (including tax) after the tax is imposed to the price of the good before the tax was imposed. For example, suppose the price of gas in the U.S., without taxes, were $2.00 per gallon. Suppose the U.S. government imposes a tax of $0.50 per gallon on the gas. Forces of demand and supply will determine how that $0.50 tax burden is distributed among the buyers and sellers. For example, it is possible that the price of gas, after the tax, might be $2.40. In such a case, buyers would be paying $0.40 of the tax while the sellers would be paying $0.10 of the tax. In law, the terms may have different meanings. In US constitutional law, for instance, direct taxes refer to poll taxes and property taxes, which are based on simple existence or ownership. Indirect taxes are imposed on rights, privileges, and activities. Thus, a tax on the sale of property would be considered an indirect tax, whereas the tax on simply owning the property itself would be a direct tax. The distinction can be subtle, but it is important under US law, since the United States Constitution formerly required that direct taxes be apportioned according to population. That is, if one state had twice the population of another state, then the direct tax revenue from that state must be exactly twice that from the other state. In 1895, the US Supreme Court interpreted the income tax as a direct tax when applied to income from property, and struck down the tax as a result. The federal government then had no income tax until the Sixteenth Amendment was ratified, which removed the apportionment requirement for income taxes.

Economics of taxation

Image:TaxGraph1.jpg
Figure 1: Equilibrium

Figure 1 indicates a good without any government interference. This good could represent anything from apples to zippers. At this equilibrium quantity Q1 of the good are sold at price P1. The consumer and producer surplus are both high.

Image:TaxGraph2.jpg
Figure 2: With a tax

Figure 2 shows the introduction of a very simple tax. The tax charges a flat fee whenever a consumer wishes to purchase the good. The price thus rises to P2, and since fewer consumers wish to purchase the good at the higher price, the quantity produced falls to Q2. The government receives the amount of the tax for each unit sold, and this amounts to the region shown in grey. This is the amount of revenue the government receives for this tax. Note that in this situation the price of the good to consumers only increases by half the amount of the tax, the other half of the tax is borne by the producer. Thus both consumer and producer surpluses shrink by equal amounts. For many goods this is not the case. Who bears the cost of the tax is determined by the elasticity of the good. For inelastic goods like cigarettes, and gasoline almost all of the tax is paid by the consumer.

Image:TaxGraph3.jpg
Figure 3: Net Societal Loss

The tax is not a simple transfer of wealth from producers and consumers to government. A permanent loss of surplus occurs, shown in orange. This loss is often called dead weight loss which is a permanent loss to sociey as if some of the goods (Q1 to Q2) were destroyed. However, because this model greatly simplifies the economics of taxation, governments must weigh many other factors when choosing a tax system. The size of the dead weight loss usually increases exponentially with regards to the size of the tax meaning a broad small tax (sales tax) would normally have less negative impact than a narrow large tax (taxing a particular good heavily).

Types of taxes

Income tax

Income tax is commonly a progressive tax because the tax rate increases with increasing income. For this reason, it is generally advocated by those who think that taxation should be borne more by the rich than by the poor, even to the point of serving as a form of social redistribution. Some critics characterize this tax as a form of punishment for economic productivity. Other critics charge that income taxation is inherently socially intrusive because enforcement requires the government to collect large amounts of information about business and personal affairs, much of which is considered proprietary and confidential. The crucial invention permitting the reliable collection of high income taxes was direct withholding of taxes from payrolls by employers; this works because most people in modern societies are salaried workers. This reduces the perceived burden of the tax, because employees never handle the money. Direct withholding also discourages cheating, because it requires the collaboration of employers, and as there are fewer employers than employees, the government's enforcement efforts can be deployed more effectively. However, direct withdrawal also has some drawbacks: it puts part of the burden of processing taxes on the employer, and it also complicates matters when the employee is in a situation where he or she should pay significantly less or more than what is expected from its salary (because of tax-deductible expenses, or side revenues). Direct withholding is the method of collection of choice in most countries implementing income taxes, with the exception of France, where direct withholding is periodically discussed, but has so far not been implemented. Where income tax is not collected at source, it may become easier to cheat by lying about one's affairs. The government may then require that employers report the amounts they pay to employees. Income tax, in addition to income, generally takes into account a variety of factors. Certain expenses, such as work-related expenses, donations to charities etc..., may be tax-deductible: that is, they are subtracted from the taxable revenue. Investments in some impoverished areas or industrial sectors may be encouraged through tax breaks (reduced rates). Donations to charities may be partly subtracted from the tax, in an original form of subsidy. Because of various exemptions, rebates etc..., income tax codes tend to be complicated. In some countries such as the United States, individuals often hire the service of a tax accountant so as to find the best way to reduce their tax. Income tax fraud is a problem in most, if not all, countries implementing an income tax. Either one fails to declare income, or declares nonexistent expenses. Failure to declare income is especially easy for non-salaried work, especially those paid in cash. Tax enforcement authorities fight tax fraud using various methods, nowadays with the help of computer databases. They may, for instance, look for discrepancies between declared revenue and expenses along time. Tax enforcement authorities then target individuals for a tax audit – a more or less detailed review of the income and tax-deductible expenses of the individual. Income tax may be collected from legal entities (e.g., companies) as well as natural persons (individuals), although, in some cases, the income tax on legal entities is levied on a slightly different basis than the income tax on individuals and may be called, in the case of income tax on companies, a corporation tax or a corporate income tax. :See also: Negative income tax.

Emergency tax

In the UK, emergency tax is a special tax code used by employers when the tax code of an employee is unknown. A person with this code may pay excessive tax until their true tax code is issued by the Inland Revenue. If excessive tax is paid, this will be refunded to the person by the Inland Revenue.

Retirement tax

Some countries with social security systems, which provide income to retired workers, fund those systems with specific dedicated taxes. These often differ from comprehensive income taxes in that they are levied only on specific sources of income, generally wages and salary (in which case they are called payroll taxes). A further difference is that the total amount of the taxes paid by or on behalf of a worker is typically considered in the calculation of the retirement benefits to which that worker is entitled. Examples of retirement taxes include the FICA tax, a payroll tax that is collected from employers and employees in the United States to fund the country's Social Security system; and the National Insurance Contributions (NICs) collected from employers and employees in the United Kingdom to fund the country's national insurance system. These taxes are sometimes regressive in their immediate effect. For example, in the United States, each worker, whatever his or her income, pays at the same rate up to a specified cap, but income over the cap is not taxed. A further regressive feature is that such taxes often exclude investment earnings and other forms of income that are more likely to be received by the wealthy. The regressive effect is somewhat offset, however, by the eventual benefit payments, which typically replace a higher percentage of a lower-paid worker's pre-retirement income.

Capital gains tax

A capital gain tax is the tax levied of the profit realised upon the sale of an asset. In many cases, the amount of a capital gain is treated as income and subject to the marginal rate of income tax. If such a tax is levied on inherited property then it can act as a de facto probate or inheritance tax.

Corporation tax

Corporation tax is a tax on corporate earnings (and often includes capital gains) of a company. Earnings are generally considered gross revenue less expenses. However, corporate expenses that relate to capital expenditures are rarely deducted in full (such as the entire cost of a company truck) and are often deducted over the useful life of the asset purchase. Generally, industrialized countries also use a regressive rate of tax upon corporate income. See also: excess profits tax

Poll tax

A poll tax, also called a per capita tax, or capitation tax, is a tax that levies a set amount per individual. The earliest tax mentioned in the Bible of a half-shekel per annum from each adult Jew (Ex. 30:11-16) was a form of poll tax. Poll taxes are regressive, since they take the same amount of money (and hence, a higher proportion of income) for poorer individuals as for richer individuals. Poll taxes are difficult to cheat.

Excises

Unlike an ad valorem tax, an excise is not a function of the value the product being taxed. Excise taxes are based on the quantity, not the value, of product purchased. For example, in the United States, the Federal government imposes an excise tax of 18.4 cents per US gallon (4.86 ¢/L) of gasoline, while state governments levy an additional 8 to 28 cents per US gallon.

Purposes and effects of excises

Excises on particular commodities are frequently hypothecated. For example, a fuel excise is often used to pay for public transportation, especially roads and bridges and for the protection of the environment. A special form of hypothecation arises where an excise is used to compensate a party to a transaction for alleged uncontrollable abuse: for example, a blank media tax is a tax on recordable media such as CD-Rs, whose proceeds are typically allocated to copyright holders. Critics charge that such taxes tax blindly those who make legitimate and illegitimate usages of the products; for instance, a person or corporation using CD-R's for data archival should not have to subsidize the producers of popular music. Excises (or exemptions from them) are also used to modify consumption patterns. For example, a high alcohol excise is used to discourage alcohol consumption, relative to other goods. This may be combined with hypothecation if the proceeds are then used to pay for the costs of treating illness caused by alcohol abuse. Similar taxes may exist on tobacco, pornography, etc..., and they may be collectively referred to as sin taxes. A carbon tax is a tax on the consumption of carbon-based non-renewable fuels, such as petrol, diesel-fuel, jet fuels and natural gas. The object is to reduce the release of carbon into the atmosphere. In the UK, vehicle excise duty is an annual tax on vehicle ownership.

Sales tax

Sales taxes are a form of excise levied when a commodity is sold to its final consumer. They are generally held to discourage retail sales. The question of whether they are generally progressive or regressive is a subject of much current debate. People with higher incomes spend a lower proportion of them, so a flat-rate sales tax will tend to be regressive. It is therefore common to exempt food, utilities and other necessities from sales taxes, since poor people spend a higher proportion of their incomes on these commodities, so such exemptions would make the tax more progressive. The classic way of cheating on sales tax is to ask a merchant or service provider for a cash discount. The merchant pockets the cash and writes off the merchandise to shrinkage and the state fails to get the tax.

Tariffs

An import or export tariff (also called customs duty or impost) is a charge for the movement of goods through a political border. Tariffs discourage trade, and they may be used by governments to protect domestic industries. A proportion of tariff revenues is often hypothecated to pay government to maintain a navy or border police. The classic way of cheating a tariff is smuggling.

Value added tax

A value added tax (sometimes called a goods and services tax - GST, as in Australia and Canada) applies the equivalent of a sales tax to every operation that creates value. To give an example, sheet steel is imported by a machine manufacturer. That manufacturer will pay the VAT on the purchase price, remitting that amount to the government. The manufacturer will then transform the steel into a machine, selling the machine for a higher price to a wholesale distributor. The manufacturer will collect the VAT on the higher price, but will remit to the government only the excess related to the "value added" (the price over the cost of the sheet steel). The wholesale distributor will then continue the process, charging the retail distributor the VAT on the entire price to the retailer, but remitting only the amount related to the distribution markup to the government. The last VAT amount is paid by the eventual retail customer who cannot recover any of the previously paid VAT. Economic theorists have argued that this minimises the market distortion resulting from the tax, compared to a sales tax. However, VAT is held by some to discourage production. VAT was historically used when a sales tax or excise tax was uncollectible. For example, a 30% sales tax is so often cheated that most of the retail economy will go off the books. By collecting the tax at each production level, and requiring the previous production level to collect the next level tax in order to recover the VAT previously paid by that production level, the theory is that the entire economy helps in the enforcement. In reality, forged invoices and the like demonstrate that tax evaders will always attempt to cheat the system.

Property taxes

A property tax is usually levied on the value of property owned, usually real estate. Property taxes may be charged on a recurrent basis, or upon a certain event. A common type of property tax is an annual charge on the ownership of real estate, where the tax base is the supposed value of the property. For a period of over 150 years from 1695 a window tax was levied in England, with the result that you can still see listed buildings with windows bricked up [http://www.absentiacerebra.com/Trips/UK/Pages/Image31.html] in order to save their owner's money. A similar tax existed in France, with similar results. The two most common type of event driven property taxes are stamp duty, charged upon change of ownership, and inheritance tax, which is imposed in many countries on the estates of the deceased. In contrast with a tax on real estate, a land value tax is levied only on the unimproved value of the land. When real estate is held by a higher government unit or some other entity not subject to taxation by the local government, the taxing authority may receive a payment in lieu of taxes to compensate it for some or all of the foregone tax revenue.

Transfer taxes

Historically, in many countries, a contract needed to have a stamp affixed to make it valid. The charge for the stamp was either a fixed amount or a percentage of the value of the transaction. In most countries the stamp has been abolished but stamp duty remains. Stamp duty is levied in the UK on the purchase of shares and securities, the issue of bearer instruments, and certain partnership transactions. Its modern derivatives, stamp duty reserve tax and stamp duty land tax, are respectively charged on transactions involving securities and land. Stamp duty has the effect of discouraging speculative purchases of assets by decreasing liquidity. Taxes on currency transactions are known as Tobin taxes. See also: transfer tax, stamp duty

Inheritance tax

Some believe that inheritance taxes do not have any harmful effect on the economy and may even be beneficial as they encourage consumer spending by the elderly. However, they are also believed to discourage productivity and to disrupt the continuity of family-owned businesses. See also: allodial, death tax, estate tax, Pigovian tax

Wealth (net worth) tax

Main article: wealth (net worth) tax Some countries' governments will require declaration of the tax payers' balance sheet (assets and liabilities), and from that exact a tax on net worth (assets minus liabilities), as a percentage of the net worth, or a percentage of the net worth exceeding a certain level. The tax is in place for both "natural" and in some cases legal "persons".

Personal property tax

In many jurisdictions (including many American states), there is a general tax levied periodically on residents who own personal property within the jurisdiction. Vehicle and boat registration fees are subsets of this kind of tax. Usually, the tax is designed with blanket coverage but with large exceptions for obvious things like food and clothing. Household goods are exempt as long as they are kept or used within the household. However, any otherwise non-exempt object can lose its exemption if regularly kept outside the household. Thus, tax collectors often monitor newspaper articles for stories about wealthy people who have lent art to museums for public display, because the artworks have then become subject to personal property tax. And if an artwork had to be sent to another state for some touch-ups, it may have become subject to personal property tax in that state as well.

Who pays

In the United States, the Congressional Budget Office produces a number of reports on the share of all federal taxes paid by taxpayers of various income levels. Their data for 2002 shows the following: [http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=6133&sequence=0 (Table 2)]
- The top 1% of taxpayers by income pay 33% of all individual income taxes, and 22.7% of all federal taxes.
- The top 5% of taxpayers pay 54.5% of all individual income taxes, and 38.5% of all federal taxes.
- The top 10% of taxpayers pay 67.4% of all individual income taxes, and 50% of all federal taxes.
- The top quintile pays 82.5% of all individual income taxes, and 65.3% of all federal taxes. Their numbers also show, that when broken down by quintile, the social insurance taxes are regressive on an effective tax rate basis only for the highest quintile, though that quintile pays the largest share of social insurance taxes (44%). [http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=6133&sequence=0 (Table 1)]

Historical taxation levels

Quite a few records of the government tax collection in Europe since at least the 17th century are still available today. But the taxation levels are hard to compare to the size and flow of the economy since production numbers are not as readily available. The government expenditures and revenue in France during the 17th century went from about 20 million livres in 1600 to about 60 million livres in 1650 to about 150 million livres in 1700 when the government debt had reached 1.6 billion livres. The taxation as a percentage of production of final goods may have reached 15%-20% during the 17th century in places like, France, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia. During the war filled years of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century tax rates in Europe increased dramatically as war became more expensive and governments became more centralized and adept at gathering taxes. This increase was greatest in England, Peter Mathias and Patrick O'Brien found that the tax burden increased by 85% over this period. Another study confirmed this number, finding that per capita tax revenues had grown almost six-fold over the eighteenth century, but that steady economic growth had made the real burden on each individual only double over this period before the industrial revolution. Average tax rates were higher in Britain than France the years before the French Revolution, but they were mostly placed on international trade. In France the taxes were lower but the burden was mainly on landowners, individuals, and internal trade and thus created far more resentment. Taxation as a percentage of GDP is today (2003) 56.1% in Denmark, 54.5% in France, 49.0% in the Euro area, 42.6% in the United Kingdom, 35.7% in the United States, 35.2% in The Republic of Ireland, and among all OECD members an average of 40.7%. ([http://www.oecd.org/topicstatsportal/0,2647,en_2825_495684_1_1_1_1_1,00.html OECD national accounts]) ([http://www.forbes.com/global/2004/0524/074chart2.html Forbes magazine])

Historical forms of taxation

In monetary economies prior to fiat banking, a critical form of taxation was seigniorage, the tax on the creation of money. Seigniorage has been replaced by central banking. Other obsolete forms of taxation include:
- scutage - paid in lieu of military service; strictly speaking a commutation of a non-tax obligation rather than a tax as such, but functioning as a tax in practice
- tallage - a tax on feudal dependents
- tithe - a tax, or more precisely a tax-like payment, (one tenth of one's earnings or agricultural produce), paid to the Church (and thus too specific to be a tax in strict technical terms even though appearing as one to the payer)
- Aids - During feudal times Aids was a type of tax or due paid by a vassal to his lord.
- Danegeld - medieval land tax originally raised to pay off raiding Danes and later used to fund military expenditures.
- Carucate - tax which replaced the danegeld in England.
- Tax Farming - the principle of assigning the responsibility for tax revenue collection to private citizens or groups. Some principalities taxed windows, doors or cabinets to reduce consumption of imported glass and hardware. Armoires, hutches and wardrobes were invented to evade taxes on doors and cabinets. Today the most complicated taxation-system is the German one. Three quarters of the world's taxation-literature refers to the German system. There are 118 laws, 185 forms and 96000 regulations (only one comment to taxation covers 2671 pages). The administration spends 3.7 billion Euro just to collect income tax.

Morality of taxation

Many say that activities funded by taxes are beneficial to society and that progressive taxation used in most modern countries is a net benefit to the majority of the population. Others disagree. But as payment of tax is not optional, some people hold that taxation is tantamount to theft. This view is most common among political and philosopical schools of thought such as Objectivism, libertarianism and anarcho-capitalism, which accuse governments of levying taxes through a system of coercion. However most libertarians, particularly minarchists, recommend taxation as a necessary evil as long as only enough money is taken as is necessary for a government to maximize the protection of liberty. Many maintain that taxation is not theft since government is the party performing the act, and moreover that if there is a democracy in place, then it is society as a whole that decides (through the government) what the level and form of taxation is. The American Revolution's "No taxation without representation" slogan took this view. Others assert that the moral stature of any act, such as slavery or the taking of a person's property without his consent, is not contingent upon its legality or who is performing it or whether a majority approves of it. There are several justifications that are offered for compulsory taxation. Taxation of business is justified with the claim that business necessarily involves use of publicly established and maintained economic infrastructure, and businesses are in effect charged for this use. Compulsory taxation of individuals, such as income tax, is based on similar arguments to those for universality of law, territorial sovereignty, and the social contract.

External link

- [http://www.allegromedia.com/sugi/taxes/ US Income Tax Burden]
- [http://www.tax.org/Museum/default.htm The Tax History Museum] provides a synthetic overview of the history of American taxation.
- [http://www.worldwide-tax.com Comparison tax rates table] Data on World Taxes, Income Tax Rates, Tax Rates, Finance & Economy info Worldwide. Category:Taxation Category:Tax reform ja:税金 simple:Tax zh-min-nan:Sòe-kim

Jewish

Judaism is the religion of the Jewish people. It is one of the first recorded monotheistic faiths and one of the oldest religious traditions still practiced today. The tenets and history of Judaism are the major part of the foundation of other Abrahamic religions, including Christianity and Islam. Over at least the last two thousand years, Judaism has not been monolithic in practice, and has not had any centralized authority or binding dogma. Despite this fact, Judaism in all its variations has remained tightly bound to a number of religious principles, the most important of which is the belief in a single, omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent, transcendent God who created the universe, and continues to be involved in its governance. According to Jewish thought, the God who created the world established a covenant with the Jewish people, and revealed his laws and commandments to them in the form of the Torah. Jewish practice is devoted to the study and observance of these laws and commandments, as they are interpreted according to various ancient and modern authorities. Judaism does not easily fit into conventional western categories, such as religion, ethnicity, or culture, in part because of its 4,000-year history. During this time, Jews have experienced slavery, anarchic self-government, theocratic self-government, conquest, occupation, and exile; they have been in contact with, and have been influenced by, ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, and Hellenic cultures, as well as modern movements such as the Enlightenment (see Haskalah) and the rise of nationalism. Thus, Talmud professor Daniel Boyarin has argued that "Jewishness disrupts the very categories of identity, because it is not national, not genealogical, not religious, but all of these, in dialectical tension."

Introduction

dialectic.]] According to both traditional Jews and critical historical scholars, a number of qualities distinguish Judaism from the other religious cults that existed when it first emerged. One characteristic was monotheism. The significance of this idea, according to critical historian Yehezkal Kaufman, lies in that Judaism holds that God created, and cares about, humankind. In polytheistic religions, humankind is often created by accident, and the gods are primarily concerned with their relations with other gods, not with people. Second, the Torah specifies a number of commandments to be followed by the Children of Israel. Other religions at the time were characterized by temples in which priests would worship their gods through sacrifice. The Children of Israel similarly had a temple, priests, and made sacrifices -— but these were not the sole means of worshiping God.

Monotheism

Critical scholars argue as to when the notion of monotheism arose in Judaism. Orthodox Jews claim that it is expressed directly in Torah (the Hebrew Bible), where God incorporates it into the Ten Commandments: "...I am the Lord your God. Do not have any other gods before Me. Do not represent [such] gods by any carved statue or picture of anything in the heaven above, on the earth below, or in the water below the land. Do not bow down to [such gods] or worship them. I am God your Lord, a God who demands exclusive worship". Thus the belief in the existence of God, that God exists for all time, that God is the sole creator of all that exists, that God determines the course of events in this world, is the foundation of the Judaistic religion: "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt..." To turn from these beliefs is to deny God and the essence of Judaism, according to the Jewish understanding of the Ten Commandments. Furthermore, one is required to believe in God and God alone. This prohibits belief in or worship of any additional deities, gods, spirits or incarnations. The idea of God as a duality or trinity is heretical for Jews to hold; it is considered akin to polytheism. To deny the uniqueness of God, is to deny all that is written in the Torah: "You shall have no other gods besides Me...Do not make a sculpted image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above." It is also a prohibition against making or possessing objects that one or other may bow down to or serve, such as crucifixes or icons, and any forms of paintings or artistic representations of God. One must not bow down to or serve any being or object but God. (See Ten Commandments#Jewish interpretation) The significance of the idea is that an omniscient and omnipotent God created humankind as recorded in the Book of Genesis, in the Creation according to Genesis starting with the very first verse of Genesis 1:1: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth," a marked contrast with polytheistic religions in which the gods are limited by their preoccupation with personal desires irrelevant to humankind, by their limited powers, or by the interference of other powers. In Judaism, God is unlimited, fully capable, and fully available to care for Creation.

Practical worship and the laws

Second, the Torah (i.e., The Hebrew Bible) specifies a number of laws, known as the 613 mitzvot, to be followed by the Children of Israel. Other religions at the time were characterized by temples in which priests would worship their gods through sacrifice. The Children of Israel similarly had a Temple in Jerusalem, a caste of priests, and made sacrifices — but these were not the sole means of worshipping God. As a matter of practical worship (in comparison to other religions) Judaism seeks to elevate everyday life to the level of the ancient Temple's worship by worshipping God through the spectrum of daily activities and actions. It has traditionally maintained that this is how the individual would merit rewards in the afterlife, called gan eden (Hebrew: "Garden of Eden") or olam haba ("World to Come"), though Judaism does not have a single concept of the afterlife, nor is the afterlife the focus of Jewish practice.

Traditional view of the development of Judaism

olam haba portion of the Tanakh, decorate the Dura-Europos synagogue dating from 244 CE]] The subject of the Hebrew Bible is an account of the Israelites' (also called Hebrews) relationship with God as reflected in their history from the beginning of time until the building of the Second Temple (ca. 350 BCE). This relationship is generally portrayed as contentious, as Jews struggle between their faith in God and their attraction for other gods, and as some Jews (most notably and directly, Abraham, Jacob -- later known as Israel—and Moses) struggle with God. According to Orthodox Judaism and most religious Jews, the Biblical patriarch Abraham was the first Hebrew. Rabbinic literature records that he was the first to reject idolatry and preach monotheism. As a result, God promised he would have children: "Look now toward heaven and count the stars/So shall be your progeny." (Genesis 15:5) Abraham's first child was Ishmael and his second son was Isaac, whom God said would continue Abraham's work and inherit the Land of Israel (then called Canaan), after having been exiled and redeemed. God sent the patriarch Jacob and his children to Egypt, where after many generations they became enslaved. Then God sent Moses to redeem the Israelites from slavery, and after the Exodus from Egypt, God led the Jews to Mount Sinai and gave them the Torah, eventually bringing them to the land of Israel. God designated the descendants of Aaron, Moses' brother, to be a priestly class within the Israelite community. They first officiated in the tabernacle (a portable house of worship), and later their descendants were in charge of worship in the Temple in Jerusalem. Once the Jews had settled in the land of Israel, the tabernacle was planted in the city of Shiloh for over 300 years during which time God provided great men, and occasionally women, to rally the nation against attacking enemies, some of which were sent by God as a punishment for the sins of the people. This is described in the Book of Joshua and the Book of Judges. As time went on, the spiritual level of the nation declined to the point that God allowed the Philistines to capture the tabernacle in Shiloh. The people of Israel then told Samuel the prophet that they had reached the point where they needed to be governed by a permanent king, as were other nations, as described in the Books of Samuel. Samuel grudgingly acceded to this request and appointed Saul, a great but very humble man, to be their King. When the people pressured Saul into going against a command conveyed to him by Samuel, God told Samuel to appoint David in his stead. Once King David was established, he told the prophet Nathan that he would like to build a permanent temple, and as a reward for his actions, God promised David that he would allow his son to build the temple and the throne would never depart from his children (David himself was not allowed to build the temple because he had been involved in many wars, making it inappropriate for him to build a temple representing peace). As a result, it was David's son Solomon who built the first permanent temple according to God's will, in Jerusalem, as described in the Books of Kings. Books of Kings is all that is known to remain of the Second Temple. The Temple Mount is the holiest site in Judaism.]] After Solomon's death, his Kingdom was split into the two kingdoms of Israel and Judah. After several hundred years, because of rampant idolatry, God allowed Assyria to conquer Israel and exile its people. The southern Kingdom of Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem, home of the Temple, remained under the rulership of the House of David, however, as in the north, idolatry increased to the point that God allowed Babylonia to conquer the Kingdom, destroy the Temple which had stood for 410 years, and exile its people to Babylonia, with the promise that they would be redeemed after seventy years. These events are recorded in the Book of Isaiah and the Book of Jeremiah. After seventy years the Jews were allowed back into Israel under the leadership of Ezra, and the Temple was rebuilt, as recorded in the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah. The Second Temple stood for 420 years, after which it was destroyed by the Roman general (later emperor) Titus. The Jewish temple is to remain in ruins until a descendant of David arises to restore the glory of Israel and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. The Torah given on Mount Sinai was summarized in the five books of Moses. Together with the books of the prophets it is called the Written Torah. The details and interpretation of the law, which are called the Oral Torah or oral law were originally unwritten. However as the persecutions of the Jews increased and the details were in danger of being forgotten, rabbinic tradition holds that these oral laws were recorded in the Mishnah, and the Talmud, as well as other holy books.

Critical historical view of the development of Judaism

Although monotheism is fundamental to Rabbinic Judaism, many critical Bible scholars claim that certain verses in the Torah imply that the early Israelites accepted the existence of other gods, while viewing their God as the sole Creator, whose worship is obligated (a rather henotheistic point of view). According to them, it was only by the Hellenic period that most Jews came to believe that their God was the only God (and thus, the God of everyone), and that the record of His revelation (the Torah) contained within it universal truths. They posit that this attitude reflected a growing Gentile interest in Judaism (some Greeks and Romans considered the Jews a most "philosophical" people because of their belief in a God that cannot be represented visually), and growing Jewish interest in Greek philosophy, which sought to establish universal truths, thus leading - potentially - to the idea of monotheism, at least in the sense that "all gods are One". According to this theory, Jews began to grapple with the tension between their claims of particularism (that only Jews were required to obey the Torah), and universalism (that the Torah contained universal truths). The supposed result is a set of beliefs and practices concerning identity, ethics, and the relationships between man and nature and man and God that examine and privilege "differences" — for example the difference between Jews and non-Jews; the local differences in the practice of Judaism; a close attention, when interpreting texts, to difference in the meanings of three words; attempts to preserve and encode different points of view within texts, and a relative avoidance of creed and dogma. In contrast to the Orthodox religious view of the Hebrew Bible, critical biblical scholars also suggest that the Torah consists of a variety of inconsistent texts that were edited together in a way that calls attention to divergent accounts (see Documentary hypothesis).

Religious doctrine and Principles of Faith

While Judaism has always affirmed a number of Jewish principles of faith, no creed, dogma, set of orthodox beliefs, or fully-binding "catechism," is recognized, an approach to religious doctrine that dates back at least two thousand years and that makes generalizations about Jewish theology somewhat difficult. While individual rabbis, congregations, or movements have at times agreed upon a firm dogma, generally other rabbis and groups have disagreed, and because there is explicitly no central religious authority, no specific formulation of Jewish principles of faith could take precedence over any other. In attempting to define who is a Jew, the ancient historian Josephus emphasized practices and traditions rather than religious beliefs, associating apostasy with a failure to observe traditional customs, and suggesting the requirements for conversion to Judaism included circumcision and adherence to traditional customs. Notably, in Orthodox Judaism some principles of faith (e.g., the Divine origin of the Torah) are considered important enough that public rejection of them can put one in the category of "apikoros" (heretic). Over the centuries, a number of clear formulations of Jewish principles of faith have appeared, many with common elements, though they differ in certain details, and comparisons demonstrate a wide variety of tolerance for varying theological perspectives. Of these formulations, the one most widely considered authoritative is Maimonides' thirteen principles of faith:
- God is one - strict unitarian monotheism, in which the eternal creator of the universe is the source of morality.
- God is all powerful (omnipotent), as well as all knowing (omniscient), and the different names of God are ways to express different aspects of God's presence in the world (see also: Names of God in Judaism).
- God is non-physical, non-corporeal, and eternal. All statements in the Hebrew Bible and in rabbinic literature which use anthropomorphism are held to be linguistic conceits or metaphors, as it would otherwise be impossible to talk about God.
- One may offer prayer to God alone — any belief in an intermediary between man and God, either necessary or optional, has traditionally been considered heretical.
- The Hebrew Bible, and much of the beliefs described in the Mishnah and Talmud, are held to be the product of divine revelation. How revelation works, and what precisely one means when one says that a book is "divine", has always been a matter of some dispute. Different understandings of this subject exist among Jews.
- The words of the prophets are true.
- Moses was the chief of all prophets.
- The Torah (five books of Moses) is the primary text of Judaism.
- God will reward those who observe His commandments, and punish those who violate them.
- God chose the Jewish people to be in a unique covenant with Him (see also: Jews as a chosen people).
- There will be a moshiach (Jewish Messiah), or perhaps a messianic era.
- The soul is pure at birth, and human beings have free will, with an innate yetzer ha'tov (a tendency to do good), and a yetzer ha'ra (a tendency to do bad).
- People can atone for sins through words and deeds, without intermediaries, through prayer, repentance, and tzedakah (dutiful giving of charity), if accompanied by a sincere decision to cease unacceptable actions and if appropriate amends to others are honestly undertaken, always providing a "way back" to God. (see also: Jewish views of sin)

The traditional Jewish bookshelf

Jewish views of sin.]] Jews are often called a "People of the Book," and Judaism has an age-old intellectual tradition focusing on text-based Torah study. The following is a basic, structured list of the central works of Jewish practice and thought. For more detail, see Rabbinic literature.
- The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) and Jewish bible study, which include:
- Mesorah
- Targum
- Jewish Biblical exegesis (also see Midrash below)
- Works of the Talmudic Era (classic rabbinic literature)
- The Mishnah and its commentaries
- The Tosefta and the minor tractates
- The Talmud:
- The Jerusalem Talmud and its commentaries
- The Babylonian Talmud and its commentaries Babylonian Talmud]
- Midrashic literature:
- Halakhic Midrash
- Aggadic Midrash
- Halakhic literature
- The Major Codes of Jewish Law and Custom
- The Mishneh Torah and its commentaries
- The Tur and its commentaries
- The Shulhan Arukh and its commentaries
- Other books on Jewish law and custom
- The Responsa literature
- Jewish Thought and Ethics
- Jewish philosophy
- Kabbalah
- Hasidic works
- Jewish ethics and the Mussar Movement
- The Siddur and Jewish liturgy
- Piyyut (Classical Jewish poetry) Related Topics
- Torah databases (electronic versions of the Traditional Jewish Bookshelf)
- List of Jewish Prayers and Blessings

Jewish Law and interpretation

The basis of Jewish law and tradition ("halakha") is the Torah (the five books of Moses). According to rabbinic tradition there are 613 commandments in the Torah. Some of these laws are directed only to men or to women, some only to the ancient priestly groups, the Kohanim and Leviyim (members of the tribe of Levi), some only to those who practice farming within the land of