Tax Collecting in the First Century AD
Indirect taxation in the Roman provinces were a source of resentment and bitterness, especially if the tax collectors were contractors from within the local communities.
Tax collection in the Roman imperial provinces during the first decades of what would be called the Pax Romana took varying forms. Direct taxes were extracted from all provinces. Roman citizens were exempt from direct taxation and Italy itself was immune, following a reversal of late republican state policy. Poll taxes were created in some of the provinces such as in Egypt and Palestine. During the life of Augustus, three censuses were conducted to help regulate and assess this tax. Indirect taxes were paid by everyone and these were often a source of much bitterness in the provinces.
Zacchaeus in Luke 19
As one of a handful of chief tax collectors, Zaccheus had great power and had achieved significant wealth. The Roman “publicanus” was essentially a contracted position. As chief tax gatherer, Zaccheus would have had subordinates assisting in the collection of customs levies and tolls and each of these would have kept a percentage. Publicans were viewed as extortionists, taking more than the legal amounts but protected by Roman authority. Over-collecting and bribery was common in the provinces.
Philippe Aries and Georges Duby write that, “Imperial authorities refrained from exhibiting too much curiosity about the way in which taxes were extorted from the peasantry.” Hence, men like Zaccheus could extract a reasonable sum for themselves above the amounts that were due. [1] A chief export of Jericho was the highly lucrative balsam. Tax revenues from its export would have provided Zaccheus with a substantial income, much of it coming from arbitrarily inflated fees. The extent of this extortion is demonstrated by Zaacheus eventual willingness to repay these sums at four times the original amounts.
The Despised Tax Collector
The Zaccheus story also demonstrates the level of antipathy held for tax collectors. The New Testament refers to “Publicans and sinners” in the same phrase, highlighting, particularly for Jews, the wretched nature of the occupation, as in the ninth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel. In Luke 19, however, this disgust is described in some detail and focuses on Zaccheus’ height.
Zaccheu
The Despised Tax Collectors was a short man. On the occasion of Jesus’ visit to Jericho, he wanted to personally see the man the whole countryside was talking about. Being short, however, the throngs of people blocked him. This was certainly intentional. Tax collections, especially those of Zacchaeus status, were protected by Roman authority. But there were ways to demonstrate opposition and hatred. This was one example.
Direct taxes such as the tributum soli were paid to imperial officers as was the poll tax. This was the tax paid by Jesus in Luke 20.19ff. Indirect taxes were "farmed out" or contracted to local agents. For Jews that viewed Roman taxation as anathema, bordering on sacrilege, the fact that Zaccheus was one of them made his position all the more precarious and despised. That Jesus referred to Zaccheus publicly as also being a “son of Abraham” indicates that the Publican was both an outcast and a renegade.
Summary
The story of the tax collector was included to illustrate an aspect of the early Christian message that was diametrically opposed to the norms in Roman society and culture. What other religion or mystery cult could so radically alter an accepted fixture in everyday life? So hated were tax collectors that in later decades Jerome would comment that the peasants welcomed the barbarian invaders to free them from the tax gatherers.
[1] Philippe Aries and Georges Duby, A History of Private Life From Pagan Rome to Byzantium (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1987) p. 117.
New American Standard Bible Reference Edition, 1973.
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