‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎263v] (533/722)

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the princes, officers of state, or employes of the government, pay any
direct taxes. They maintain immense establishments in town, and possess
laro-e houses and gardens in the country ; and yet pay no share of the gov
ernment expenditure. Nor do owners of caravansarais, baths, mills, houses,
or shops, contribute anything either to the royal treasury, or on account of
municipal taxes. A deduction of 20 per cent., it is true, has for some years
been made on all government salaries; but this is not so much a tax as a
reduction of the public expenditure. The same may be said of a stamp
duty of 21 krans, which is exacted on all receipts given for salaries paid by
the government. Both these charges bear heavily upon the poorly-paid
employes, and are not felt by the higher Persian officials, whose incomes
are chiefly derived, not from fixed salaries, but from illicit fees and perqui
sites.
It is evident, therefore, that the burden of taxation falls upon the agri
cultural and poorer classes, who are systematically oppressed on account of
the revenue and illegal taxes ; whilst not a fraction of the sums extorted
from them is expended on public works, likely hereafter to benefit the nation
at large, and private individuals alone profit by the present unjust system
of financial administration.
It is impossible to discover what the people really do pay in excess of the
fixed assessment. Some pretend that the irregular exactions amount to a
sum equal to the legal assessments; and there does not appear to be any
reason for supposing this to be an exaggeration. An idea may be formed
of the extent to which they are carried with the connivance of the govern
ment, from the fact that the governor of Pars is authorised to demand over
and above the usual revenue for his own use 75,000 tumans a year, and
the governor of Isfahan, 60,000, as ‘hakk-al-hukumat/ or ‘ governors
fee/" The former likewise pays 60,000 tumans, and the latter 40,000
tumans, under the name of ‘ pishkash/ or offering made to the king for their
appointments; and by these payments they no doubt consider that they
have purchased the right to reimburse themselves by means of arbitrary
taxation. The same system is pursued with respect to the appointments
of all the other governors; and so long as they pay to the king’s
treasury the stipulated amount of revenue, and keep the inhabitants from
rising in open rebellion, few enquiries are made as to how their duties are
discharged.
Nearly all the revenue of Persia is contributed by the Mussulman sub-
Revenue paid by jects of the Shah. The whole amount collected from
Mussulman. the Christian population, Jews, and Gabars is very
trifling.
The Nestorians of Urmia and Salmas (?) (including both Protest-
Revenue paid by ants and those who have joined the Roman Catholic
Nestorians. Church, about 3,500 and 600 families respectively), who
number 25,000 souls, are all engaged in agriculture. Their taxes are com
paratively light, so far as they are authorised by government; but they
suffer great wrong and oppression at the hands of the Afshar chiefs, who
own most of the villages in which they reside.
The entire Armenian population in Persia is estimated at about 4,660
Revenue paid by families, or 26,000 persons. The following statement
the Armenians. shows the districts where they reside, and the nature of
the taxes levied from them :