While we sit before computers on desktops in air conditioned offices calling people far and wide attempting to contact members for payments, it is easy to forget there was a time when the roles of a collector were much darker and of much greater public scorn. Since the advent of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, our methods have been softened, to such a degree that they are almost unrecognizable from the activities of our professional ancestors. Despite the fact that we still have the onerous duty of assigning out the unpleasant and unfortunate tasks of repossessions and foreclosure, the manner and the limitations that we are bound to as we conduct these is extremely tame in comparison to that of collectors past.
While history speaks volumes of the demonized tax collectors, also known as “publicans” which originates from Latin and from the ancient Greek work “telonus” which meant tax gatherer, rest assured, the methods and punishments utilized by the tax collectors was equally applied in matters of public debt or consumer debt in its time. Debt and lending have been recognized evils through the ages.
As long as there has been organized and ruled civilization, some form of taxation has been in existence. Historically, no person in ancient times was held with greater disdain and contempt than the tax collector. Given broad authority and the power of the military at his disposal, the tax collector was merciless in his practices using coercion and violence with great regularity. The scribe Mesha who served under Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses II wrote to one of his servants: “When my letter reaches you, you shall check the tax on cattle of the administration, which is under the servant Ruru. Press him very hard and take note of the state of Pabak who follows him, for I have heard that he has left him and has no more cattle in his care. Behold, one has come to levy the tax on cattle. Behold, watch out and look after yourself.
Even before the advent of currency, primarily agricultural items and cattle were taxed. Farmers paid as much as 20% of their yield to the tax man in tribute to the Pharaohs. Punishment for not paying arrearages was simple. They paid or were brought before the local courts for summary punishment. Because not every profession in ancient Egypt was directly involved in agriculture, livestock or the sale of grains, beer or food, declaration later became required by the populace that required their statement of income, similar to our current IRS forms. This taxation, known as Beku, was administered under the rule of Ahmose of Amasis between the years 569 to 526 BC.
“It was Amasis too who established the law that every year each one of the Egyptians should declare to the ruler of his district, from what source he got his livelihood, and if any man did not do this or did not make declaration of an honest way of living, he should be punished with death. “
Herodotus, Histories II
Project Gutenberg
The ancient Egyptians wrote frequently of the tax collector and his duties and the manner in which they were carried out were often illustrated as shown above. Note the two men on the right tied to a post for flogging and beating.
Even in these barbaric times, pleas for justice and fairness were raised. The collectors were notorious for collecting taxes without forwarding the dues to the appropriate authorities, as such, the use of receipts became mandatory in certain areas. In the later Greek era, a tax collection system was framed to include the use of contractors from the areas to collect from local farmers. As much as the farmers feared the collectors, the contracted collectors feared as much the Pharaoh if they failed to fulfill their quota. As brutal as all this was, there are cases of appeals granted for relief to those who’s been robbed or the victim of natural catastrophe.
