Taxation The practice of imposing duty or payment upon an individual for the benefit of others; can take the form of currency, produce, or labor.

The earliest historical records indicate that the collection of taxes for the common good was present among the most ancient civilizations. Israel, too, had a long history of requiring its members to support its priests, the building of its most holy shrines, and its kings. Moreover, periods of “rest” were mandated—the net effect of which was that the poor, the foreigner, and even the beasts of the field could “glean” from the largess of the more fortunate. In between these times of rest, the industrious were not allowed to harvest “wall to wall,” enabling the less fortunate to literally live on the margins. Furthermore, the Year of Jubilee broke up the stranglehold of extended monopolies, allowing heirs to regain the wealth of their ancestors. Even though nearly all of these offerings, sacrifices, and withholdings are steeped in the language of worship and devotion, functionally they constitute taxation in Israel.