Government fiscal policy in mandatory Palestine in the 1930s

Abstract

The fiscal system of Palestine under Ottoman rule was divided into two: the autonomous Sanjaq, or District of Jerusalem, came under the direct control of the Ministry of Finance at Constantinople, whilst the Sanjaqs of Acre and Nablus were administered from Beirut.' There were three direct rural taxes: the Werko, the Tithe, and the Animal Tax. The Werko rate was 4 per mille of the capital value of Miri, or State Land, as it had been assessed 25 years previously; the Tithe was collected at 12.5 per cent rather than 10 per cent on the gross yield of the land; and the Animal Tax was a tax per head of sheep, goat or pig, and those camels and buffaloes not used for ploughing.2 With time, large estates had been formed in Ottoman Palestine through the farming out of tax-collection. Here, the collection of tax especially meant the 'ushr tax, or the yearly tithe due on agricultural land.3 Taxcollection was farmed out for short periods in exchange for large payments to the government. The 12.5 per cent tithe of gross yield was a heavy burden for the peasantry as it translated to approximately 35 per cent of the net yield which rarely exceeded the minimum subsistence needs of the fellah,4 who was already at the mercy of the tax-collector. Partly to cover his own costs, and partly to make a gain, the multazim, or tax-collector, often exacted over half of the peasant's produce and so: