Italian Medieval Tax Rate

Things worked differently in medieval Italy. Peasants did not fill out a tax form... did not write cheques to the government... did not lobby government for reductions in tax rates. Instead, they worked for the local gov'na for no pay... in exchange for being allowed to use a house on the estate and to use a plot of ground for personal production... run a cow... grow some veggies.

Today, the rates of tax in medieval periods were a point of discussion when we visited the ancient fort at Paterno . The fort was an observation post with a clear view of three broad fertile valleys that converged at Paterno... an ideal location for a gov'na to exercise power over a large area. The tower that we saw was a renovated ruin from (I'm guessing) Norman times. What portion of production from Paterno was allocated to defence? Looking at all the hilltop villages... castles... forts... and walled cities... an estimate of 25 % of productive effort being allocated to defence doesn't seem an unreasonable amount .

Walking down from the fort into the town we passed four churches... one looked sufficiently grand to be called a cathedral (duomo). Why have four large churches crammed into a couple of town blocks? How much art do you need to cram into each church to show your devotion to your religion? These aren't new questions... Martin Luther used to worry about similar issues. What seems clear is that the church was not short of wealth... no doubt donated by the gov'na and the parishioners... arguably another form of taxation. When you look at the amount and quality of buildings allocated for religious purposes... again, an estimate of 25% of total production doesn't seem too much.

Without claiming any accuracy... one-half of all production was taken out of the ecosystem before one mouth was fed... one baby kept warm... one child taught to learn. No wonder the medieval period dragged on for so long with living standards improving only in baby steps. Imagine how unbearable such a taxation regime would be for us today. Now, the church's take of GDP is almost negligible... our expenditure on defence is typically less than 10% of GDP. That leaves a bit more for teachers, nurses and policemen on the beat (to borrow a phrase from Bob Carr).