, 1877-03-17
THE TURKISH SYSTEM OF
TAXATION.

The Ondutak is the tithe Of live
stock, also called Bsglih. It is collected
on sheep and goats at the rate of Al pias-
tres q head, and is paid in money. The
multezims go ronnd in the early spring
to count the sheep at a time when it is
most difficult for the peasant to pay, aud
lust before the time when, owing to the
severity of the winter and the scarcity Of
food. the mortality among the live stock
is the greatest. The multezim finds q
hundred sheep, q month later twenty-five
of them have died, but no deduction is made
from the 1.-THE for the .3ss. When there
are very severe winters the result becomes
simply disastrous to the peasant. II there
should not be enough forage it is not an
unusual thing for half a flock of sheep
to die in the early spring, just after the
1.-THE has teen levied. Now if he should
not be able to raise the money to pay, o
not unusual case this time of the year, the
rest of the flock will be seized and sold, W
Ing to the scarcity Of money, for one fourth
or one-half of the real value of the sheep,
and bought by the multezim himself until
the required sum is made up. An exam
plo may be quoted Of a man who had 300
sheep, about one half Of which had died
just after they were counted by The multe-
Gim. The tax levied was equal to the
value Of 80 sheep, but as the peasant could
not raise the money, the muItezim seized
aud bought il Just 1870 Of the remainder
that is, he took t2ur for one, and the
peasant out Of q flock of 800 had Just 30
left. Where the muitez.n fiads the oea-
SAINT able to pay he has another trick to
which he often resorts. lie is always at
liberty if he chooses to 90 round aud
count the sheep a second time, in order to
discover any the peasant may have cou-
cealed. Upon going the first time, there
fore, he purposely puts down a less num-
Der than that reported by the sheep.
owner /; and then coming o second time,
discovers the excess, asserts that the pea
SAINT had concealed 6 certain number, and
then lsvies q fine equal to double the value
of the supposed concealed sheep, one-half
OF which he pockets. But the most op.
pressive taxes of all are those on tobacco
and the vine, and their mode of collection
is likewise the most tyrannical, arbitrary,
and exasperating. IL the first place there
10 a tax on the ground on which the vine
grows, equal to five per cent. of the in
come derived ; in the next a direct tax of
four per cent. on the iGcome itself in the
next the 1.-THE, or tenth, which must be
paid, not 10 kind but in money. AS if this
were not enough, should the peasant make
bis grapes into wine. he must pay another
tenth on the wine. aud if from the pomace
of the grapes he afterwards makes raki, he
has still another 1.-THE to pay on that. This
brings the taxes that might be legally and
lawfully exacted upon land devoted to
wine-growing to the ero:mous amount of
thirty per cent. on the actual revenue.
But this is not oil. Should the peasant
not sell the wine as soon as it is made,
bat keep it in his own cellar to be sold as
occasion may offer, he must take a wine
dealers l~icenee, which lie twenty per cent.
on the estimated rental of the house in
which it is kept. This is 50 oppressive .
regulation that the peasant is Obliged to
sell his wine soon after it is made at what
ever price it will bring. Then, should he
have an opportunity Of selling his wine to