Excessive taxes were probably the greatest burden Rome placed upon the common man.  Even without a huge tax burden the average family in Palestine existed only slightly above the poverty level. Add high taxes, and many people went from making it to desperation.

The people faced not only Roman taxes and tributes but also religious taxes (temple tax, tithes, etc.) and taxes imposed by Herod the Great and later his sons. Among the taxes paid were tributes and direct taxes such as land taxes and a head tax. There were also duties, sales taxes, and extra taxes on items such as salt. In addition there were taxes for the building and upkeep of the temple and various tithes.
 
It is estimated that the tax burden on the common man was 30% or more. Not bad we might say, but these were sustenance farmers and the like. They were barely keeping their families fed and sheltered. Add to that a 30% tax load, and you have a recipe for disaster. Many of the small land owners could not pay their taxes. Fortunately, there were wealthy land owners who out of the goodness of their hearts would gladly pay the poor man’s taxes. Oh, but the poor fellow had to give up the title to his land and become an indentured servant.

Land was everything to the people of Israel. The land they owned was the land of their fathers. It was God's promise to His people. Yet, many had to sell what amounted to their very identity to pay their debts. In the worst cases the progression was from land owner, to tenant or day laborer, and finally to indebted slavery or debtor's prison.

The rich were getting richer and the poor poorer. Land was increasingly held by a wealthy few. For example, there is one account of over 60 peasant families sharing what amounted to about one half of an acre in Jerusalem. Sixteen people often occupied a small room. An enormous amount of the population lived in poverty. A large part of the population was undernourished, and many poor families had to feed themselves with grass and roots when all resources became exhausted. Compare that to the fact that in Jesus’ day six men own almost all of North Africa. The disparity between the rich and the poor was far greater than it is today. It is no wonder that in the final Jewish revolt one of the first acts was to burn the debtor's records in Jerusalem.

The Romans did not collect taxes directly. They sold the right to collect taxes to the highest bidder. We read often of the tax collectors in the gospels. They were folks who actually paid the Romans for the right to cheat their own people.

Failure to pay tributes and taxes often led to devastating consequences. The Romans would sometimes destroy an entire village for late payment either enslaving or killing all its inhabitants. When an individual could not pay his debts, he was often tortured. We have accounts of tax collectors first torturing the head of the household for non-payment. If he still did not pay, they would torture the man’s family while he watched.  It is easy to understand why tax collectors were considered the worst sinners of the day.

The Romans brought with them not only excessive taxes and violence, but also paganism. The fact that the Romans worshipped multiple gods and even Caesar himself was an intolerable offence to the devout Jews of the day. Temples to foreign gods and to Caesar now inhabited the Promised Land. Although the Romans allowed the Jews to practice their religion, they were forever encroaching upon the Jewish beliefs and practices. For instance, in AD 37 Caligula tried to erect a giant statue of himself in the temple-- an amazing exercise in not getting it!
 
Foreign occupation brought great pain and suffering to the Jews. Yet, the Romans were not the only ones troubling the inhabitants of Palestine. In our next post we will look at Herod the Great, his sons, and a grandson who thought he was a god.