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In the Early Byzantine period tax was calculated according to the financial status of the taxpayer.
Accordingly, taxes were divided into general and class-specific taxes.
General taxes included the annona, a property tax paid in goods and, later,
in cash. The purpose of this tax was to maintain the army of Constantinople. Supplies of
esthes (Lat: canon vestibus; uniforms and equipment), eisphora hippon (Lat: equorum collatio; cavalry horses) and supplies of soldiers
or the cash required for recruiting them chrysos tironon (Lat: aurum tironicum) constituted other
general annona tax contributions.
The phoroi taxeon (class-specific taxes) applied mostly to senators, merchants, cottage-industry
owners and city bouleutai (Lat: curiales). Senators were expected to pay the eisphora ges, a regular property tax, and also
the eucheteria eisphora, a tax paid in gold and designed as a New Year gift for the emperor. In addition, all professionals had to pay the chrysargyron (Lat: collatio lustralis; gold and silver tax), a tax in recognition of their right to practise
their professions; this tax seems to have been especially heavy and was
abolished by Emperor Anastasios I.
Besides the aforementioned taxes, there were also occasional taxes, such as the prosphora chryson
(Lat: aurum obliticium; gold tax) paid by senators to the emperor on special celebrations. A similar
tax, the stephanikon chrysion
(Lat: aurum coronarium) paid to the emperor by the bouleutai was accompanied by a panegyric speech, the so-called stephanikos.
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