I had the opportunity to attend the August Nascar race in Bristol, TN, this year.... just me and 165,000 of my closest friends.  There aren’t too many places left that serve fried turkey legs and Bud as a combo meal.  The race was loud, exciting at times, long at other times and somehow on lap 429 I started thinking about personal property taxes (it might have been the turkey leg).  It turns out that Nascar and personal property taxes have a lot in common.  Now before you tune me out on this one.... let’s think about it.

Doesn’t it seem like you are going around and around the same circle when it comes to personal property taxes.  When you think you have made it all the way around you realize you are just heading around again.  500 laps later you might be finished, but who has that kind of time.  And it’s a bit confusing, having all those drivers out there on the track (not to mention all the sponsors painted on the cars).  Sometimes you lose track of a driver because there are 43 other cars so close to each other.  Sure, in personal property we don’t have drivers and sponsors but we do have 12,000 local jurisdictions and all the rules, tables and rates that they bring with them.

Ever look at your property tax bill and wonder, “Who created this tax?  Whose idea was it to tax property anyway?”  Your wonderment might best be directed towards ancient Egypt.  Starting in 3,500 B.C. Egypt created one of the first pictures of how this property tax thing should work.

Farmers and land holders in Egypt paid property taxes equal to about ten percent of the land production (that sounds like a Texas tax rate to me!).  If the person who was being taxed could not or would not pay he was taken to the courts for justice.  In many of the Ancient Egyptian tombs, wall paintings depict village elders being punished for trying to ignore or evade property taxes.

In Ancient Egypt they even had a god for tax assessors.  His name was Thoth and he took the form of a human body with an ibis head (the ibis is a bird with a long, downward curving beak).  He is often depicted with tools of the trade, such as writing tablets, pigments and a water pot.

Ancient Egypt’s system and need for property taxes is not so different from what we see in our system today (except maybe Thoth).  We really do tax like an Egyptian.

The Roman Empire gave us our first example of a republic that worked for the people.  This legendary republic created a ground breaking and very effective property tax system.  Though the Roman Empire began with a sophisticated and fair property tax system it did not end with one.  Many of the Emperors that followed Augustus Caesar overtaxed the people and hoarded property tax funds instead of reinvesting them into public improvements, for which they were intended.  Increased military opposition caused the need for a greater army and also lead to higher property taxes.

In 284 A.D. the Emperor, Diocletian, divided the Roman Empire into two parts.  He increased property taxes and increased currency by making extra coins, which created a severe inflation.  The same Roman Empire that gave us an exemplary property tax system also demonstrated how to abuse it.  In 410 A.D. the Visigoths captured Rome and the legendary empire fell.  Misuse of property taxes was not responsible for all of the Empires problems, but it did play a large role in the collapse.  Perhaps this example of history just goes to show us that it is possible to tax people to death.  Lesson learned.

If property taxes motivate people to do anything it tends to be to take a trip to the local assessor’s office.  The Roman Empire found a way to create a more positive response to property taxes.  Augustus Caesar accomplished this through flat-rate land property taxes.  This meant that property taxes were assessed not on what a property did produce but on what it could produce.  If two properties were deemed to have the same production possibility they both paid the same amount of property taxes, even though one might actually produce more.  This incentive motivated farmers to get the maximum amount of production out of the land in their care, which in turn increased the wealth of the Empire.  How’s that for smart taxes?

Remember the legendary Roman Empire?  That’s the one whose mythical foundation started with abandoned twins, nursed by a wolf and raised by a shepherd.  It was in Rome that the world first witnessed a republic established on principles of self government.  The city thrived on its’ republic ideals and expanded into an empire to become the undisputed ruler of Italy, and ultimately the world.

The creation of a sophisticated and ground breaking property tax system was one of the milestones of the Roman Empire.  Property taxes were paid based on land value, livestock, structures, even plants and trees and all other personal property.  The United States has taken some cues from this legendary government, well, minus the wolf-nursed abandoned twins.  Many of the property tax policies in Rome have found their way into our current property tax systems.