990
edits
Changes
→Early History of Tariffs
Some of the earliest tariffs are recorded from texts in the 3rd and 2nd millennium BCE. The Old Assyrian trade colony in Anatolia, in the ancient city of Kanesh, was a thriving city that received tin metals and wool and traded precious metals to ancient Assyria in modern day northern Iraq. The trade was taxed by local rulers in Anatolia and along the route of trade in Syria. Transit costs and Assyrian merchants living in Kanesh would have to pay taxes in conducting their trade enterprise that appears to be mutually beneficial. Despite the tariffs, trades would make large profits, often doubling their investment with a caravan of goods sent between Assyria and Kanesh. The trade thrived for centuries. Similar to today, merchants wanted to avoid paying tariffs, which sometimes meant taking different routes to conducting trade, but inevitably tariffs were considered part of the cost of business and were priced in the commodities traded (Figure 1).<ref>For more on the Old Assyrian trade colony, see: Barjamovic, Gojko. 2011. <i>A Historical Geography of Anatolia in the Old Assyrian Colony Period</i>. CNI Publications 38. Copenhagen: Carsten Niebuhr Institute of Near Eastern Studies, University of Copenhagen : Museum Tusculanum Press. </ref>
The Roman Empire had a series of tariffs in different parts of the empire, although generally there was no unified system. There were internal tariffs, which governed goods that moved within the empire. These goods were taxed at rates ranging between 1-5 percent. Foreign goods could be taxed at rates ranging between 12-25 percent. This often made luxury goods well beyond the means of average Romans. Silk from China, for instance, was in high demand but could mostly only be afforded by the upper elites.<ref>For more on Roman Empire trade, tariffs, and taxes, see: Temin, Peter. 2017. <i>The Roman Market Economy. The Princeton Economic History of the Western World</i>. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press. </ref>
In the Medieval period, around the 13th century, we begin to see more regulation of tariff costs for specific commodities. Wool, for instance, was heavily regulated in England in the 13th and 14th centuries. Tariffs were relatively high as wool was seen as an important pillar of the English Medieval economy. Other commodities, such as skins and leather, lead, tin, butter, cheese, lard and grease, were levied as well. However, rather than a specified rate, often the taxes were based on the container of the commodity of trade. For instance, a sack of wool was levied at roughly 6 shillings and 8 pence. This could allow merchants, of course, to cheat more easily by switching commodities in sacks, which were taxed at variable rates, or containers were smuggled without a tax. Ports and trade routes were often levied to directly benefit the crown. This tradition in England, nevertheless, began to influence the rise and development of the modern concept of tariffs that occurred as Britain expanded into an empire in the 17th and 18th centuries.<ref>For more on Medieval trade in England and its tariffs, see: Rose, Susan. 2018. <i>The Wealth of England: The Medieval Wool Trade and Its Political Importance 1100-1600</i>. Oxford: Oxbow Books.</ref>
[[File:Main-image.jpeg|thumb|Figure 1. Old Assyrian trade colony tablets detail levies paid by merchants. Despite the taxes, the trade proved highly profitable for the merchants. ]]