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SIR SAMUEL WHITE BAKER
CYPRUS AS I SAW IT IN 1879
page 488 View PDF version of this page 2,000,000 piastres will be recovered in the next six months. Adding this sum to the recoveries already effected, the revenue of the entire year is estimated at 2,552,000 piastres, or 22,000/.
Tax on Exemption from Afilitary Service.
This superseded the capitation tax formerly levied upon Christian subjects, and other subjects of the Porte who were not Mohammedans, for exemption from military service. It is a tax of 27J piastres for each male inhabitant from twenty to forty years of age, but practically it is levied upon males below and above the limits of age. Returns of the numbers coming under this impost are settled between the heads of villages and the Moukhtars. The latter are required to recover the money and pay it in twelve monthly instalments into the chest of the sandjak.
The rate of 27I piastres is equivalent to $s. per man per annum. There is no apparent reason why it should not be paid at once and credited in the Government Treasury immediately on payment.
This tax is unpopular and offensive to those whom it affects throughout the Turkish dominions. The Greek, Armenian, Bulgarian subjects of the Porte have protested against it from time to time, but without effect. Were these declared eligible for military service on the same terms as Mohammedan subjects, but with the option of providing substitutes, the impost would be relieved of its invidious character, and perhaps yield a larger revenue to the State than heretofore. This, however, equally with the exoneration tax, would be inappropriate in Cyprus under a British administration, which does not require any considerable proportion of the population for military service. It is matter for consideration, therefore, whether this light tax may be continued in some other form.
The average yield of this tax during the past five years was eqivalent to 12,270/. a year. It increased last year, on account of the war, to 15,110/. But in the current year the recoveries have been slack, for the reasons stated above in regard to the verghis, and the estimate is therefore for 1,044,000 piastres, or 9,000/.
Tax on Sheep.
There is a regular enumeration of the sheep and goats throughout every village in the island during the month of March, and the tax is evied at the rate of z\ piastres, or about 6d. per head. The tax is collected by the Local Government officials, and with proper arrangements should all be recovered in the month of April, but there are considerable arrear claims, extending back to several years.
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