Investigating of the impact of increased tax pressures on tax evasion and the civilizational structure of Kerman during the Qara-Khitai period

Pargari, Saleh; Pourmehdizadeh, Sahar; Changizi, Esmaeil

doi:10.22103/jis.2025.24850.2702

Investigating of the impact of increased tax pressures on tax evasion and the civilizational structure of Kerman during the Qara-Khitai period

Document Type : Scientific

Authors

¹ Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Khurazmi University, Karaj, Iran

² , department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran.

³ Department of History, Faculty of Literature and Humanities, Kharazmi University, Karaj, Iran

10.22103/jis.2025.24850.2702

Abstract

After assuming taking control of Kerman, the Qara-khitai rulers turned to taxation as of the most crucial financial resources to cover the costs of governing their territory. Therefore, they focused on collecting various types of taxes, both permanent and extraordinary. The existence of these multiple taxes not only imposed significant pressure on the people of the region but was also exacerbated by several factors. Moreover, the people of Kerman responded differently to these tax pressures.

Accordingly, the primary questions of this study are: what factors contributed to the increase in tax pressures on the people of Kerman during the Qara-Khitai rule? How did the people of this region react to these imposition, and what methods did they use to evade taxes? What impact did these evasions have on the civilizational structure of the city of Kerman?

The result of the research indicate that the methods of tax collection involved the granting of Iqta (Grant), the issuance of bills, Tasir (Estimated product evaluation), assignment of areas to individuals through the method of Muvada'a (contractual agreement), collection of taxes in kind, determining taxes based on individuals' financial capacity, Also competition among administrative leaders, misconduct of the princes and government officials, instigating competition among the Qara-Khitai princes by the central government exacerbated these pressures. However, at the same time, people also used methods such as leaving their place of residence and moving to another location, hiding, fleeing, and several other methods, which significantly contributed to the destruction and ruin of cities and villages.

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