Taxation

Shown here is a sales-tax receipt from the first century C.E. It records a tax payment made to an official bank in the Roman province of Egypt on the sale of a property. The Roman Empire levied several taxes, and provinces exacted local taxes. Findings like this illustrate how some tax payments were recorded. Paul’s counsel encouraging Roman Christians to pay taxes follows the pattern set by Jesus, who told his followers: “Pay back . . . Caesar’s things to Caesar.”—Mt 22:21; Ro 13:6, 7.