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Originally Posted by Shoonra
Additionally there was an annual half-shekel tithe (per adult male) to be paid to the Temple that was coming due in the week before Passover...A half-shekel was a rather small coin, within the capacity of almost anybody to pay...Anyway, these activities were unrelated to the taxes demanded by the Romans.
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There are historians who argue that the sum total of taxes on the Jews of Palestine was brutally impoverishing and a tax of a half sheckel would be a heavy burden on the majority of desparately poor Jews.
See page 110, of JESUS OF NAZARETH, ILLEGAL-TAX PROTESTER (
http://www.jesus-on-taxes.com) citing John Dominic Crossan's book, WHO KILLED JESUS.
To say that the temple tax was unrelated to the taxes demanded by the Romans is, I believe, naive. Josephus says Pilate moved his army to Jerusalem to destroy the law of the Jews. Do you suppose that the Jews in Pilate's (tax) jurisdiction could impose any tax whatsoever without his consent. I think not. Do you think he would consent if the tax tended to diminish the collection of taxes that benefited Rome? Not likely. Every tax is related to and has an impact on every other tax. When a tax is imposed or increased, there is perforce less money available to pay other taxes.