Avarız was a property tax in the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, an annual cash
tax
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, or n ...
paid by households registered in a
defter
A ''defter'' (plural: ''defterler'') was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire.
Description
The information collected could vary, but ''tahrir defterleri'' typically included details of villages, dwellings, household ...
.
[Taylor, M., 2010. Some Figures for the Urban and Rural Populations of Damascus Province in the Late Seventeenth Century. Osmanlı Araştırmaları, 35(35). pp.215-216]
History
In early Ottoman history, the state depended on the
timar system
A timar was a land grant by the sultans of the Ottoman Empire between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries, with an annual tax revenue of less than 20,000 akçes. The revenues produced from the land acted as compensation for military service. A ...
of feudal dues; but over time - especially due to the need to hire professional soldiers rather than peasants serving a feudal military obligation - more emphasis was placed on cash taxes, and avarız took over from the timar system.
Avarız began in the late fifteenth century.
Initially,
nüzül was seen as an alternative to avarız; nuzul was (in principle) a payment of food, in kind. In times of war, villages might be required to supply food to army supply points, or they might be required to supply cash; but never both. Over time, this relationship changed, and both might be demanded (whilst nüzül also became a cash tax).
Detailed Ottoman
tax registers survive which show the levels and details of taxation in different provinces. Although the tax burden was very variable, nüzül and avarız were very important taxes in the 17th century - for instance, they represented 58% of all tax revenue in Manastir in 1621-1622 - but by the 18th century their importance had declined, and more money was collected through other taxes.
Technically the registers were counting property not people, with an urban register for Damascus documenting each dwelling in the city and even the condition of the property. It however also identified the owners and they were the ones liable to be taxed.
An avarızhane was a household defined for tax purposes. Initially, this was equivalent to one gercekhane (i.e. a real household), but over time, taxpayers were aggregated into larger groups; by the seventeenth century, an avarızhane might include several households, or gercekhanes.
[
Avarız might be collected through an ]Iltizam
An Iltizām (Arabic التزام) was a form of tax farm that appeared in the 15th century in the Ottoman Empire. The system began under Mehmed the Conqueror and was abolished during the Tanzimat reforms in 1856.
Iltizams were sold off by the gove ...
.
Avarız as a ''category'' of taxes
The name "Avarız" was also used as a blanket term for cash taxes levied by central government, or ''avarız-i divaniye''. The term later came to be used for one specific tax.[
]
Difficulties and exemptions
Occasionally the tax burden could be heavy, provoking rebellion.[ Some ]waqf
A waqf ( ar, وَقْف; ), also known as hubous () or '' mortmain'' property is an inalienable charitable endowment under Islamic law. It typically involves donating a building, plot of land or other assets for Muslim religious or charitabl ...
s were founded to help communities pay their nüzül and avarız obligations each year.[
]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Avariz
Taxation in the Ottoman Empire