Poll tax policy in the sanjak of Biga during Tanzimat Period

Poll tax was a religious tax gathered from the non-Muslim subjects. Shown among the compulsory taxes starting from the period of Prophet Muhammad, the poll tax was also listed among legal taxes during the period of the Ottoman Empire in the same way. Always gathered in cash, it was one of the prominent sources of income for Ottoman treasury. There were generally two systems that came to prominence at collecting the poll tax, these being the maktû (fixed price) and ale?r-ruus (per person). These two systems were always used depending on region and time. The reform of 1691 brought radical changes to taxing. Gathering up taxes on a stable ratio throughout the empire was aimed with the reform. On the other hand, the ale?r-ruus system became prominent in collecting taxes; the method of taxpayers paying their poll taxes with documents based on âlâ (rich), evsât (middle class) and ednâ (low-incomer) was adopted.The poll tax entered into an important process of change again during the reign of Mahmud II. The method of commission at collecting taxes was adopted and representators of non-Muslim communities took part in these. As for the Tanzimat period, the method of an-cemaatin (gathering from the community) was adopted in the beginning. However, the decline of income in a short time caused the state to come to prominence again. As a matter of fact, the population census of 1844 shows traces of this dominance. Poll tax registers were prepared for the districts of the Sanjak of Biga and a new detection of tax payers was intended. In 1851, the an-cemaatin method was adopted again for gathering taxes due to both Western pressures and the idea of an equal society. However, this time, the subject population tried to become exempt from taxation using the characteristics of amel-mande (jobless) ve sagir (child) as how happened at the district of Kale-i Sultaniye (Çanakkale). Due to a decrease in the income, the state?s intervention was not delayed and in 1853, just like how it happened throughout the Sanjak of Biga, the poll tax income was attempted to be restored to the phase of 1844.