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Subsistence
Tithes are taxes (or rents) that churches collect from their parishioners. Traditionally, tithes are one-tenth of income.
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Tithe Term Timeline in The Wealth of Nations
The timeline below shows where the term Tithe appears in The Wealth of Nations. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Book 5, Chapter 1
...It served the Pope like a “spiritual army” and collected rent in the form of tithes, which made it wealthy. It spent its surplus supporting the poor and currying favor with...
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The church’s revenues are really part of the state’s, since it depends on tithes (which are really land taxes). But the more of this tax goes to the church,...
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Book 5, Chapter 2
...but to the Produce of Land.” Proportional taxes payable in rude produce, like the church’s tithe, may look like income taxes on farmers, but they’re really land taxes on landlords. Farmers...
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...and Egypt imposed such taxes, which gave the state an incentive to build infrastructure. But tithes in Europe don’t have this benefit, as the church’s lands are small and dispersed. Collecting...
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Book 5, Chapter 3
...the land-tax. Indeed, they can afford it more easily than British landowners can because church tithes consume a massive portion of British land rents, but there are no tithes in the...
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