Editing Imperial Tithe (section)

== Real World Parallels ==
The most direct parallel from the Imperial Tithe and Real World history would be the operation of economies in the [[Bronze Age]]. In that system there was a class of scribes and bureaucrats employed by the state which took and kept track of what was produced and allocated it to various people so it could be used to achieve various tasks. Peasants farmed, provided a percentage of their crop to the state who used it feed artisans who made tools, cloth, beer and similar, which was taken by the government and provided to various peasants, who'd also spend some time working in mines or clay pits and working on large scale irrigation projects. Raising Troops worked along a similar line. How a group of peasants or artisans was to get the job done was broadly a matter for them to sort things out, as long as they met or exceeded their quotas was all that the scribes in the palace cared about. The Inca Empire's Mit'a system is a pretty good parallel in many regards.

This was called paying taxes "in kind". That is, whatever you do for a living you pay a certain percentage of. Most of this was used by the local lords as a storage of goods to be used in case of emergency and food stores for lean times. Yes, it may be shocking but back then the lords and such actually did do their job properly. Amazing what can be accomplished when your personal wealth and power is dependent on keeping your subjects safe and prosperous.
 

[[Category:Imperial]]
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]