A salt tax was a tax levied directly on salt, usually proportional to the amount of salt purchased. In ancient times, salt was extremely valuable as a preservant. Words such as salary are derived from the same root as salt and indicate its vitality to civilizations. As an example, ancient "salaries" could literally be quantities of salt.

Due to the scarcity and importance of salt, levying a tax on its commerce was extremely lucrative, but also widely despised and controversial. The most notable instances are the gabelle in France, salt tax in China and the salt tax in India including that under the British.

Examples [ edit ]

Notable examples of salt taxation throughout history include:

Salt tax in alternate form [ edit ]

In 2014, it is still illegal in certain provinces of China to use salt from a neighbor city.[2]

References [ edit ]

^ T'ang China: The Rise of the East in World History. (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004; Samuel Adrian M. Adshead.(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004; ISBN 1403934568 ), p. 50. ^ Apple Daily







