Abstract:

The poll-tax account book No. 1411 contains the claims and collection data of the poll-tax and their account records for the year 1271 (1854-1855). According to the book, based on the poll-tax for the same year; it was agreed to collect from 1.590 prosperous, 8.260 middle sort and 11.667 low-income (a total of 21.517) non-Muslim citizens living in Lefkoşa Centre and Tuzla, Limoson, Piskopi, Gilan, Evdim, Magosa, karpas, Dağ, Değirmenlik, Baf, Kukla, Hırsofı, Lefke, Omorfo, Mesarye and Girne (16 towns), a total amount of 518.205 gurus. According to the poll-tax records collected in the year 1271 (1854-1855) the non-muslim citizens, liable to poll-tax in the island of Cyprus, lived in Lefkoşa centre, sixteen towns, 38 neighbourhoods and 477 villages. Their population was 23.113 of which 1067 were prosperous, 8290 were middle sort and 13.756 had low income. The amount of tax collected from them was 519.060 guruş. Among the non-Muslim citizens liable to poll-tax, the prosperous paid 60 guruş, the middle sort paid 30 guruş and the poor paid 15 guruş. The poll-tax belonging to the year 1271 (1854-1855) was collected in three installments. The first installment collected in March amounts to 380.325 guruş, the second collected in April amounts to 102.765 guruş and the last installment collected in February was 35.970 guruş totalling 519.060 guruş altogether. When examined, the book shows that the amount collected is 855 guruş more than the claimed amount of 518.205, and 1230 guruş more than the previous year.

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