Mr. McDonald to Mr. Gresham.
Teheran , September 21, 1893 . (Received October 27.)
Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your No. 11 of August 15, 1893, in reply to Mr. Sperry’s No. 60, diplomatic series, in regard to the order of the Persian Government for the taxation of foreign residents engaged in trade in Persia. The word trade as used in its general sense hardly expresses the term used in the Persian Government circular, which formed the subject of Mr. Sperry’s dispatch. “The trades” would be the more correct form, meaning thereby such kinds of occupation as carpentry, tailoring, blacksmithing, shoemakiug, hat making, drapery, etc. Wholesale exporters and importers are exempt from these taxes, on the ground that they pay their proportion of the general taxation in customs duty. Men engaged in professions, such as doctors, lawyers, and the priestly class generally, are also excluded.
The taxation of the trades is one of the oldest methods of raising revenue, and dates from about the time of the Mohammedan conquest of Persia, or upward of one thousand years ago; and, notwithstanding revolutions and the changes of dynasties, the amount collected from each trade has been rarely altered. Each trade is taxed according to some general computation of the profits gained in the course of the year. For instance, all the shoemakers of Teheran pay a tax of 12,000 krans, or about $1,500 a year; the sellers of native medicines (herbs), who also keep in their shops a few other articles, such as sugar, tea, tobacco, etc., pay a tax of 6,000 krans, or about $750 a year. The payment of these taxes has to be made during ten months of the year—two holy months, the months of Ramazan and Muharram are excluded. The levying and collecting the taxes are somewhat peculiar, although they secure to each person a certain degree of protection from unjust exactions. Once in six months a meeting of all the members of the trade is called at some appointed place, when the position and standing of each individual is inquired into, and the amount that each person is to pay is determined by themselves, in such proportion as to make up the full amount due to the Government. One person, generally the chief of the trade, is appointed, with an officer on the part of the Government, to collect the tax from each individual according to his assessment. Thus, it appears, that no one engaged in any trade is taxed without his having first had an opportunity of being heard on the subject.
I have not yet heard of any claim being made against an American citizen for the payment of these taxes, and I do not think that any will be made.
I have, etc.,