3 ms·

Nope, it's not. Accounting is the first writing, and the earliest form of "taxation" as an obligation to the group was fines imposed upon people as penance.

• thaumasiotes 2y ago
  > and the earliest form of "taxation" as an obligation to the group was fines imposed upon people as penance. This is a strange thing for you to believe. There is no evidence for it, nor any suggestion that it's likely. Taxation in money is a recent phenomenon, well within the historical period, pretty much everywhere; before that, you have taxation in kind. (And, often treated separately, taxation in conscripted labor.) Penalties are generally the same. Monetary penalties do show up before monetary taxation does, but they apply to people who have money, not to everyone in general.