| Taxation in the Ottoman Empire |
|---|
| Taxes |
| Adet-i Ağnam · Adet-i deştbani · Ashar · Avarız · Bac-i pazar · Bedl-i askeri · Cizye · Cürm-ü cinayet · Damga resmi · Gümrük resmi · Haraç · Ihtisab · İspençe · Istira · Maktu · Mururiye resmi · Muskirat resmi · Nüzül · Otlak resmi · Rav akçesi · Resm-i arusane · Resm-i bennâk · Resm-i bostan · Resm-i çift · Resm-i dönüm · Resm-i ganem · Resm-i hınzır · Resm-i mücerred · Resm-i sicill · Rusum-e-eflak · Selamet isni · Tapu resmi · Tekalif-i orfiye · Temettu · Tuz resmi · Zakāt |
| Implementation |
| Ahidnâme · Defter · Düyun-ı Umumiye · Emin · Hazine-i Hassa · Hane · Iltizam · Istira · Kadı · Kanun-i Raya · Kanunname · Malikane · Millet · Muafiyet · Muhassil · Muqata'ah · Ottoman Public Debt Administration · Regie Company · Sursat · Tahrir · Waqf |
The resm-i bennâk was a tax on peasants who had little or no land - those who did not pay the resm-i çift - in the Ottoman Empire.[1]
The name is probably a loanword of Armenian origin;[2] in the Ottoman empire, "bennâk" came to mean a landless peasant, or a man who had married but not yet established his own household. "Bennâk" was also a term for a small area of farmland, less than half a çift.[3]
The resm-i bennâk was usually paid annually, on the 1st of March, by the head of a family who is either landless or has very little land - not enough to be assessed for resm-i çift. The tax was payable to the timar-holder[4] or to a tax-farmer in their stead.
The rate of resm-i bennâk was generally lower than the resm-i çift. For instance, in the provincial tax code of Hüdavendigar in 1487, a married man with his own farm might pay the full resm-i çift rate of 40 akçes; a bennâk would pay 12 akçes, and a mucerred (bachelor) would pay 6 akçes.[5]
In some cases, bennâk was only paid by peasants in the Ottoman empire who had a small but nonzero area of land to farm; the truly landless peasants would pay a caba tax[6] in which case the remaining bennak might be called "ekinlü-bennâk".
Academics might be exempted. Miners were also exempted from many taxes, and the resm-i bennâk was no exemption - for example, sipahis who worked in saltpetre mines would be exempt from resm-i bennâk, resm-i çift, and caba; they would also be exempted from avariz and other taxes.[7] Some of the sadat - those claiming descent from Muhammed - were initially exempted from paying resm-i bennâk, but this exemption was eroded over time.[8] There were even cases of people forging certificates of ancestry in order to claim tax exemptions.[9]