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Ancient and modern

Ancient Rome’s fraudulent foreign students

Modern lessons from a fourth-century tax dodge

15 February 2014

9:00 AM

15 February 2014

9:00 AM

Foreign students getting on to courses under false pretences, overstaying their welcome and so on are nothing new. Ask the Romans.

In the 4th century AD, the Roman empire was tottering, and Diocletian decided to sort it out. The resulting increase in bureaucracy led to a large rise in taxation. This laid a particularly heavy burden on the wallets of the wealthy who ran local government (the decuriones), because it was their duty not only to collect local taxes but also to make up any shortfall.

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