Taxation

Bhutan had a very heavy taxation system in the past. Taxes were collected from people in the form of cereals, vegetables, fruits, herbs, textiles, meat, dairy products, etc. A taxing paying household paid a wide range of taxes to the government, district and local authorities. People were imposed taxes on anything of value they produced in their region. For example, in areas where paper plant grew, people were imposed paper tax and some were imposed soot tax for making ink. Firewood and fodder taxes were imposed to supply officials with firewood and their animals with fodder. In addition to tax in kind, people were also imposed labour tax for transporting the bags, belongings and merchandise of the government officials.