ABSTRACT
In the year 5 CE Augustus instituted a treasury for the payment of military retirement benefits, the aerarium militare, funded by a sales tax or vicesima of 5 per cent and by a tax on inheritances by will. The political purpose of this measure needs no comment here. For the administration of the collection of the inheritance tax there is ample evidence in legal and epigraphic sources and in papyri.1 Almost nothing is known, however, about the extent of liability for it. Who actually paid it – or rather, who was exempt?
