Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 143)

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Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation (ص 143)

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sesame: 64% for dura and 49% for olive ofl. (46)
The commuted tithe fell very heavily on the shoulders of the direct.
producers. Although formally, the new tithe was said to represent only
10 per cent of the gross annual product, in reality, as one
Commissioner of Land said, it, “..represented more than 35% of the net
produce". According to the same source, the commuted tithe, "..was
unduly high tax for a farmer to pay". (47) The figure quoted by the
Commissioner of Land, one should add, applies only when production
was in full swing and if the direct producer could realize the
exchange value of his produce. This however, was far from representing
the reality for many producers. In more than one case it was reported
that the commuted tithe imposed was double the value of the actual
produce. Thus, in reference to one farmer from Jenin one newspaper
stated:
After he planted a piece of land with broad beans
and spent a considerable sum of money on the same..
the result was that the yield brought him P.L. 15
only while Government taxed him to the amount of
P.L. 40 for this particular piece of land.
In another case from Jenin, the same newspaper reported:
One land owner who usually leased a garden for P.L.
20 per annum was informed by the government that he
would have to pay P.L. 42 as taxes’ for this
particular garden. (48)
The excessiveness of the commuted tithe combined with other taxes
had drastic consequences for the rural population. One such
consequence was the further pushing of an already indebted mass of
agricultural producers into the clutches of the usurers. In the
absence of any other official source of credit for the indigenous
agricultural producer, the usurer became tne only refuge for the
129
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Colonial Capitalism and Rural Class Formation

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المنشئ

Nahla Abdo-Zubi

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