Iltizam

Tax farm. The Arabic term iltizam refers to a duty or obligation. During the Ottoman empire, it referred to a type of taxation whereby the authorities auctioned the rights to collect taxes to an individual, who became known as a multazim. The multazim paid the auction amount to the government, and was free to extract as much in taxation as possible from those living within the iltizam. It usually denoted the right to collect taxes from a specific area, but sometimes referred to taxes collected from a certain trade or profession. It was also called muqataʿa in some areas. The Ottoman government tried on several occasions in the late nineteenth century to abolish the practice, but it remained in parts of the empire until the early twentieth century.

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