Toll

Toll was one of the revenues levied by the Persian imperial administration on goods and commerce (Ezra 4:13; 7:24). The Persian system distinguished between tribute (Hebrew minda, a land tax), custom (belo, a tax on goods), and toll (halakh, a transit tax on roads and crossings). The opponents of the Jerusalem restoration warned Artaxerxes that if the city were rebuilt, these revenues would cease (Ezra 4:13).

The exemption of priests, Levites, and temple servants from all three categories of taxation granted by Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:24) was a significant economic privilege illustrating the Persian policy of supporting indigenous religious institutions as a tool of provincial governance. In the NT period, toll collection at road stations and customs posts was a major feature of Roman fiscal administration, and toll-collectors (publicans) are prominent in Gospel narratives as a social category associated with both wealth and religious stigma.