How did peasants and serfs pay taxes?
John Kim
Updated on May 04, 2026
Paying taxes
The one thing the peasant had to do in Medieval England was to pay out money in taxes or rent. He had to pay rent for his land to his lord; he had to pay a tax to the church called a tithe. This was a tax on all of the farm produce he had produced in that year.How did serfs pay taxes?
Serfs had to pay taxes to their lord. The lord would decide how much each serf had to pay, based on the size of the land the serf lived on. Usually, serfs had to pay 1/3 of their land's value in taxes, which is less than most middle class Americans pay in taxes in the present day.How much were peasants taxed?
Taxation StructurePeasants and nobles alike were required to pay one-tenth of their income or produce to the church (the tithe). Although exempted from the taille, the church was required to pay the crown a tax called the “free gift,” which it collected from its office holders at roughly 1/20 the price of the office.