L’evasione fiscale come problema circolare nelle esperienze storiche: esempi della tarda antichità

This paper investigates the effects of tax fraud on the Late Antiquity’s economy, especially with regard to the use of land. It argues that we can find specific means trying to solve the problem of abandoned lands (agri deserti) in different socio-economic contexts. This essay clarifies a certain continuity between the late roman and modern age in the legal-fiscal realm. Some empirical aspects highlight that, in their own contingency a trial (of the 339 a. D., in Fayum, in which the fiscally burdened subjects in relationship to the ownership of some fields were verified), determined, in IV century, some relevant legal changes, such as the introduction of a defensive trial mean that allowed to impose the possession of lands and the relative fiscal burdens, known as praescriptio longissimi temporis in present-day legal literature. In this context, I compare the constantly repeating models of social behaviour with some recurrent economic and fiscal problems: excessive taxation, tax evasion and attempts to fight. Analysing these late ancient phenomena, studied by the doctrine under different profiles, I argue that they may represent the persistence of answers to historically recurring problems. Keywords: tax fraud; agri deserti-praescriptio longissimi temporis; a long-term possession