Editing Dahomey (section)

==== Taxation ==== 
Herskovits recounts a complex tax system in the kingdom, in which officials who represented the king, the {{transliteration|fon|tokpe}}, gathered data from each village regarding their harvest. Then the king set a tax based upon the level of production and village population. In addition, the king's own land and production were taxed.<ref name="Herskovits (Vol. I)" /> After significant road construction undertaken by the kingdom, [[toll booths]] were also established that collected yearly taxes based on the goods people carried and their occupation. Officials also sometimes imposed fines for public nuisance before allowing people to pass.<ref name="Herskovits (Vol. I)" /> Tax officials on road tolls were provided with armed guards.<ref name="Diamond proto state">{{cite journal | last=Diamond| first=Stanley| title= Dahomey: The Development of a Proto-State | journal=Dialectical Anthropology| volume=21 | issue=2 | pages=121–216| year=1996 | jstor=29790427| doi=10.1007/BF00244520 | s2cid=144297421}}</ref> 

Taxes were imposed on craft workers including blacksmiths, weavers and wood cutters for example. [[Kangaroo court]]s could be held at any place such as the market or on roads, presided over by officials recognized by the central government. Such courts could extract some form of tax from the litigants before judging the case.<ref name="Diamond proto state"/> Since the 18th century, prostitution (''Ko-si'') was licensed by the king. Robert Norris and [[Archibald Dalzel]] documented in the late 18th century that the central government was responsible for distributing prostitutes throughout the state at a price set by civil decree. Taxes were derived from prostitutes during the annual customs.<ref name="Diamond proto state"/>