A NOTE ON THE LONDON FINTA/IMPOSTAAn indication of the annual income of the richer members of the community can be gained from the community’s own tax assessments. The community collected an income tax called the imposta from its richer members (the yehidim) who were entitled to vote and hold office in the Synagogue. The rate of the imposta varied, being set at 2s for every £100 on normal business; 1s on transit goods; 6d on diamonds and other gems, bullion or coin; and 1s on bank deposits and bottomry (shipping insurance). The Imposta was raised by means of the Finta. This was effectively an annual loan-payment made to the Synagogue, each head of household’s contribution being based on a four- (later three-) yearly assessment of the individual’s expected income.*1* If the household’s actual income was less than the Finta assessment, he or she*2* would be payed back the difference by the Synagogue. In the 1730s the assessed payments ranged between a minimum of 10s and a maximum of £15 (In 1741 this was changed to 2s6d minimum and £10 maximum). Assuming an average imposta of 2s per £100, this would be represent incomes between £500 and £15,000+. This means that the wealthiest of the Portuguese Jews had annual incomes that were comparable to the incomes of the 1,000 wealthiest families in England in Massie’s Estimate of the Social Structure and Income, 1759-60,*3* equalling, if not surpassing that of many in the upper echelons of the aristocracy, albeit without their landed property and estates. This table shows the assessed Finta for 1734, an estimate of actual income (present day value)Antonio (Isaac) Suasso £15.0s.0d £15,000 (£25,500,000) Benjamin Mendes da Costa £10.0s.0d £10,000 (£17,000,000) Francis Salvador £10.0s.0d £10,000 (£17,000,000) Moses Mendes da Costa £5.13s.4d £5,666 (£9,632,200)Jacob Mendes da Costa £8.13s.4d £8,666 (£14,732,200)John Abraham Mendes da Costa £5.13s.4d £5,666 (£9,632,200)Philip Jacob Mendes da Costa £12.6s.8d £12,333 (£20,966,100)Abraham Fernandes Nunes £1.0s.0d £1,000 (£1,700,000) *1*El Libro de los Acuerdos: being the Records and Accompts of the Spanish and Portuguese Symagogue of London from 1663 to 1681, trans and introduction by Lionel D. Barnett, Oxford: OU Press, 1931.*2*Widows were assessed for the imposta if they has sufficient income. Emanuel’s sister Sarah continued to to be assessed and pay the Finta after the death of her husband Abraham Fernandes Nunes in 1739. *3*Cited in Frank O’Gorman, The Long Eighteenth Century: British Political and Social History 1688-1832, London: Arnold, 1997.