Iltizam

the tax-farm system in the Ottoman Empire, by which the feudal lord collected the ushr, a tithe paid in kind, and certain other taxes. The tax-farmers (or multazim) were usually important landowners, the governors of provinces, or other high officials, who resold—with a large profit—the right to collect the taxes to small tax-farmers. As a result, the actual rate of the tax significantly exceeded the sum paid into the treasury by the tax-farmer. The iltizam was officially abolished in the Ottoman Empire during the period of the Tanzimat, but in fact it was liquidated in Turkey only in 1925, along with the abolition of the ushr.