Long and strong tax arm

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MOSUL • ISIS' outsize ambitions and its robust bureaucracy hinged on its ability to generate funds. The papers provide further evidence that the tax revenue ISIS earned far outstripped income from oil sales.

It was daily commerce and agriculture - not petroleum - that powered the economy of the caliphate.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on April 08, 2018, with the headline Long and strong tax arm. Subscribe