Fiscus

fiscus

(Latin; “basket”)

Treasury of the Roman emperor, so-called because the money was stored in baskets. Funds were also stored in the public treasury, the aerarium. The fiscus took in taxes from imperial provinces, forfeited property, and unclaimed lands. After Vespasian, it became independent of the aerarium and controlled most of the empire's income, supplying funds for the army and fleet, official salaries, and postal subsidies.

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Fiscus 

in ancient Rome, a military treasury that housed money to be disbursed. In the time of Augustus, at the turn of the Common Era, fiscus designated the private treasury of the emperor, controlled by officials and filled with revenue from the imperial provinces and other assets, as opposed to the Senate treasury, the aerarium. The entire imperial administration was also called the fiscus. From the fourth century, the fiscus was the sole financial center of the Roman empire, into which flowed all types of revenue and taxes. It also provided instructions on the minting of coins and on tax collection procedures and effected payments, hence the use of fiscus to refer to the state treasury.