The taxes imposed by Augustus played a role in his larger goal of bringing peace to the Roman Empire. Augustus took several steps to eliminate and further prevent any residual chaos from his father's empire; because of this, he took several steps to micromanage that which he reigned over. Due to the obscene amount of power given to him by the Roman Senate, Augustus was able to squash revolts and personally manage small provinces. Since Augustus was well in favor of a powerful, professional army, he paid all of his soldiers handsomely, but this heavily affected the empire's treasury. This is where taxes came in. Augustus, ever the organizer, ordered a census (basically, an inventory) on all the resources within the empire. This allowed him to have a knowledgable starting point when imposing taxes on the Roman people. In order to prevent the corruption of local officials getting in his way, Augustus centralized the treasury, bringing it to the city of Rome. The taxes imposed by Augustus, in general, were one of several ways in which the emperor imposed order upon the Roman Empire and created the Pax Romana, or "Roman Peace."
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