A closer look
The IRS has nothing on the Aztec tribute system. When the Triple Alliance conquered a neighboring city-state, they didn't just want gold; they wanted extremely specific, bizarrely luxurious items. The Codex Mendoza survives as a testament to their obsessive accounting, detailing the exact quantities of exotic feathers, jaguar pelts, jade beads, and literal live eagles that vassal states were forced to ship to Tenochtitlan every 80 days. Fall short of your quetzal feather quota, and the local tribute collector would make sure your city deeply regretted the accounting error.
