a tax farmer that is collector of public revenue

1. a renter or farmer of taxes

a. among the Romans, usually a man of equestrian rank

2. a tax gatherer, collector of taxes or tolls, one employed by a publican or farmer general in the collection of taxes. The tax collectors were as a class, detested not only by the Jews, but by other nations also, both on account of their employment and of the harshness, greed, and deception, with which they did their job.