Where taxes in medieval times higher or lower than the roman empire?

Statuory tax rates tended to be higher in the Middle Ages – compare the medieval tenth to the Roman 1% wealth tax – but the effective tax rate could be much lower, because:

1. the medieval state, especially in the early Middle Ages, tended to have a much less efficient tax collection bureaucracy than the Roman Empire, so quite often people got away with tax evasion (especially in the case of smuggling goods that are normally subject to excise taxes or customs duties). 
2. there were significant and quite wealthy sections of the population – namely the nobility and the clergy – who were exempt from taxation, which narrowed the tax base.