Trying to keep the military up while being under attack, Rome was faced with a lot of overspending and a severe financial crisis. “Contest wars had also significantly lightened imperial coffers, and oppressive taxation and inflation had widened the gap between rich and poor”, says History Channel. In the hope of avoiding the taxman, many members of the wealthy classes had even fled to the countryside and set up in dependent fiefdoms. At the same time, the empire was rocked by a labor deficit. Rome’s economy depended on slaves to till its fields and work as craftsmen, and its military might had traditionally provided a fresh influx of conquered peoples to put to work.In Cause and effect: The fall of Rome, it says,” Trying to make up for the economic shoetfall, the goverment sharply raised taxes on those who already paid them and eventually introduced taxes to those who had been exempt.” Luckily, the economy improved a bit in the first decades of the fourth century. But soon after, the barbarian invasion caused it to decline again. After that, more and more Romans found it increasingly difficult to make ends