The Torah is very clear on laws of exacting this sort of extreme payment from fellow Jews. The trouble is, the Jews collecting the money and urging the poor to sell their children and such are collecting for the King rather than charging an interest on money owed directly to them. So the situation is perhaps a little more out of their control and the rules are more unclear. Nehemiah is clear that is bad behavior, but I'm curious about what the ramifications from Persia would be if Jewish households in rebuilt Israel couldn't pay their taxes.
This line furthers my confusion as to whether the taxes the Jewish nobles are collecting are for truly for the King or are how the King proposed to pay the wages of the Governor. What is Nehemiah living off of, if he's not taking his bread allowance? Is the King of Persia satisfied with the tax revenue from Israel? Were the other Jewish nobles extorting the poor Jews to pay more than was necessary?
(יד) וְאַף עַל פִּי כֵן, אֶת יי הָיוּ יְרֵאִים וְאֶת אֱלֹהֵיהֶם הָיוּ עֹבְדִים. עַד שֶׁעָלָה עֶזְרָא מִבָּבֶל וּזְרֻבָּבֶל וִיהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן יְהוֹצָדָק וְהִתְחִילוּ בוֹנִין בַּהֵיכָל, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: בֵּאדַיִן קָמוּ זְרֻבָּבֶל בַּר שַׁלְתִּיאֵל וְיֵשׁוּעַ בַּר יוֹצָדָק וְשָׁרִיו לְמִבְנֵא בֵּית אֱלָהָא וְגוֹ' (עזרא ה, ב). בְּאוֹתָהּ שָׁעָה בָּאוּ עֲלֵיהֶן הַשֹּׁמְרוֹנִים לַמִּלְחָמָה מֵאָה וּשְׁמוֹנִים אֶלֶף. וְכִי שֹׁמְרוֹנִים הָיוּ, וַהֲלֹא כּוּתִיִּים הָיוּ. אֶלָּא עַל שֵׁם הָעִיר שֹׁמְרוֹן נִקְרְאוּ שֹׁמְרוֹנִים. וְעוֹד בִּקְשׁוּ לַהֲרֹג אֶת נְחֶמְיָה בְּמִרְמָה, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: לְכָה וְנִוָּעֵדָה יַחְדָּו בַּכְּפִרִים בְּבִקְעַת אוֹנוֹ וְגוֹ' (נחמיה ו, ב). וּבִטְּלוּ מְלֶאכֶת בֵּית יי שְׁתֵּי שָׁנִים, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: בֵּאדַיִן בְּטֵלַת עֲבִידַת בֵּית אֱלָהָא דִי בִּירוּשְׁלֵם וַהֲוָת בָּטְלָא עַד שְׁנַת תַּרְתֵּין לְמַלְכוּת דָּרְיָוֶשׁ מֶלֶךְ פָּרָס (עזרא ד, כד).
(14) Even though the inhabitants of Samaria feared God, they also worshipped their own gods. They did so until Ezra returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his officers to build the Temple, as it is said: Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Sheatiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build (Ezra 5:2). Soon thereafter, one hundred and eighty thousand Samaritans attacked them. Were they actually Samaritans? Indeed not. They were, in fact, Cuthites, who were called Samaritans only because they lived in Samaria. Furthermore, they conspired to kill Nehemiah, as it is said: Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of One (Neh. 6:2). They halted the work of rebuilding the Temple of the Holy One, blessed be He, for two years, as is said: Then ceased the work of the House of God that was in Jerusalem; and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia (Ezra 4:24).
(18) Many in Judah were his [Tobiah's] confederates, for he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.