That sounds wrong: in general the criticism of the sadducees was that they weren't strict enough, in that they were willing to accommodate Roman demands as to Temple practice in order to maintain their own positions. They also tended to reject glosses on the Torah. I can believe that land prices near the Temple were inflated for a reason like that, but I think it would have been motivated by some other group.
As for the Temple tax, it was paid in Tyrian shekels. These continued to be minted, so they weren't a scarce resource, but the Romans allowed them to be minted on condition that they were only used for the purpose of paying the tax (since in general they mandated the use of Roman currency). Accordingly, you had to change your ordinary money for Temple money in order to pay the tax. Oddly the Tyrian shekel bore the image of Melqart, so the requirement doesn't seem to have been a rejection of pagan images per se. I think the issue is that Exodus specifies the tax as half a shekel "according to the shekel of the sanctuary", but there was no Roman coin matching this standard.
That sounds wrong: in general the criticism of the sadducees was that they weren't strict enough, in that they were willing to accommodate Roman demands as to Temple practice in order to maintain their own positions. They also tended to reject glosses on the Torah. I can believe that land prices near the Temple were inflated for a reason like that, but I think it would have been motivated by some other group.
As for the Temple tax, it was paid in Tyrian shekels. These continued to be minted, so they weren't a scarce resource, but the Romans allowed them to be minted on condition that they were only used for the purpose of paying the tax (since in general they mandated the use of Roman currency). Accordingly, you had to change your ordinary money for Temple money in order to pay the tax. Oddly the Tyrian shekel bore the image of Melqart, so the requirement doesn't seem to have been a rejection of pagan images per se. I think the issue is that Exodus specifies the tax as half a shekel "according to the shekel of the sanctuary", but there was no Roman coin matching this standard.