ABSTRACT

The accounts of the Fiscal Commission of Brest in autumn 1716, which examined the collection of the 15 zloties tax allow for determining the proceeds. There were frequent cases when different accounts were presented by the tax collectors. For instance, the first calculation of Orsza submitted at the 1718 Fiscal Tribunal noted that 87,885 zloties had been paid for the army. The Commission concluded that the 10 zloties were not sufficient to satisfy army needs. This produced some questionable decisions. Lithuanian troops were billeted on starosties paying the hyberna for the soldiers. The collection of this tax was also based on hearths. Collection of the hyberna caused an immense amount of depredations. Formally collection was in the hands of officials elected at sejmiks, but in reality, they were mere spectators as military units were exacting the money themselves. In Lithuania, the kwarta was first introduced in 1590, becoming a permanent tax in the mid-seventeenth century.