ABSTRACT
IF we turn to the subject of public reverse, we find that in the Spanish colonies, in the last decades of their dependence, it was derived from many sources, but chiefly from taxes that fell on profits and rent. The most productive of all the taxes was the alcavala. This was a tax that had been known in Spain since the middle of the fourteenth century. It was originally imposed to provide funds for carrying on the wars against the Moors. Having been established for a long time, its collection came to be regarded almost as a prerogative of the crown; and when the question arose as to the propriety of introducing it into America, it was assumed that without any new grant it might be extended by the king to all possessions annexed to the Spanish empire. It was thus established in Mexico in 1574, and in Peru in 1591. The rate fixed for the colonies was two per cent., and this rate was maintained for a number of years; but about the middle of the eighteenth century it was raised to five per cent The alcavala was a percentage tax on the price of every article sold, and was due at every sale of the article in question, whether this article was a bundle of fagots or a great estate. In the case of a retail dealer it would have been evidently inconvenient to collect the tax on the occasion of each sale. An account of such a trader’s stock was, therefore, taken annually, and the annual sales estimated. The tax was then collected on the estimated sales for the year. On land or other property that was seldom sold this tax was not burdensome; but it tended to absorb the value of wares that passed from hand to hand many times during the year. Under this system, if trade was dull and few exchanges were made, the annual profits were naturally small; if the trade was brisk, the profits were absorbed by the public treasury.
