ABSTRACT
The Dutch Wars of Independence promoted the direct trading interests of the province. The secrecy and inefficiency that characterized all financial administration eroded the willingness of wealthy individuals to pay their share, since in times of crisis they might be burdened with unforeseen war taxes or forced loans. The cumulative impact of prolonged warfare increased the danger of arbitrary and unsystematic exactions by the state. Fiscal systems that enabled an efficient extraction of the necessary funds to pay troops regularly did not exist in early modern Europe. Income taxes as such still lay in the future, and the property registers which did exist were almost always seriously incomplete and hopelessly outdated. The enormous financial burden of war obviously had an impact on Holland's economy. In contrast to Holland, the southern provinces failed to develop a coherent financial administration at the provincial level.
