Excerpt from Internal Taxation in the Philippines
The earliest record Of excise taxation proper in the Philippine Islands is of a tax on the value of jewelry and golden trinkets which Governor Gonzalo Ronquillo, I 580 83, obliged the natives to pay to the insular treasury on pain Of the confiscation Of such ornaments as were con cealed from the tax assessors. Before this time a tribute, or head tax, of one gold maiz, equal to about 3 reales, was being levied annually on each Indian and was made payable In money, cloth, rice or other staples at the option of the tax payer. The Indians were divided into encomiendas (royal grants), and the encomendero (grantee) usually collected the tribute in person, accompanied by a squad of arquebusiers. The principal Indian in each locality was required to deliver the tax for each Indian in his vicinity. Each encomendero, out Of the money or produce thus col lected, paid a per capita tax to the insular treasury. In 1577 this head tax was raised to 8 racks and later to IO reales.
During the next two hundred years the head tax, or tribute, and occupation taxes collected from Chinese per sons continued to constitute the main sources of internal revenue, although a few minor taxes, such as stamped paper and mint charges for the coinage of money were also intro duced. In 1620 the total revenues were pesos Of which pesos represented refunds from the treasury of Mexico Of customs duties collected in the port of Acapulco on goods imported into that country from Manila. Of the internal revenue taxes Chinese residents paid pesos as tribute and I pesos as occupation taxes.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
