Fiscal History

I fiorentini all’estero ed il catasto del 1427: frodi, elusioni, ipercorrettismi

by Francesco Bettarini

«Annali di Storia di Firenze», VI (2011), pp. 37-64.

Il saggio si propone di indagare l’incidenza delle attività economiche promosse dai cittadini fiorentini residenti... more Il saggio si propone di indagare l’incidenza delle attività economiche promosse dai cittadini fiorentini residenti all’estero sulla dichiarazione fiscale presentata al catasto del 1427. La ricerca è stata circoscritta ai fiorentini domiciliati sulle coste dell’Adriatico, attingendo alla documentazione conservata negli archivi di Venezia e Dubrovnik. L’analisi delle «portate» viene quindi affrontata attraverso l’esame dei seguenti punti: a) autodichiarazione di possesso di diritti e/o beni in una città straniera; b) beni immobili; c) bilancio dell’attività commerciale o artigianale; d) obbligazioni (creditori e debitori); e) composizione del nucleo familiare. In conclusione, è stato possibile notare come il rispetto della trasparenza patrimoniale richiesta dal catasto fosse maggiore in quei cittadini che avevano un interesse politico e sociale nel mantenere un buon rapporto con le istituzioni della madrepatria.

"Des fonds nets & claires": de Krijgskas, de Raad van Financiën en het beheer van het militaire budget in de Zuidelijke Nederlanden (1718-1775) [English Abstract / Résumé Français]

by Thomas Goossens

Published in: Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire / Belgisch Tijdschrift voor Filologie en Geschiedenis, 88:4 (2010), pp. 1135-1158.

The War Treasury of the Southern Netherlands has as yet received very little scholarly attention. This institution was... more The War Treasury of the Southern Netherlands has as yet received very little scholarly attention. This institution was created in 1718 as part of a broader reform of the Brussels central government by the Austrian crown, and it was intended to take over the military responsibilities of the Finance Council of the Southern Netherlands. The War Treasury is generally believed to have managed all military income and expenditure in the Southern Netherlands in a highly autocratic manner, thereby strengthening the control of the Austrian government over the Brussels military budget. Recently discovered evidence, however, suggests that the War Treasury’s independence was much more limited than previously thought. In fact, the Finance Council continued to control both the income of the War Treasury and the management of its expenditure. Moreover, the interdependence between these two councils was deliberately maintained by both the Brussels and Viennese governments, since the Austrians realized that they were incapable of managing the military budget without the cooperation of the Finance Council. In the end, the exigencies of maintaining the army of the Southern Netherlands at operational strength continued to trump any desires on the part of Vienna to limit the influence of Brussels civil governments over the management of the region’s military budget.

Salt and Royal Finance in the Kingdom of Naples under Alfonso the Magnanimous

by Mark Aloisio

Medioevo Adriatico, 3 (2010), 9-28.

La fiscalité des échanges extérieurs dans le monde grec (Égypte exclue) du VIe siècle à la conquête romaine

by Aurélie Carrara

Thèse présentée pour soutenance le 26/11/11

L’objet de ce travail est d’analyser les enjeux que représente la fiscalité sur les échanges pour l’économie grecque,... more L’objet de ce travail est d’analyser les enjeux que représente la fiscalité sur les échanges pour l’économie grecque, sans omettre les aspects de contrôle du territoire auquel elle est étroitement liée. Cette réflexion s’appuie sur une documentation essentiellement littéraire et épigraphique, concernant les diverses organisations étatiques composant le monde grec : cités, royaumes, koina. La perspective géographique et chronologique envisagée est large afin de percevoir le système fiscal dans sa globalité et dans sa diversité.
Après avoir replacé le sujet dans l’historiographie de l’économie antique, nous avons d’abord étudié le vocabulaire des échanges et de la fiscalité, afin de cerner les catégories propres aux Anciens. Nous proposons ensuite d’observer la manière dont les Grecs mirent en place cette fiscalité, leurs motivations et les conséquences en terme de contrôle du territoire. Ces formes de taxation se retrouvaient ainsi au cœur de rapports de force entre États, provoquant parfois des conflits. Dans un troisième temps, nous avons réfléchi aux modalités de perception choisies et tenté d’en décrire le processus, de la définition de l’assiette jusqu’à l’acquittement de l’impôt et les pratiques de fraudes. Nous nous sommes également intéressée aux agents de la perception, notamment aux fermiers. Si des formes de pratiques communes se dégagent, il ne faut pas oublier qu’elles émanaient de contextes locaux parfois très différents, ce qui doit inviter à ne pas trop généraliser. Enfin, nous nous sommes interrogée sur la manière dont la fiscalité était utilisée comme outil économique, notamment par le biais de l’octroi de privilèges fiscaux.

Tax Systems of External Exchanges in the Greek World (except Egypt) from the 6th Century to the Roman Conquest

The purpose of this work is to highlight what the stakes of tax systems are for the external exchanges and the Greek economy, without leaving out aspects of territory control from which it is very close. This reflection is mainly based on literary and epigraphic texts, concerning the various state organisations in the Greek world : cities, kingdoms, koina. The geographic and chronological perspective considered is wide in order to examine tax systems in their entirety and diversity.
After setting the question in its historigraphic context, we have first studied the vocabulary of exchanges and taxation, in order to define classes used by Ancient Greeks. We have then observed the way Greeks introduced tax systems in external exchanges, their motives and the consequences in terms of territory’s control. Indeed, this taxation forms occured in the centre of power relationships, sometimes case of conflicts. In a third times, we have studied how the taxes used to be collected and have tried to describe the process, from the tax base to the payment, with manifestations of tax evasion and fraud. We have also been interested in agents of collection, in particular farm renters. Even if some practices appear as common in tax systems, we must not forget that they came from local context, sometimes very different, so we couldn’t assert it as a generality. At least, we have wondered about the way taxes were used as an economic tool, chiefly through fiscal privileges like exemptions.

A arrematação dos contratos da capitania de São Paulo na época de d. João V / The leasing of tax farming contracts of the captaincy of São Paulo in the age of d. João V (In Portuguese))

by Bruno Aidar

Draft only. Published in the Proceedings of the 9th Brazilian Congress of Economic History (Curitiba, sept. 2011).

Through the example given by the captaincy of São Paulo, this paper aims to show how the authority to lease tax... more Through the example given by the captaincy of São Paulo, this paper aims to show how the authority to lease tax farming contracts was an essential axis in the architecture of powers of the Portuguese Empire in the age of d. João V. Another objective is to analyze, from the fiscal perspective, how the empire government was built on institutional configurations among varied layers of local, regional and central powers. In specially, we stressed the importance of the regional space of power to regulate negotiation and conflict in the monarchy. The first section points some economic issues of the captaincy of São Paulo, which are the ground for the growth of the tax farming contracts. The second section investigates the swinging movement between the Overseas Council and the Treasury Office (Provedoria) in the captaincy regarding the authority to sell the captaincy’s tax farming contracts. In this section, we tried to identify the periods and to quantify properly the performance of the Overseas Council over the contracts. At last, we present some arguments of the regional powers to retain the leasing sells in the captaincy. The third section shows the careers of some tax farmers related to the captaincy, specially the merchants of Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro. Two exceptions to this rule – merchants located in São Paulo who achieved some power facing their rivals – were presented also in the same section

"Vivir sin impuestos: Los orígenes de la hacienda pública tamaulipeca [México], 1825-1834", en Gerardo Lara Cisneros (coordinador), Historia, región y frontera norte de México, México, Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas, Bonilla Artigas editores, 2011, pp. 89-132. ISBN 9786077588351

by Jesús Hernández Jaimes

Con Benito Antonio Navarro González

L’oracle et l’hoplite : les élites sacerdotales et l’effort de guerre sous les dynasties égyptiennes indigènes

by Damien Agut-Labordère

JESHO 54, 2011, 631-649

Abstract : This work proposes a new interpretation of the Chapter 10 of the so called Demotic Chronicle, an oracular... more Abstract : This work proposes a new interpretation of the Chapter 10 of the so called Demotic Chronicle, an oracular text written in Egyptian demotic and dated from the end of the IVth century BC. A gloss concerning the rule of Nektanebo I denounces the fiscal reforms of the Crown to finance the containment of the Achaemenid assaults against Egypt. This passage finds an echo with the reform of the Egyptian tax system undertaken by the Athenian Chabrias quoted by the Pseudo Aristotle. Both show that the necessity of the payment of a mercenary army drove to an improvement of taxation which prefigures the Ptolemaic reforms of the IIId century B.C.

“Entre el liberalismo radical y la necesidad: Los debates en torno al monopolio estatal del tabaco en México, 1821-1824”, en América Latina en la Historia Económica. Revista de Investigación, Instituto Mora, el número 36, julio-diciembre de 2011, pp. 67-91. ISSN 1405-2253

by Jesús Hernández Jaimes

“El legado de la guerra, la independencia y la política fiscal en México, 1821-1822”, en Jaime Olveda (coordinador) Independencia y Revolución. Reflexiones en torno al bicentenario y centenario, vol. 3, México, El Colegio de Jalisco, 2010, pp. 143-178. ISBN 978-607-7770-20-6.

by Jesús Hernández Jaimes

ALCABALAS Y PRESIÓN FISCAL EN ACAPULCO, 1777-1809

by Jesús Hernández Jaimes

Impossible monopole, l'exemple des reçus démotiques pour le prix de l'huile de sésame

by Damien Agut-Labordère

Les collecteurs d’impôts à Jêmé d’Auguste à Domitien

by Damien Agut-Labordère

Ancient Society 39, 2009, p. 99-109

Résumé. - L’examen de la riche documentation démotique laissée par la banque de Jêmé (région thébaine) nous permet... more Résumé. - L’examen de la riche documentation démotique laissée par la banque de Jêmé (région thébaine) nous permet d’établir une chronologie assez fine de la diffusion du grec dans l’administration fiscale romaine d’Egypte. Ainsi, au cours des années 40 jusqu’à la fin des années 50 se place une période de transition qui voit l’adoption définitive du grec comme écriture de l’administration fiscale et sa diffusion à l’ensemble des opérations concernant l’impôt. Les reçus fiscaux constituent donc une source très précieuse pour qui s’intéresse aux transformations culturelles de l’Égypte au début de l’Empire.

Turning point? The volatile geographies of taxation

by Angus Cameron

This article argues that the geographies of taxation offer an important but neglected insight into
changes taking... more This article argues that the geographies of taxation offer an important but neglected insight into
changes taking place in the nature of the contemporary state in the context of globalisation.
Following Schumpeter’s analysis of the ‘‘tax state’’, the paper argues that, historically, the theory
and practice of fiscal space are fundamental both to state form and to the possibility of political
and social institutions. Despite this, the complexity and fluidity inherent in fiscal space has been
obscured by the dominant normative conception of ‘‘the’’ fiscal state. As the concept of ‘‘fiscal
sovereignty’’ becomes less and less salient in practice in the context of economic globalisation, it
remains a powerful ideological concept for state governance. This paper reviews the primary
contemporary accounts of fiscal space across a range of disciplinary contexts and scales of
governance. Despite the expectation and or desire for some form of ‘‘fiscal globalisation’’ on
the part of commentators, in practice what we see is an increased centralisation of state fiscal
control coupled with a creeping individuation and privatisation of fiscal responsibility. This
radical respatialisation of fiscal space has profound implications both for the state itself and for
any prospect of the creation of a global ‘‘public domain’’ founded on a global fisc.