Hacienda y fiscalidad en la provincia de álava, siglos XVI y XVII

Abstract

The privileged status of Spanish Basque territories in fiscal affairs related with central governement taxes did not mean they were absolutely exempt from eventual increasing contributions to the Monarchy. The Crown financial difficulties, usually associated with war, might affect them through military services and voluntary donations. The aim of this article is to verify whether this hypothesis is fulfilled in the case of one of the Basque territories, the Province of Álava, between 1500 and 1720. For this purpose the source Cuentas de la Provincia (Accounting of the Province) has been taken into account which has allowed the reconstruction of a data base concerning Province treasury and tax burden. The results derived from its analysis sugest that warlike conflicts do not seem to be the only main determinant in the increase of the Province expense. There were other components that were as decisive or even more than they, depending on moments. But if the war was not always the main determinant it was nevertheless a decisive factor in the treasury financial system change. At the same time it has been possible to evaluate that the «fiscal pressure» was not a decisive factor of Álava’s economic depression in the XVIIth century and that a micro view, at municipal level, of the fiscal problem may offer a different perspective from that of a macro outlook.