¿Quién pagó los tributos en la castilla del siglo XVII? El impacto de los tributos sobre el vino en Madrid

Abstract

The hegemony of indirect taxation was one of the main hallmarks of the Castilian fiscal system during the Early Modern Period. It is commonly acknowledged that the burden of such taxation fell squarely upon the consumers and the aim of this essay is to analyze who really paid the taxes collected upon wine in XVIIth century Madrid. First part shows how the growing fiscal burden collected upon wine caused the development of a massive fraud which harmed the members of the publicans’ guild and the Crown and City Treasuries, benefiting all those who could sell wine in the black market. Second part indicates that in spite of the continuous introduction of taxes on wine in Madrid during the century the consumption levels of this beverage (in «per capita» terms) experienced a rather moderate fall. It could be argued that thanks to the development of fraud the city consumers could buy cheap wine in the black market, but the evidence offered here suggests that this was not the case. In fact, the wine sold in the black market was only 5-10% cheaper than that sold legally by the members of the publicans’ guild. As showed in third part, the prices of the wine sold both in the legal and black markets in XVIIth century Madrid rose always well above the New Castile prices index, so the moderate fall in the consumption levels of this beverage should be explained, then, as result of its rather rigid demand. Taking all this together, it may be said that the burden of the taxes collected on wine in XVIIth century Madrid fell upon the consumers, as indicated by the traditional view, but also upon the publicans and the Crown and the City Treasuries, and that the main beneficiaries of this were all those who could sell wine in the black market.