"City and country taxes are collected quarterly, semi-annually, and annually. Industrial Subsidy is only collected by quarterly receipts. Annual receipts are applied to the estates whose taxes do not exceed the sum of eight dollars a year; the semi-annual are for those that do not exceed the sum of ten dollars a year. "The annual receipts and the receipts for the first six months of the year are collected jointly with the receipts for the first three months. The second six months' receipts are collected with the second three months'. This explains why there is an increase in the collection of taxes in some places, during the first and second three months of each year. Some sudden increases happen also in some places in the 'Industrial Subsidy' during certain quarterly collections. This is due to the collection of receipts from some corporations which pay 12-1/2 per cent. of their profits according to their balances. Railway companies pay 6-1/4 per cent. of their profits. State contractors pay 1/2 per cent. "Taxpayers who do not pay their taxes at the time fixed for it are subject to the procedure called _apremios_, according to the rules of May 15, 1885, approved by the Government. When _apremios_ are to begin, taxpayers are duly warned by mail, giving them time enough to pay their taxes before incurring trouble. "_Apremios_ are of three _degrees_: The first consists in an increase on the tax of 5 per cent.; the second consists in the seizure and afterwards the sale at public auction of chattel and live stock, besides a further increase of 7 per cent.; the third consists in the seizure and sale at public auction of real estate, besides a further increase of 9 per cent. "These rules embody many details. They are obscure and complicated. According to them, long proceedings are made against morose taxpayers, a characteristic of Spanish bureaucracy." The two tables which follow show the face value of the tax receipts placed in the hands of the Spanish Bank for a series of years and the actual amounts collected. They have been carefully compiled by the author from official sources and are believed to be reliable: TABLE I.----FACE VALUE OF TAX RECEIPTS HANDED TO SPANISH BANK FOR COLLECTION