The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 52, 1841-1898: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century
History
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898, Volume 52, 1841-1898: Explorations by early navigators, descriptions of the islands and their peoples, their history and records of the catholic missions, as related in contemporaneous books and manuscripts, showing the political, economic, commercial and religious conditions of those islands from their earliest relations with European nations to the close of the nineteenth century
Demarcation line of Alexander VI; Missions -- Philippines; Philippines -- Discovery and exploration; Philippines -- History -- Sources
Taxation.--No one of the works on administration just cited treats
this subject in a comprehensive or satisfactory manner. The only
special study of the subject that is known to the writer is Carl
C. Plehn's Taxation in the Philippines (Political Science Quarterly,
xvi, pp. 680-711, and xvii, pp. 125-148), and the author of this
excellent survey had to drag his data forth from the official records
and compilations. This survey gives all the most necessary information
as to kinds of taxes, their incidence, and amounts; but for the most
part there lie outside of its scope the questions one wishes to have
answered as to methods of collection and the working of the fiscal
administration in general, the actual receipts and expenditures for
government purposes, and particularly the special local revenues
so far as separate from general revenues. Sancianco y Goson again
helps to fill the gap, as regards the system of taxation prevailing
before the abolition of the tobacco monopoly and the reform of the
tribute and the corvee in 1884. [100] Anyone who has had experience
with Spanish fiscal tables need not be told that they do not always
show what they appear to show. It is thus that the writers who have
reproduced in English since 1898 Philippine budgets for various years
[101] have unwittingly misled their readers as to the real cost of
government under Spain. The figures shown in these budgets were the
totals of net collections (and expenditures), for ordinary purposes,
for the central government of the islands alone. They did not include
the purely local licenses and other taxes, the surcharges on general
taxes for local government (to be expended under supervision of the
central authorities), the percentages that went to collectors, the
other fees forming part or all of the compensation of some judicial and
other officials, special surcharges for port works and other purposes
not covered in the ordinary budget, etc. Naturally, no estimate was
included of the value of the forced-labor levy. The products of
"squeeze" and "pickings," in some cases so fully established as
to be notorious, were of course not included; nevertheless, they
represented part of the cost of government to the people. Finally,
an ecclesiastical establishment, really a part of the government
itself, drew support from the people in many ways beyond what would
have been provided had not the power of government been behind it,
under a system of voluntary contributions, for instance, apart from
the communities which paid rent to the friars as landlords. [102]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account