HISTORY

SPANISH PERIOD

"Public money was, like holy water, something to which every- body helped himself."

 Spanish officials or government officials connected with the revenue system frequently

made collections and took fees which no law permitted, that they commuted the

payment of taxes or reduced the amount to be paid, in consideration of payments to

themselves, and that even those collections made in accordance with the law did not

always find their way into the public treasury.

 The natives were regarded as a conquered people and were required to pay tribute in

order to enrich the royal treasury and the officers who accomplished the conquest.

Taxes imposed by the Spanish Government

I. Personal Taxes.

 Tribute from Native - the tribute might be paid in money or in kind, or partly in one

and partly in the other. In most cases the tribute had to be rendered in the staple product

of the province. The most common staple was rice or paddy, but later tobacco was

required from certain provinces.

Exempt from the tribute, besides the Spaniards were:

 The alcaldes, gobernadores and the cabezas de Barangay, who collected these taxes; as

were also their wives and first-born sons or, if they had no sons, the persons adopted as
such. This exemption lasted three years, or for the term of office

 Soldiers and militia men, both active and retired or invalided, together with their wives

and those sons who resided under the parental roof; also their widows; and further the

members of the provincial reserves.

 Members of the various branches of the civil guard (exclusive of the municipal guard),

including members of the resguardo volante (revenue inspectors) and guardas volantes,

the custom-house guards (carabineros de hacienda), and the marine guards (resguardos

maritimos) with their wives and sons.

 Inspectors of tobacco and storekeepers, both male and female, under the administration

of the tobacco monopoly, with their wives or husbands and sons.

 Government employees receiving a fixed salary

 Paupers and cripples receiving public benevolence