What was the fiscal system adopted …

Fiscal system” may be defined as the apparatus or bureaucracy installed by a state or a ruler in order to take in revenue in the form of taxes, dues, and so on, and also the apparatus designed to control expenditures. Such a system can be studied in at least three aspects: First, its relationship to the ruler or the government; second, its relationship to those groups in the population who serve as sources of revenue (“taxpayers”); and third, the policies it develops in its own interests. The first aspect concentrates on the task the fiscal administration is assigned: raising sufficient revenue to cover expected expenses (or to limit expenses according to income). The focus in this case is on the central administration where political decisions are made and where the final accounting takes place. The second aspect concentrates on the practical process of raising revenue. Thus, the focus should be on the provinces and on the face-to-face contact between fiscal agents and the “taxpayers.” The third aspect concentrates on the fiscal administration itself, the social background of the fiscal agents, and the good or bad functioning of the apparatus viewed as a social organism in its own right. It is the first aspect that has dominated research; in this article, an additional focus will be given to the “provincial” aspect.