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From pioneering mercantile state to ordinary fiscal state: Portugal 16th-19th centuries*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2010

Maria Eugénia Mata
Affiliation:
Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Abstract

Portugal, a poor and small kingdom, became a pioneering mercantile state thanks to its Discoveries. When did Portugal establish its fiscal institutions as a world power? Was such a powerful maritime nation, capable of spearheading a permanent link between Europe and India, able to establish modern fiscal institutions strong enough to guarantee a stable State budget? The objetive for this paper is to show that the country's fiscal and imperial past prevented Portuguese civil society from establishing efficient fiscal institutions and generating a social consent for increasing tax collection.

Resumen

Portugal, un reino pobre y pequeño, llegó a ser un Estado Mercantil pionero gracias a sus descubrimientos. ¿Cuándo estableció sus instituciones fiscales como potencia mundial? ¿Una potencia marítima capaz de ser punta de lanza de la conexión permanente entre Europa y la India fue capaz de establecer unas instituciones fiscales modernas que garantizaran un presupuesto Estatal estable? El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar cómo el pasado imperial y fiscal impidió a la sociedad civil portuguesa generar el consenso social necesario para incrementar la recau-dación de impuestos y establecer instituciones fiscales eficientes.

Type
Articles/Artículos
Copyright
Copyright © Instituto Figuerola de Historia y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid 2007

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