Citizenship and Taxes in Liberal Veracruz: The Personal Taxes, 1860-1890

Abstract

The Veracruz tax reform of 1886 was designed with three direct taxes on property, commerce and industry, and income. The article presents an analysis of the trajectory of one of these taxes with an interest in defining the causer in his character as a neighbor and as a citizen. From this perspective, it explores the political, institutional and social resources put into operation by the State Treasury to consolidate the personal tax that audited all male neighbors of productive age. In the analysis, the political and institutional dimension was privileged to the extent that it is interesting to note that, without disregarding the amounts of income, the definition and scope of the tax had a political nature for the State Treasury that achieved that the payment of the tax had an impact on the legal, social, political and citizen representation life. The article is inserted in a debate interested in the political understanding of liberal taxation.