Absolute monarchies

The medieval lords have gradually yielded to the authority of the king, who, with a more powerful army, has demolished their fortresses.

Great nations are formed, united and subject to the absolute sovereignty of a monarch. All of Spain recognizes the Catholic Monarchs, France recognizes Louis XI, and England recognizes Henry VII.

These kings and their successors strive to build strong states, for which they consider it essential to govern with a firm hand, in the name, of course, of the common good. And in the name of that common good and the need for a strong state, they will seek to achieve a Public Treasury with more resources, better organization, and a principle of self-control.

With the wars within each nation still not entirely suppressed, confrontations between nations arose over territorial desires and conflicts of economic or dynastic interests. And maintaining an army requires considerable financial resources, which the Treasury obtains by collecting taxes, which are not always equitable.

Other public expenditures are motivated by the expansion of the public administration, the maintenance and pomp of the court, population growth, and the growth of cities. At the same time, businessmen emerge and craft and commercial activities experience a substantial increase.

In this situation, the Public Treasury needs an extensive bureaucratic organization to collect taxes, to incur debts when expenses exceed income, to manage public resources, and to examine and monitor the performance of its collectors and payers.

To meet collective expenses direct taxes, which were almost exclusively limited to those levied on landowners, not enough. We must multiply the indirect taxes , which fall on all kinds of articles and consumer products.

The “stamped paper” tax was introduced, which taxed all official documents. He will inherit the State Stamp Tax, which for so many years has provided significant revenue to the Public Treasury, and very similar tax figures still exist today.

The manufacture and/or sale of salt, lead, tobacco, etc., by individuals is prohibited, and the corresponding fiscal monopolies are established with the resulting revenues for the Public Treasury. Among these so- “ incomes” is that of the lottery.

Other taxes were created based on proposals from the so-called "arbitrator": people who invented crazy solutions to fix the situation of the Public Treasury.

Tributes also emerged that replaced –in money- the old obligations –in kind- of the nobles or feudal lords, such as preparing, maintaining and supplying armed troops. But most of the exactions were indirect in nature, as they fell on people's consumption, which at that time was of basic necessities.