Impuestos Imperiales: la Caja Real de Buenos Aires (1700-1800)

Abstract

In this article we analyze the Royal Imperial Treasury of Buenos Aires during the XVIII century. We start by describing the sources, the accounting system and the fiscal structure, and based on that we study the flow of tax revenues, identifying the different sources of fiscal incomes. This allows us to analyze the inflows and outflows of money from the Royal Treasury of Buenos Aires during the entire period and especially in relation to the population growth. The conclusions are that the Royal Treasury of Buenos Aires didn’t run a constant deficit, so it did not depend on other financial sources. At the same time, we prove that the fiscal revenues started to increase by mid XVIII century, twenty five years before the Viceroyalty of the River Plate was created.