Representation without taxation, taxation without consent. The legacy of Spanish colonialism in America

Alejandra Irigoin

Economic History Working Papers from London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History

Abstract: The essay examines Spain’s colonial legacy in the long run development of Spanish America. It surveys the fiscal and constitutional outcomes of independence and assesses the relative burden imposed by colonialism. Constitutional asymmetries between revenue collecting and spending agents constrained de facto governments’ power to tax. Inherent disparities embedded in colonial fiscal system worsened with vaguely defined representation for subjects and territories and troubled their aggregation into a modern representative polity. Governments with limited fiscal capacity failed to deliver public goods and to equitably distribute costs and benefits of independence. Growing indirect taxes, debt and money creation allowed them to transfer the fiscal burden to other constituents or future generations. Taxpayers realised the asymmetry between private contributions and public goods and hence favoured a low but regressive taxation. Comparisons with trajectories in the metropolis and the US are offered to qualify this legacy.

Keywords: colonial legacy; institutions; long run development; Spanish America; Spain; fiscal; monetary; constitutional history (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N1 N10 N16 N2 N20 N4 N40 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 41 pages
Date: 2015-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-pbe
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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/64804/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: REPRESENTATION WITHOUT TAXATION, TAXATION WITHOUT CONSENT: THE LEGACY OF SPANISH COLONIALISM IN AMERICA* (2016)
Working Paper: Representation without taxation, taxation without consent: the legacy of Spanish colonialism in America (2016)
Working Paper: Representation without taxation, taxation without consent; the legacy of Spanish colonialism in America (2015)
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