Our website is made possible by displaying online advertisements to our visitors.
Please consider supporting us by disabling your ad blocker.
Alcabala
Sales tax
The alcabala or alcavala (Spanish pronunciation:[alkaˈβala]) was a sales tax of up to fourteen percent,[1][2] the most important royal tax imposed by Spain in the early modern period.[3][4][5] It applied in Spain and the Spanish dominions.[4] The Duke of Alba imposed a five percent alcabala in the Netherlands, where it played an important role in the Dutch Revolt.[6] Unlike most taxes in Spain at the time, no social classes were entirely exempt (for example, nobles and clergy had to pay the tax), although from 1491 clergy were exempt on trade that was "not for gain."[7] Certain towns were also, at times, given exemptions.[7]
^Joaquín Escriche, Diccionario razonado de legislacion y jurisprudencia, Volume 1, Third Edition, Viuda e hijos de A. Calleja, 1847. Entry "Alcabala", pp. 143–149. Available online at Google Books.
^ abKendall Brown, "Alcabala" in John Michael Francis, ed. Iberia and the Americas: culture, politics, and history : a multidisciplinary encyclopedia, Volume 1, ABC-CLIO Transatlantic relations series, 2006, ISBN1-85109-421-0, pp. 57–58. Available online at Google Books.
^ abJohn Edwards, Christian Córdoba: The city and its region in the late Middle Ages, Cambridge University Press, 1981. p. 69. Available online at http://libro.uca.edu. TOC, relevant portion. Retrieved 2010-03-02.