CHAPTER XV
REVENUE—CUSTOMS TARIFF
THE revenues and expenditures of the Island of Cuba for the fiscal year 1898-99, according to the reports obtained by the author from the Secretary of the Treasury, Marquis Rafael Montoro, may be thus summarised:
| BALANCE OF THE ESTIMATED RECEIPTS AND EXPENDITURES OF THE BUDGET OF THE ISLAND OF CUBA FOR 1898-99 | |||
| Expenditures. | Amount. | Receipts. | Amount. |
| Sovereignty Expenditure | $22,500,808.59 | Custom-Houses | 14,705,000 |
| Local. | Internal Revenue | 1,640,650 | |
| General Expenditures | 159,605.50 | Lotteries | 1,900,500 |
| State-Church, Justice, and Government | 1,612,859.44 | Miscellaneous Revenue | 1,536,000 |
| Treasury | 708,978.51 | ||
| Public Instruction | 247,033.02 | Estimates of Total Revenue | $26,374,045.68 |
| Public Works and Communications | 1,036,582.10 | ||
| Agriculture, Industry, and Commerce | 108,178.52 | ||
| Deduct Amounts not Specified | 17,314.27 | ||
| Total | $26,356,731.41 | ||
| Receipts | $ 26,359,650.00 | ||
| Expenses | 26,356,731.41 | ||
| Surplus | $2,918.59 | ||
While the revenues are all derived from the various species of taxation exacted from the people of Cuba, the expenditures are divided into two important classes: those under the head of “Sovereignty Expenses,” or expenses of the General Government, which, according to this estimate, aggregate $22,500,808.59, and those which, under the head of “Local Expenses” aggregating $3,873,237.09, constitute the expenditures for the immediate necessities of the Island. In order to obtain a clear view of the possibilities of revenue and the probable future expenses of the Island of Cuba, these receipts and expenditures should be further examined.
Taxes in Cuba, as will be seen from the above exhibit, are collected under six general classifications, namely: (1) taxes and imposts, including excise and liquor taxes, and taxes on railway freight and passengers; (2) receipts from custom-houses, which include taxes on imports and exports, loading and unloading merchandise, fines and passports; (3) internal revenue, including stamped paper,[14] postage stamps, warrants for payment issued by the State, diplomas and titles, stamps on letters of exchange or deeds of transfer, on insurance policies, on matches, and on almost every other conceivable sort of deed and document; (4) lotteries, are put down in the above table as yielding $1,900,500; (5) revenue from State property, including rents and sale of lands and rent from docks; (6) revenue from miscellaneous sources, some of which seem somewhat mythical. These comprise the general sources of revenue which appear in this report, and from which the Secretary of the Treasury, Marquis Montoro, informed the author he hoped to secure for the fiscal year 1898-99 the following sums:
| Sources of Revenue. | Estimated Amount Spanish Gold. |
| Taxes and Imposts | $ 6,142,500 |
| Custom-Houses | 14,705,000 |
| Internal Revenue | 1,640,650 |
| Lotteries | 1,900,500 |
| State Property | 435,000 |
| Miscellaneous Revenue | 1,536,000 |
| Total Estimated Revenue | $26,359,650 |
As to how much of this has been collected or how much can be collected, it is impossible to say with any degree of certainty. Spanish official reports are not very reliable documents at the best, and during the last three years of internal dissensions, frequent changes in officials, and war, they appear to be at their worst. The only possible light on the subject which the author was able to obtain was a statement of the actual taxes as levied between 1887 and 1897, inclusive, and the actual amounts collected at the custom-houses and by the Spanish Bank of the Island of Cuba, for under Spanish administration the latter institution collected all taxes other than customs.
According to these figures, the custom-house receipts of Cuba fell from $14,708,509.10 in 1895 to $9,648,369.94 in 1897-98. While the value of the tax receipts handed to the Spanish Bank for collection for the fiscal year 1896-97 exceeded $5,000,000, the actual money collected was only $3,266,583.37, while for the next fiscal year, 1897-98, out of receipts aggregating in the neighbourhood of $4,500,000, only $2,377,742.21 was realised. The exhibits show that rural real estate, which, under prosperous conditions, should yield in taxes from $880,000 to $1,000,000, is incapable of paying anything. Out of receipts aggregating in 1897-98 over $800,000, the Spanish Bank only collected $89,661.98 from these properties. Nor will it be possible in the reconstruction of the Island to secure revenue from these sources, for the burned and destroyed estates are yielding nothing to their owners. City property which, in times of prosperity, should yield upward of $2,000,000, or even $3,000,000, in 1897-98 only yielded $1,140,230.12.
This tax, however, and the receipts from customs will be the first to recover, as the immediate effects of permanent peace and honest government will be felt in the cities and towns and seaports. Lotteries will become a doubtful, if not impossible source of revenue. The collections from internal revenue may keep up to the estimate, though the income from State property and miscellaneous revenues seems upon examination a rather doubtful resource for the new government to rely upon. Judged from the actual revenue collected in 1897-98, had present conditions prevailed, it is extremely doubtful if the real revenue collected for 1898-99 would have reached more than half the rosy estimates put forth by the Marquis Montoro. The fact is apparent to those who know existing conditions in Cuba that the people of the Island are just now in such an impoverished condition that the agricultural interests are simply incapable of paying taxes.