“We have selected for our explanations the collection of taxes during the year 1894 to 1895 because it is the latest year in which taxes were collected with regularity and the accounts of the yearly production to the State duly verified. In our statements appear only the sums belonging to the public Treasury and by no means the total amount of receipts collected. A reason for this is that with the exception of the capital of the Island all receipts of taxes in Cuba include, as an additional tax, the sums which belong to the municipalities. Both taxes and the agreed expenses for collection are perceived jointly. We hope thus to render clearer which are the real taxes, in behalf of the Treasury. Otherwise it would be necessary, in order to form a judgment, to make in each case a deduction of the sums belonging to the municipalities, which are of 18 per cent. over the Treasury taxes on the city real estates, of 100 per cent. for the country estates, and of 25 per cent. for the industrial taxes. As expenses for collection, 5 per cent. on the total amount belonging to the Treasury is charged.
“Here is the rule followed to impose taxes for real-estate, city, and real-estate, country:
“On city estate, 25 per cent. on the amount of the rent which the proprietor declares to perceive is discounted, and over the remaining 75, 12 per cent. is imposed.
“On country estates, 2 per cent, is charged on the rent which the proprietor declares to perceive, without any previous discount.
“The Industrial Subsidy affects every citizen who should exercise any industry, profession, trade, art, or employ. A relation of them is made, being arranged by tariffs, classes, and numbers, with expression of the portion anyone ought to satisfy according to the last Regulation and Tariffs approved by the Government on 12th of May, 1893. These relations, named matriculas, are made every year.
“There are also the patentes or receipts of taxes on certain industries which satisfy their duties per annum and in advance. If the industrial stops business before the year is over, he has no right to claim the balance. To this class belong certain shops, hawkers (vendedores ambulantes), veterinary surgeons, etc. The amount to be paid in each case is unchangeable and it is fixed in a special tariff for the patentes.
“There are also receipts called of ‘occasional amounts.’ They include the receipts from the taxpayers who begin or stop business. As taxes as a rule are collected quarterly, these receipts are for the amount of time during the three months in which the taxpayer is a debtor to the Treasury.
“‘Occasional taxes’ and patentes amounted, for the whole Island, during the year 1894 to 1895, to the sum of $133,283.31 for the public Treasury. We do not include that total in our statements because it is collected only occasionally.
“It is to be borne in mind that the total of taxes is never collected in Cuba, and that there is always a deficit, which has been less since the Spanish Bank is the collector.
“Here is the total collection of taxes during the year 1894 to 1895: