The income of the republic during the year 1882 was:
| Direct Taxes. | ||
|---|---|---|
| 3% on real estate | $103,886.05 | |
| Road tax | 34,830.85 | |
| Military tax | 13,925.17 | |
| Abated taxes | 4,132.56 | |
| $156,224.63 | ||
| Indirect Taxes. | ||
| Duties on imports | $1,698,469.93 | |
| Duties on exports | 66,685.36 | |
| Harbor dues | 3,960.22 | |
| Stamped paper and stamps | 114,221.57 | |
| Impost on native flour | 47,198.19 | |
| Impost on salt | 27.454.58 | |
| Impost on legacies | 11,514.06 | |
| Beneficio de Reses | 99,964.59 | |
| 5% on transfers of real estate | 53,530.42 | |
| 2,122,998.92 | ||
| Tax for higher education | $10,127.87 | |
| Tax for municipios | 10,678.62 | |
| Tax for police in the capital | 113,296.13 | |
| Tax for hospitals | 119,507.26 | |
| Telegraphs | 55,575.96 | |
| Mails | 25,687.95 | |
| Mint | 19,518.51 | |
| Fondos judiciales | 6,513.19 | |
| 360,905.49 | ||
| Excise on liquors | $1,266,042.43 | |
| Excise on tobacco | 346,263.15 | |
| Excise on gunpowder and saltpetre | 23,994.31 | |
| 1,636,299.89 | ||
| Various income | 135,457.44 | |
| Contracts, etc. (anticipation of taxes) | 2,030,033.01 | |
| $6,441,919.38 | ||
Of the expenses of the Government for the same fiscal period, it will be seen from the following abstract that the army expenses form more than a sixth of the entire sum, even in a time of peace.
| Expenses of Administration. | ||
|---|---|---|
| Department of the Interior | $167,349.25 | |
| ” Treasury | 208,872.45 | |
| ” War | 1,164,521.37 | |
| ” Justice | 723,746.93 | |
| ” Public Instruction | 252,891.62 | |
| ” Foreign Affairs | 80,850.11 | |
| $2,598,231.73 | ||
| General Expenses. | ||
| Collecting direct taxes | $6,962.01 | |
| ” indirect taxes | 32,410.52 | |
| Excise on liquors | 126,031.04 | |
| ” tobacco | 96,289.65 | |
| Higher instruction | 25,418.55 | |
| Municipios | 15,704.77 | |
| Pawnshops and pensions | 45,053.54 | |
| Mails | 42,725.16 | |
| Telegraphs | 101,288.61 | |
| Mint | 20,539.59 | |
| Mobiliario | 2,986.76 | |
| Hospitals | 136,794.20 | |
| Police | 148,128.12 | |
| Confiscations | 581.52 | |
| Judiciary | 6,033.37 | |
| Extraordinary | 6,606.92 | |
| Gunpowder and saltpetre | 2,960.64 | |
| 816,514.97 | ||
| Interest | $200,325.81 | |
| Purchase of tobacco | 99,342.05 | |
| ” gunpowder and saltpetre | 5,795.70 | |
| Repayments (Devolutiones) | 14,373.07 | |
| Public property | 6,197.09 | |
| Accounts | 2,010.24 | |
| 328,043.96 | ||
| Funding bonds and obligations | 2,554,076.94 | |
| Subsidy to street-railroad | 833.33 | |
| Various payments | 205,721.45 | |
| $6,503,422.38 | ||
However dry long columns of figures may be, they tell the story in the shortest way, and will give to those interested in the work of a Government some insight into its methods. Like many other Governments, that of Guatemala anticipates taxes, borrows, and issues paper obligations. Its chief income is from the sale of liquor and from import duties. I have in another place described the method of taxing the sale of liquors, and I may say here that the tax seems to be collected with fairness; but the heavy import duties offer a premium on smuggling, and I was told some very ingenious and amusing methods that had been used to evade the customs. If the ports of Guatemala were not just what they are, it would be a very difficult matter to collect the revenue from imports.
The currency of Guatemala is silver, with the exception of about $50,000 of Government paper, and, like the silver currency of the United States, is worth only about seventy per cent of its face in gold; but, unlike the Northern Republic, Guatemala has not the power to float her debased coin, and the standard is therefore American gold. To meet its needs the Government sometimes mortgages to money-lenders its revenues in part, or even puts a custom-house in pawn; and cases have occurred where its subsidies have been suspended by arbitrary decree for a year, or even longer. Hence the unwillingness to embark in any enterprise that is largely dependent on Government aid. Even the mail-subsidies when paid are paid with orders on the customs. This, together with the very heavy import duties, certainly checks the investment of foreign capital; though to those within the country, and informed as to methods, the duties are much lightened by purchasing Government bonds at fifty per cent and paying them for duties at par. By this and similar practices, which I do not think it best to describe, large mercantile establishments derive great profit at the expense of the revenues.
To meet the needs of commerce there are but three banks; two, “El Banco Internacional” and “El Banco Columbiano,” are in the City of Guatemala, while the third is in Quezaltenango. These have between them a capital of perhaps $5,000,000, and they do the business of banks of circulation, deposit, and exchange. The usual rate on deposits subject to sight drafts is three per cent per annum, and on current accounts and discounts twelve per cent; while they pay their stockholders from twelve per cent to twenty per cent in dividends. The Banco Internacional has called in but seventy per cent of its capital stock. These banks date only from 1875, and their notes are hardly current outside the larger cities. Many of the principal mercantile houses do a larger banking business, and hold extensive private deposits.