the early tariffs is exhibited by the fact that the rates were fixed so as to fall lightly on the rich and heavily on the poor. Nearly two months' wages every year had to go to pay for the cotton cloth worn by the Indian laborer and his family, if indeed they wore cloth; while a half-day's income covered all that the government received from duties on articles consumed by the rich man, or by a convent of friars.
Between 1845 and 1856 several changes occurred, among them the liberal one of 1848, and the famous order of Santa Anna, in 1854, under which he established a prohibitive discrimination against nations having no commercial treaty with Mexico on the basis of reciprocity; it was repealed by the liberal government that deposed him, on the 9th of January, 1856.[1] On the 31st a new tariff was issued, lowering the duties from the standard of that of 1853. The import dues were classified import and additional, the latter being equivalent to about 75 per centum on the amount of the former.[2] In May 1858 the permission was given to import cotton through Vera Cruz by paying one dollar and a half per hundred pounds. On the 17th of March of the same year the governor of Tamaulipas had decreed the zona libre by which, in the towns
- ↑ The yield of the maritime and frontier custom-houses for import and ex. port duties, including also vessels' port charges, in those years was as follows: Total collected, at rates of 40, 30, 25, and 12 per centum, from Jan. I to Dec. 31, 1844, $6,933,991. During war with the U.S., no reports were made in 18 16 and 1847; the collection from Jan. 1, 1848, to June 30, 1819, gross, $5,412,113, net, $1,949,692. The total recovered in the five years from 1847 to June 30, 1852, $24,532,616; in the next three years, $25,039,502; in the first six months of 1856, gross, $3,641,745, which would make for a year about $7,283,490. Owing to civil war, there were no further reports to June 30, 1869. Mex., Mem. Hac., 1845, July 8, 1819; 1850, Feb. 12; 1851, July 18; 1852, Feb. 23; 1857, Feb. 10, annexes 176, 177; 1870, Sept. 16.
- ↑ This additional duty was suspended for 10 years by decree of April 8, 1961.
1833, May 15; 1834, none printed; 1835, May 22; 1838, July 27 and 28, for the fiscal years 1835-6, and 1836–7). Willie, Noticia, Hac. Púb., tables C and D. The effect of the tariff of 1837 was felt in diminished revenue. The following figures represent net proceeds: July 1, 1837, to Dec. 31, 1938, $4,238,411, equivalent for a year to $2,838,941; 1839, $5,174,888; 1840, $7,115,849; 1811, $5,544,065; 1812, $4,900,667; 1843, $7,249,722. Mex., Mem. Hacienda (1839, July 25; 1840, July 14; 1941, July 28; 1844, Jan., for the fiscal years 1841, 1842, 1843).
