Tributos y tasas — the assessed ceiling on Indian tribute
Indian tribute was not what a lord could extract but what an assessment said. Título V of libro VI of the Recopilación sets the rules of the tasa: half rates for two years after resettlement, ten years free for voluntary converts, liability from eighteen, a written separation of the shares of caciques, communities and doctrina, nothing levied above it, and a crown attorney bound to argue for reductions. It also records collection from the dead, and a war surcharge above the tasa.
Why this wins its question: Indian tribute is usually described in English as a flat extraction, with no account of the instrument that governed it. The tasa was a written, itemised assessment: half rates for two years after resettlement, ten years free for voluntary converts, liability from eighteen, a stated separation of the shares of caciques, communities and doctrina, an express bar on anything levied above it by anyone including the caciques, and a royal attorney bound to answer the Indians' petitions for reductions. All of it is quoted here from a digitised printing opened page by page — and so are the two laws in the same título that record collection from the dead and the fled, and the 1591 war levy that overrode the ceiling for everyone, including the provinces the crown had exempted.
Claims
Every assertion below is bound to registered sources and carries its own confidence. Weight them; do not treat the page as uniformly authoritative.
The título opens with the justification. "TÍTULO QUINTO. DE LOS TRIBUTOS, Y TASAS DE LOS INDIOS", ley j (Charles V, Valladolid, 26 June 1523, Ordenanza 5; Philip II, Ordenanza 146 de Poblaciones of 1573) holds it "cosa justa, y razonable que los Indios, que se pacificaren, y reduxeren á nuestra obediencia y vasallage, nos sirvan, y dén tributo en reconocimiento del señorío, y servicio, que como nuestros súbditos y vasallos deben, pues ellos tambien entre sí tenian costumbre de tributar á sus Tecles, y Principales", and directs that they be persuaded to pay "algun tributo en moderada cantidad de los frutos de la tierra". The argument from pre-conquest practice is the crown's own.
Ley ij (Philip II, Madrid, 27 February 1575 and 13 June 1594; Philip III, 9 November 1598) halves the rate for newcomers: Indians "pacificados y congregados á Pueblos, que tributaban en tiempo de su infidelidad, han de tributar por tiempo de dos años de su reduccion, en cantidad que no exceda de la mitad del tributo, que pagaren los demas"; and where they are not yet Christian, the portion that would have gone to the doctrina is to be put "en Caxa separada para formar Hospitales en beneficio de los mismos Indios, y enviarles Doctrina".
Ley iij (Philip III, Madrid, 30 January 1607 and 10 October 1618) gives a ten-year exemption to voluntary converts: those who "se reduxeren de su voluntad á nuestra Santa Fe Católica, y recibieren el Bautismo solamente por la predicacion del Santo Evangelio, no puedan ser encomendados, ni paguen tasas por diez años, ni compelidos á ningun servicio; pero bien podrán, si quisieren concertarse para servir", with the justices charged to see that no wrong is done them.
Liability began at a stated age, and the law prints its own reasoning. Ley vij (Philip II, 5 July 1578; Philip III, Madrid, 10 October 1618) orders that single Indians tribute "desde diez y ocho años, si no estuviere introducido otro tiempo", explaining that those under paternal power paid nothing, so that many delayed marriage "de edad de veinte y cinco, y treinta años" to keep the exemption, and that the religious who instructed them "pedian el remedio". The rule is a fiscal instrument aimed at marriage as much as a threshold of liability.
The tasa is the ceiling, and it is itemised. Ley xxx (Philip II, Madrid, 4 August 1561) requires that every assessment or re-assessment be made "con particular separacion de lo que han de haber los Caciques, y Principales, y hubieren menester para sus Comunidades, y Doctrina", so that the caciques, "como interesados, no ocultarán los Indios"; and that "demas de lo que así fuere tasado, no se les ha de imponer otro tributo, ni repartimiento por sus Caciques, ni Principales, ni por otra ninguna persona", with the share of caciques and communities expressly kept out of the hands of the royal officials.
A crown officer was required to argue against the crown's own revenue. The law immediately preceding orders that the attorney appear before the assessor and judge who make the inquiries, count and tasa, and that "por nuestro Real Patrimonio alegue, y responda á lo que pidieren los Indios sobre baxas de tributos, y lo demas, y haga todas las defensas, que convengan" — the reduction of tribute is a matter to be litigated, with a fiscal answering on the record.
Against that, the same título records the classic abuse in the crown's own words. Ley xv (Philip III, San Lorenzo, 6 June 1609): "SOmos informado que al tiempo de cobrar los tributos de los Indios les hacen pagar por entero, conforme á la última visita, sin atencion á que de estos son muertos algunos tributarios, y otros se han huido, y como los pagan los Caciques, cobran lo que pagáron de las mugeres, hermanos, hijos, y parientes de los muertos, ó huidos". The count that made the tasa a ceiling turned, between visitas, into a claim on the survivors.
Tribute and the mine draft interlock. Ley xij (Philip III, Ordenanza 20 del servicio personal of 1601) orders viceroys to find out "si las tasas que pagan, y están repartidas á los Indios, que trabajan en las minas de Potosí, son excesivas" and to moderate them; ley xiij (Philip IV, Madrid, 31 December 1626) that to those who go to work the mines "no se les reparta mas tributo del que debieren pagar, y este se cobre con toda suavidad"; and ley xiiij suspends tribute on forastero Indians at the mines altogether, on the reasoning that "es mayor el provecho que dá un Indio de estos, que veinte de los tributarios".
The ceiling could be raised by the same authority that set it. Ley xvj (Philip II, El Pardo, 1 November 1591) imposes, "A causa de las públicas necesidades, que ocurriéron el año de mil quinientos y noventa y uno", a service above the tasa: a fifth of the assessed tribute in Peru, Nuevo Reino de Granada and Tierra Firme, four reales a head in New Spain and Guatemala, expressly "no es tasa, sino servicio", exempt from any discount for tithes, and levied even on those otherwise exempt. The law itself notes that its first promulgation was carried out in some provinces entire, in others with moderation, and "en otras, por ser mas pobres, se suspendió de el todo su execucion".
It could also be lowered. Ley xvij (Philip III, Madrid, 14 March 1614) relieves the Indians of the tierra caliente of the Nuevo Reino de Granada of the requinto imposed in 1591 "por ser tan pobres, y miserables", keeping the collection only in the colder towns "donde son mas ladinos, y tienen mayores grangerías, y comodidades para poderlo pagar", and abolishes for both the tomín "que pagaban para salario de sus Corregidores".
A tasa is a legal ceiling, not a receipt. Everything above is quoted from the compilation of 1680 in its 1791 fourth impression: it records what the crown ordered, and — through its re-issues and its recitals of abuse — that the orders were being broken, but it contains no evidence of how much was actually collected in any province, or how often a reduction was granted when the Indians asked for one.