Consumo, Inovação Organizacional e Fiscalidade do Tabaco em Portugal, 1701-1803

Abstract

This chapter examines the partition of the tobacco tax revenue extracted under fiscal monopoly between the State and tax farmers. Whereas a clique of businessmen amassed considerable wealth by farming this monopoly during the second half of the eighteenth century, this was not the case in the first part of the century. We discuss the different financial impacts of this institutional arrangement and examine the circumstances and conditions that tipped the balance in favour of tax farmers. While organizational changes occurred in the distribution of tobacco, this was accompanied by changes in the fundamentals of the economy which expanded the market. This case study demonstrates that the same institutional framework allowed for different distributions of a monopoly rent.