Tribute and Calamity in Central New Spain, 1727-1762. The Limits of Fair Taxes

This article studies viceroyalty tax policies towards the population of New Spain and examines the legal and moral pact between the viceroy and the Indians. The author analyzes legislation and tensions between the two parties during the Eighteenth-century crises and epidemics. These tensions turned into expressions and reactions of nonconformity towards the payment of tributes considered unfair: Indian demands against authorities, fleeing and fiscal evasion. This work describes and analyzes these actions among the Indian populations of central New Spain. Its conclusions help understand not only the system of tax collection from Indians in times of crisis, but also the historical discussion on the moral and legal bases of fair and equal medieval taxes, which later gave place to the New Spain tributes