Urban fiscal system and economic cycles in Milan (16.-17. centuries) : some quantitative and qualitative remarks

The paper seeks to demonstrate that the fiscal system in Milan during the Spanish dominion (1535-1706), played not only a negative role on the economic growth of the city, but it was affected in a positive way at some phases. First of all, a short analysis of the structural issues of the Milanese fiscal pattern will be outlined, focusing on the various categories of taxes (direct and indirect, state quota taxes, and autonomous-city taxes). The way they were cashed in, and accounted for, and the complex interplay between the central governmet needs of Madrid and the urban authorities, such as the relationship between the urban core and its countryside, are taken into consideration. Consequentially, quantitative data on the amount of the taxes collection and on the value of fiscal burden will be offered, as far as possible. Finally, the paper delves into the nexus between the urban fiscal system and the economic trend, analysing both the quantitative factors and the qualitative ones. Concerning the former, until now, we can notice, for example, that the fiscal system shifts income from the taxpayers to the owners of securities, servicing municipal debt, that used these bonds as collateral to get loans. The latter, the enterpreneur-contractor who assumed business risks, is one of the most modernizing figure of the economic Milanese environment.