CHAPTER XVII

REVENUE OF CUBA--INTERNAL TAXES

In the two preceding chapters the attention of the reader has been called to the revenue of Cuba derived from custom-house receipts, which aggregates about $15,000,000 of the $26,000,000 required by the Spanish to pay the governmental expenses of the Island. Before ascertaining the way in which this money has been expended, and before making any suggestion as to possible division of revenue for the future, it may be well to pass briefly in review the other sources of revenue; and in this process the land, professional, and internal taxes come in for consideration. The Spanish Government estimated that the revenue from these combined sources for 1898-99 would be $7,783,150. This amount--when added to the customs, $14,705,000; the lotteries, $1,900,500; income from State property, $435,000; and miscellaneous revenue, $1,536,000,--practically completed the budget, as given in the opening of