Alcabala. It was a tribute that taxed a commercial activity. It was a percentage of the sale price that the person had to pay to the treasury.
Summary
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- 1 Etymology
- 2 Features
- 3 History
- 1 First implementations
- 2 News
- 4 Source
Etymology
This term derives from the Hispanic Arabic al-qabala, which can be translated as “the contract, the tax that was arranged with the treasury.” In turn, this emerged in the Arabic habala , which is a “fishing net”. Other words that share the origin are the following:
- gabela: a tax that must be paid to the State;
- alcabalero: the person who must collect the alcabalas, that is to say that his work consists of the activity of collecting the tribute;
- alcabalatorio: the book in which the rules about the collection and distribution of the alcabalas are recorded.
Characteristic
At a general level, the alcabala was a tax of universal application. However, it was common for exceptions to be granted, so that the application of the tax was not so strict in practice.
History
In Castile , the collection of alcabalas was imposed from the Courts of Burgos in 1342 . The intention was to solve the Algeciras campaign . At first it was applied in Burgos and later it was extended to the rest of the towns of León and Castilla .
As it is an indirect tax, its form of collection was changing. The alcabalas were collected through collectors, by heading and by leasing to individuals.
First implementations
In its first implementations, the alcabala was of a local nature and was administered by the councils, the neighborhood assemblies that were involved in the government of their localities. The councils existed in the Iberian Peninsula during the High Middle Ages, in the kingdoms belonging to Christianity. As early as the 11th century , the alcabala of a local type can be evidenced, and it is estimated that it was created taking as an older example from Muslim Spain .
Some experts on the subject believe that the alcabala could have emerged in the Roman Empire and remained in force in the Visigothic era . With regard to its characteristics at a technical level, and based on the most solid evidence of its oldest use, this tax began by being calculated on the basis of “things disposed of” for 5 percent of its value; later, the percentage doubled, although mainly in theory, since in practice it used to be lower.
Present
Currently the alcabala still exists. In Peru , the alcabala tax is levied on real estate purchase and sale operations. The buyer of the property is the one who must pay it, the transfer value being the tax base.
Peruvian legislation contemplates several exceptions. The first sale of the property made by a construction company and transfers due to death do not pay the sales tax, to mention two cases.
