ENTRE LA DISPERSIÓN DEL PODER POLÍTICO Y LA QUIEBRA DE LA LEGITIMIDAD TRIBUTARIA: UNA HIPÓTESIS COMPLEMENTARIA SOBRE EL FRACASO DEL IMPERIO MEXICANO, 1821-1823

Abstract

The reasons which led Emperor Agustín de Iturbide to abdicate the throne are still not completely clear. This article argues that one of his motivations for resigning was the lack of money and his government’s incapacity to raise funds. The limits of his tax-raising powers was not only due to his dispute with Mexico’s first Constituent Congress, but also the rupture of the legitimacy of taxation itself and the dispersion of public authority between the provincial governments. In fact, Imperial government could only count on moderately effective authority in Mexico City and its surroundings. As a consequence, the fiscal burden of sustaining central government fell almost exclusively on the capital’s population. This characteristic of Mexico’s fiscal system would not be reversed until well into the twenty century.