112 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — ^PUBLICATION NO. 11 



printed receipts provided by the State accountant's 

 office are issued. A monthly hst of all persons 

 paying derechos de mercado must be submitted to 

 the accountant's office. Individuals whose stock 

 of merchandise is M'orth less than 1 peso pay no 

 taxes. While we were in Quiroga the merchants 

 of cloth ("yard goods") and clothing who occupied 

 public areas paid $0.50 to $1 per day, and the other 

 merchants who occupied the same space every 

 day paid $0.10 daily. Those who came only for 

 the Sunday markets paid $0.05 to $0.10. 

 Besides the sellers of cloth, the leading "semi- 

 permanent" merchants with puestos and expendios 

 were those who sold food, soft drinks, ice cream, 

 and regional products such as pottery and wood- 

 work. For the Sunday mercados or dias de plaza 

 white chalk was used to define the different puestos. 

 Revenue from the derechos de mercados commonly 

 ranks second only to the abasto taxes, and consti- 

 tutes one-seventh to one-fifth of the total income. 

 Recent monthly income (rounded to the nearest 

 peso) has been: 



194S 19ii 



January $137 $197 



February 125 211 



March 141 238 



April 162 276 



May 147 223 



June 122 195 



July 122 212 



August 137 195 



September 177 312 



October 145 218 



November 132 201 



December 194 327 



3. Derechos de aguas.- — By law every owner of 

 an urban house located on a street with water 

 supply (available pipe or tuheria), whose property 

 is valued at 200 or more pesos (in municipios of 

 the second category), must place water in the 

 house. This applies also to all types of business 

 where water is used; e. g., saloons, restaurants, 

 etc. There are special rates for public baths, 

 hotels, and other commercial and industrial enter- 

 prises, the rates for which are determined by a 

 special committee composed of the municipal 

 president and treasurer, the State tax collector in 

 the municipality, and one ordinary citizen. Special 

 contracts may be made with persons wishing to 

 utilize municipal water for irrigation, but the 

 scarcity of water has been so great for so many 

 years that such use practically does not exist. 

 During our first stay in Quiroga, in 1945, the 



municipality was raised from the lowest or third 

 fiscal rank to the second; and this automatically 

 raised the tax rate on water, burials, and some 

 other items. Since we had been carrying out a 

 detailed survey of the community, many of the 

 citizens thought that we must be governmental 

 assessors, and blamed us for the increase. The 

 legal rates are (per faucet) $2 a month in properties 

 valued at less than $500; $2.50 a month in proper- 

 ties valued at $500 to $2,000; $3 a month for 

 properties valued at $2,000 to $5,000; and $4 a 

 month for private houses valued at more than 

 $5,000. Only the two lowest categories were 

 present in Quiroga, together with a few commer- 

 cial and industrial enterprises which paid between 

 $5 and $10. The water tax is collected monthly 

 in advance, and there is no reduction, rebate or 

 cancellation of tax in case of scarcity or lack of 

 water unless there has been complete lack of 

 water for more than 30 consecutive days. The 

 history and nature of the water supply is discussed 

 elsewhere. The cost of installing water pipe to a 

 private establishment is met by the owner, but 

 thereafter the piping is the property of the muni- 

 cipality and must be kept in repair by the munici- 

 pality. Federal, State, and municipal buildings 

 pay no water-use tax. The general laws pertain- 

 ing to the regulation and distribution of waters 

 belonging to the municipality are still based on 

 the law of May 21, 1906. Revenue from water 

 usually occupies fourth place among the sources 

 of municipal income. Recent monthly income 

 has been (rounded to the nearest peso): 



l9iS ISU 



January $95 $105 



February 93 107 



March 93 107 



April 91 107 



May 91 107 



June 92 ill 



July 92 109 



August 90 109 



September 90 109 



October 90 109 



November 90 109 



December 94 113 



4. Derechos del regisfro civil. — The law provides 

 for an elaborate scale of fees for registry of biiths 

 and performance of the civil marriage ceremony, 

 according to whether performed in the home or 

 in the office, and within office hours or at imusual 

 hours, and according to the wealth of the family 

 concerned. However, no charge is made for 



