QUIROGA: a MEXICAN MTJNICIPIO — BRAND 



115 



12. Productos de ventas y rentas de bienes in- 

 muebles del municipio. — This category includes 

 the income derived from the sale (with permission 

 of the State congress) or rent of municipal build- 

 ings and lands. There was no such income during 

 the period 1943-45. Although not strictly cov- 

 ered by the title of the category, the law on the 

 subject also covers the money derived from the 

 sale of confiscated firearms and other weapons, 

 lost-and-found items, abandoned and strayed 

 animals, etc. 



Minor headings, which represent specialized 

 income from a number of the categories given 

 above are: Rezagos (impaid remainders or overdue 

 taxes), recargos (surcharges for those who do not 

 pay on time), and multas or fines which are 

 applied for a considerable list of private and 

 public offences against the municipal Ley de 

 Hacienda. Also in this group of aprovechamientos 

 are gifts, indemnities for destroying public prop- 

 erty, income from the sale of ownerless lands, 

 and income from the sale of ownerless animals 

 {bienes mostrencos). The municipal president 

 must send a list of all impounded lost or strayed 

 animals to all of the bordering municipalities. 

 Then, after a wait of several weeks, the animals 

 must be appraised, a list must be published, and 

 finally the animals are auctioned off. One can 

 always find a number of such lists, from the local 

 and neighboring municipalities, posted in the 

 municipal palace. Actually, there is very httle 

 income in Quiroga from any of the items men- 

 tioned in this paragraph excepting fines. 



Very important sources of income, listed under 

 Participaciones, are the Federal and State sub- 

 ventions and sums remitted from certain taxes 

 collected within the municipaUty. A varying and 

 small amount is remitted from Federal taxes on 

 sales places of alcohols {expendios de alcoholes), 

 mining properties, lumbering and other explotacion 

 forestal, generation and consumption of electrical 

 power, gasoline sales, etc. In Quiroga this 

 Federal remittance is chiefly on forest products. 

 The bulk of the participacion is provided by the 

 return of 60 percent of what the State has col- 

 lected within the municipality through its general 

 impost on commerce and industry. This impost 

 is collected by the local State tax office, and the 

 60 percent is turned over to the municipal treas- 

 urer on the fifteenth and last day of each month. 

 When income from this source is not sufficient to 



round out the municipal budget the State con- 

 gress may make an additional grant. Participa- 

 ciones commonly rank third among municipal 

 sources of income. 



The total municipal income recently (1945 and 

 1946) has amounted to about $15,000 amiually. 

 Approved annual budgets usually are less than 

 the actual receipts and expenditures. Total 

 receipts for the years 1941 to 1944 are shown in 

 table 22. The figures showTi in table 22 do not 

 include the 10 percent State and 5 percent Federal 

 surcharges. An interesting basis for comparison 

 with other municipalities in Michoacdn is provided 

 by a circular issued May 26, 1945, by the State 

 general accountant's office. This circular gives 

 the 1944 income of all municipalities broken down 

 by categories. Incidentally, the 1945 circular 

 credits Quiroga with $2.40 more in mercados and 

 $5 more in panteones than indicated in the local 

 Quiroga records. Also, nothing is listed for 

 Aliscellaneous, but instrumentos notariales are 

 credited with an additional $115. Although the 

 Federal 5 percent surcharge is not included, 

 Quiroga is credited with the State 10 percent 

 surcharge amounting to $834.12, for a total of 

 $14,511.22 income in 1944. We have selected for 

 comparison, out of the 102 municipalities in 

 Michoacan, the largest and smallest in population 

 (as of the 1940 census), all of the neighboring 

 municipios, and several others of interest in the 

 region (table 23). 



Comments on table 23: Quiroga is almost the 

 median municipality in population (1940). Of 

 the 17 other categories, Quiroga is in better 

 position than her population rank in 10: Aguas, 

 11; mercados, 24; abasto, 31; diversiones, 37; 

 certificados, 40; panteones, 41; State 10 percent, 

 44; total income, 45; notarized paper, 45; and 

 State participation, 48. While we were in Quiroga 

 we did not take sufficiently detailed notes. The 

 "?" indicates a position not determined by us, 

 within the following limits: abasto, 52 to 90; 

 mercados, 54 to 74; aguas not in the top 12 of 38 

 municipalities that have water changes or else 

 without a water charge ("*" means definitely no 

 water charges in 1944); registro civil, 66 to 84; 

 panteones, 21 to 102 or no charges ;^erros, 66 to 83; 

 licencias 21 to 94; certificados, 10 to 94;semovientes, 

 67 to 100; diversiones, 40 to 82; instrumentos 

 notariales, 49 to 58: multas, 18 to 89; misceUane- 

 ous, 20 to 102; State, 10 percent, 52 to 87; Federal 



