Taxes were typically farmed with men paying government a lump sum in ad
vance for the right to collect levies set down by the towns or county. Tax
farmers had to pay the town regularly, often each quarter. If they were late
they had to pay a penalty. Often the collectors had to swear an oath each
quarter that they would prevent fraud and not commit any themselves. Just as
brewers had to swear that they would abide by tax provisions so too did the
men who farmed the taxes, and even more often than the brewers. After the
Revolt there was an oath demanded of anyone working in brewing in Zee-
land not to attempt to defraud the tax authorities by passing off good beer as
tax free beer or by selling beer outside the town without paying tax. For
some excises if no farmer could be found at what the town thought was a rea
sonable price, then the government took on the task of collecting the taxes it
self. This changed the type and character of administration and possibly may
have affected the relationship between the amount collected and the volume
of beer made or consumed though in which direction is uncertain".
Taxation levels in Zeeland on beer were high as a percentage of the sale
price. Brewers paid a sum typically for each brew and then an excise tax on
sale of the beer. At Veere in 1540 the brewer's excise alone was 1.7% of the
retail price at which publicans were allowed to sell normal full strength beer.
Publicans had to turn over to the lax farmer an additional 75% of what they
sold the beer for. There was a stronger winter beer which sold for consider
ably more but it was subject to the same excise so selling it generated a much
greater return than the 8% which pub owners got from selling ordinary beer.
Taxes were also levied, at a lower rate, on any beer loaded on to or off of a
ship. The first Delft bylaw on beer, dating from the fourteenth century, set a
waiting period of eight days from the time the beer went into the barrel be
fore it could be served, the rule applying to beer being exported to North
Holland. A 1392 Gouda bylaw on brewing set a similar requirement but at
Middelburg beer had to sit just 24 hours in the cellar before shipment. That
was a much shorter period than at Amsterdam - four days - or at Maastricht
in the second half of the sixteenth century - eight to ten days24. The short
waiting period suggests that Middelburg brewers were making a low quality
beer and one which might nol be as durable as the hopped beers made in
other towns in the Low Countries.
Not all beer was subject to tax. A low quality beer with an alcohol content
of under 2% intended for servants and children was free of any government
levies. Authorities had to be careful that strong beer did not get passed off as
tax free small beer. In fact in times of crisis, as at Middelburg in 1572, brew
ers might be limited to brewing only small beer with very low levels of alco
hol and of nutritional value, presumably to preserve limited grain supplies.
23. GAVe. inv.nr. 311: fols. 100v-l02r| 1540]; ZA, Arch. St.v.Z. inv.nr. 3242, 276 [31 May, 1675];
Unger, Bronnenvol.2, nr. 161 [1552]; C. Cau et al., Groot Plaeaatboekvol. 1, 2048-2059.
24. GAVe, inv.nr. 311: fols. 96v-97v; I00v-102r: G. Doorman, De middeleeuwse brouwerij en de
gruit (The Hague 1955) 49; Hallema en Em mens, Het bier en zijn brouwers137; J.P.W. Philipsen,
'De Amsterdamsche brouwnijverheid tot het einde der zestiende eeuw'. Universiteit van Amsterdam.
Unpublished doctoraalscriptie. Economisch Historisch Seminarium, 1937, 8; Unger, Bronnen, vol.2,
nr. 3, para. 7.
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