1658-81 Excises

Beginning in 1631, the City of Delft collected excise taxes on almost two dozen items. In spite of a changing population and changing fortunes, these excise taxes provided a constant source of income.

The photo on the right (click for larger size) shows the Nieuwe Delft gracht behind the Waag, the weighing house. Barges laden with taxable goods that needed to be weighed, including wine and beer, would load and unload here.

The tables use shorter terms for some of the tax categories:

  • auctions = auctioned buildings (boelhuijsen)
  • meat = old and new meat
  • grinding = use of mills
  • weighing = use of scales
  • cranes = use of
  • tonnage = large ships (rondemaat, known in Delft as vijftmaten)

The numbers below are expressed in whole guilders only; any stuivers and pennies were ignored.

Excise Taxes in Delft 1658 - 1666

  1658 1659 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666
beer 11750 12050 12050 12450 13075 12200 11650 10900 10850
wine 5089 5089 5089 9750 9825 10087 9750 9000 7237
corn 5055 4800 4750 4950 4750 4800 4800 4725 3890
auctions 2700 2700 2700 2700 2700 2700 2700 2700 2700
meat 6730 7050 8000 6850 8050 7100 7700 7025 5279
peat 6146 6365 6343 6518 6122 5993 5950 5993 7000
grinding 7050 7250 7150 7450 7175 6950 7000 6925 6280
weighing 1490 1575 1800 1950 2100 1600 2175 1200 1185
fish 1500 1500 1500 1500 1600 1600 1600 1200 1050
hops 14 12 16 16 15 18 16 15 12
tonnage 130 140 150 180 120 150 100 100 99
foreign-wool 13 13 13 13 13 13 11 11 11
clothmakers-hall 39 39 39 39 39 39 33 33 30
breweries 1106 1083 1079 1048 979 1025 1090 970 1015
brewery-peat 119 126 115 112 105 110 117 107 113
brandy 735 735 735 735 910 1025 900 2212 2374
cranes 260 260 260 260 260 160 260 200 200
pork 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30
soap 33 34 45 36 36 29 29 28 29
Total 52,058 53,137 53,806 59,255 55,743 59,280 57,948 55,868 50,864

 

Excise Taxes in Delft 1667 - 1675

  1667 1668 1669 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675
beer 10725 11650 10900 12200 12814 17469 12722 33638 12475
wine 6955 7500 9000 9168 8775 6750 4218 * 6300
corn 4525 3625 4625 3900 4950 5325 4040 4000 4150
auctions 2700 2500 2700 2500 2500 2500 1000 1600 1700
meat 9020 7000 7025 6775 6775 7500 7000 * 6850
peat 6890 5726 5993 5906 5971 6300 5950 * 5950
grinding 6714 6625 6925 6750 6825 6200 6950 6500 6850
weighing 1275 2225 1200 1900 1675 1625 1250 * 1525
fish 1300 1300 1300 1350 1350 1350 1300 * 1350
hops 10 10 13 15 17 17 12 14 16
tonnage 117 140 160 170 160 180 40 * 70
foreign-wool 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11
clothmakers-hall 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33 33
breweries 1025 1102 1178 1175 1182 1058 1011 1029 950
brewery-peat 111 118 126 124 127 113 108 111 98
brandy 2304 2304 2431 2475 2375 1750 1100 * 2300
cranes 200 200 200 200 200 100 70 * 170
pork 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30 30
soap 29 24 24 24 14 14 11 15 8
Total 55,406 55,781 57,298 58,785 58,396 57,758 50,257 50,277 53,137

 

Excise Taxes in Delft 1676 - 1681

  1676 1677 1678 1679 1680 1681   * total   range average
beer 12000 11469 11675 11550 12150 13300   280,074   10,725-13,300 12,177
wine 7087 6825 7275 6975 6200 9200   173,144   4,218-10,087 7,528
corn 4400 4450 4750 4525 4350 4400   104,535   3,625-5.325 4,545
auctions 1600 ** 1700 1700 1700 1700 1700   52,500   1,000-2,700 2,282
meat 6850 6450 6525 6150 6170 6225   160,099   5,279-9020 6,961
peat 5709 5425 5600 6425 4250 5381   130,901   4,250-6,885 5,950
grinding 6800 6000 6325 6200 5800 5900   154,094   5,800-7,450 6,700
weighing 1400 1350 1400 1225 1500 1470   36,095   1,185-2,225 1,569
fish 1350 1350 1300 1300 1200 1200   31,350   1,050-1,600 1,363
hops 15 12 13 15 13 12   324   10-18 14
tonnage 100 120 130 130 142 130   2,958   70-180 129
foreign-wool 11 11 11 11 11 11   265   11-13 12
clothmakers-hall 33 33 33 33 33 33   792   30-39 34
breweries 914 898 906 916 958 975   23,642   898-1,182 1,027
brewery-peat 98 96 101 95 102 104   2545   95-127 111
brandy 2500 2300 2875 2950 3275 3500   44,800   735-3,500 1,947
cranes 170 170 170 170 170 170   4,480   70-260 195
pork 30 30 45 45 45 45   750   30-45 33
soap 7 10 10 10 10 11   505   7-45 22
Total 53,670 51,063 52,632 52,125 52,562 54,568          

* In 1674, Maerten Huijchs Leeuwenhoek, Antony's cousin, was the collector for beer and the eight other taxes marked with an asterisk. He made frequent payments during the year, but they were aggregated under the beer tax. Thus, 1674 is omitted from the totals, ranges, and averages.

** In 1677, Catharina Philips Leeuwenhoek, Antony's sister, became the collector for the excise tax on auctioned houses and other buildings. She kept that post until 1691.

The names and numbers in the treasurer's accounts do not always agree with the names and numbers in the tax farmers' manual. Three examples.

Discrepancies

  Treasurer's account book Excise tax farmers manual
tax tax collector (ontvanger) amount in guilders tax collector (ontvanger) amount in guilders
1668 meat Jan van Oosten 7,000 Andries Bunel 7,025
1668 peat Adrian Rottevee, then
Willem Post		 1,465 Jan-Mar, then
5,425 Apr-Dec
total 6,890		 Andries Bunel 6,600
1669 meat Willem Post 7,025 Maerten Leeuwenhoek 6,779
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