The fiscal-political and social-economical situation of the principal towns in the Austrian Lands during the 16th and 18th centuries

In the years after 1740 Maria Theresia initiated an ambitious modernisation program for the public fiscal administration of the Habsburg Monarchy, that totally reorganised the situation on the municipal sector. Regarding of their importance for the public and economical development the research project deals primarily with the so called "Landesfürstlichen" towns. These major settlements profited as part of the camerale from many privileges based upon the royal regals on streets, mining, minting and commercials. Consequently they functioned as the most powerful instrument of the public economical, fiscal and social policy. The main examination period of the project, that is analysed based on primary sources, extends from 1650 to 1800, because of the medieval sources of the situation around 1700 the sixteenth century is discussed as well. As a tribute to their essential importance in the context of urbanisation the investigations include with Lower and Upper Austria, Styria and Carinthia the countries, that correspond with the modern Republic of Austria. Basically the interpretation perspective considers as well the economical and social as the administrational functions of the royal urban settlements, but regarding the complex historical background the analysis concentrates on selected fiscal and political aspects, that allow the characterisation of the urbanisation-process in the age of absolutism. For the scientific investigation of these problem fields the tax-acts of the years between 1650 and 1800 are of an essential importance. In total these documents, that include for each municipal town exact statistical data`s about the incomes from houses, commercial or agricultural activities and the urban budget, give a detailed picture of the situation in the 17.th and 18.th century. Another interpretation point of the project focuses on the comparison with Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia and the rest of Western Silesia and the rest of Western Europe.

Although the public finances can be regarded as one of the main crystallisation points of the modern state the tax- system that was practiced in the principial towns of the Fourth Estate of the Austrian Lands of the Habsburg Monarchy was ignored by the contemporary historical scientific research in most cases. Regarding this situation the project dealt primarily with the publication and the systematical analysis of the large amount of unpublished administrative material. One of the main scientific goals in this context was the exact documentation of the statistical informations. Because of the complexity of the administrative processes and the inhomogenity of the material the scientific research was divided into systematical and diachronical structured fields. Due to the lack of modern scientific literature for the Austrian Lands the researches concentrated on the "Steuerausschreibungs- und Repartitionsmodalitäten", the "Veranlagungsgrößen", the "Gesamtsteuerbilanz", the "Steuertypen" and the "Lokale Steuereinhebungspraxis" as the main topics. On the other hand the project tried to illuminate the situation on the field of the direct taxes in Lower Austria, Upper Austria, Carinthia, Styria and Vienna from a comperative point of view. One of the main topics in the sector "Ausschreibungsmodalitäten" was the exact definition of the tax objects and subjects and the organisation of the administrative structures, but the researches also dealt with the development of the so called "Fourth Estate" as a fiscal-body. Another main topic was the reconstruction of the system that was used for the repartition of the direct taxes or "Landesanlagen" between the members of the Fourth Estate. Concerning calculational matters the project analysed the "Pfundeinlage" respective the property-based tax system and the "Häusereinlage" or the assessment-based modus. Because of the diversity of the direct taxes in the early modern ages the researches also tried to documentate the wide quantitative and calculational variety of the so called "Landesanlagen" and the "Gesamtsteuerbilanz" of the principial towns of the Fourth Estate. Regarding the federalistic structure of the administrative organisation the investigations also focussed on the local diversity of the tax systems in the different towns. Although the documentation and the statistical interpretation of the tax acts was difficult because of the lack of scientific literature and representative older studies, it was possible to gain essential new perspectives and to develop new methods in the most research fields.