A second crown revenue AN43 from shipping was the import and export duty on trade: the almorifazgo, which later officials would write “almojarifazgo.” It was a complicated tax whose rate could be varied in numerous ways: by the class of goods, by their origin, by whether or not they were being transshipped, by the port of exit or entry (colonial or Indies), by special concessions to the seller, carrier, or consignee, and perhaps most, by the individual interpretations of correct or confused officials. The year after St. Augustine was founded the duties on Spanish imports were doubled from 2.5% to 5% ad valorem on articles leaving port in Spain, and from 5% to 10% on the same articles at their increased value in the Indies. AN44 The tax on wine more than doubled, changing from a total of 7.5% to 20%. Products of the Indies leaving for Spain paid 2.5% at the port of origin and 5% upon arrival. At the time, all this was theoretical as far as Florida was concerned. The adelantado and his lieutenants had been exempted from the almorifazgo for the three years of his contract, and the first settlers for 10 years. The export tax apparently began in 1580, the year the Florida provinces were given permission to send two ships a year to the Canaries or Seville. At the same time the crown granted up to 300 ducats from the situado to build a customs house on the wharf in St. Augustine—a suggestion that became a command three years later. [Note 56: Cedulas to the royal officials 9/30/1580 and to the governor and royal officials 4/26/1583] The governor and royal officials used the proceeds of the export almorifazgo to pay their own salaries until 1598, when the crown assigned that income for the next four years to the parish church. The rate at which the tax was then being collected is unknown. In 1600 the auditor set it at 2.5%. (Bushnell KC)