Royal bonus

The royal premium is a duty, a trade tax, which has been systematically levied in favor of the Swedish treasury since 1668. This tax was introduced during the reign of Magnus Gabriel Delagardi , regent under King Charles XI .

The term “royal allowance” was understood to mean a financial supplement to the license , which has already been regularly collected since 1629 from all Riga export and import goods, and for some period the level of license fee was simply inadequate. The Swedish provincial administration considered that the “progressive” “royal premium” could replace the old “ Lithuanian duty ”. The royal allowance extended to those merchants who brought goods from the upper reaches of the Western Dvina, and, accordingly, to those who took these goods “up”. The established norms of the “royal mark-up” somewhat exceeded the norms of other trade duties, such as excise taxes or portoria , which also extended to those who wanted to trade in Riga . Thus, the import and export of goods within Riga fell under the full financial control of the Swedish provincial departments, not counting, of course, the collection of trade taxes in favor of the Riga Magistrate , which was controlled by the Chamber Court. The norms of the "royal premium" were as follows: for 1 rye last (2100 kg) it was necessary to pay 1 thaler . A large barrel of Spanish wine (pipa) cost the merchant 5 talers. The standard pipa contained 916.56 liters. In order to make an impression of the volume of the royal allowance, it should be mentioned that on average for ten thalers one could get a pretty decent horse.

The royal allowance had to be unfastened during the reign of the Russian Empire , until 1765, when Empress Catherine II took care of its abolition.