Government and Public Finance in the Empire, 1850–1889

The explosive growth of coffee, along with increasing sugar and cotton production, allowed the provincial government to establish a significant tax base. In turn this allowed it to create a viable provincial government which could begin providing basic infrastructural development for this province. This development would include everything from establishing a significant taxing bureaucracy and state judicial and legislative system, to providing the funds to develop the crucial infrastructure needed to export coffee. Taxes on agriculture were the key factors which allowed the state to develop roads and railroads, to begin providing potable water and public illumination for its cities and schools for its children, along with providing health and public safety for the province as whole.