This paper analyses the tax reform of 1845 by reference to the agents which exerted and influence over its development from both within and without the decision-making apparatus. Attention in drawn to the limitations of the conventional approach adopted by the reform, which placed special emphasis on the part played by technical experts and by fiscal ideas, in such a way that it was presented as an ideal product. Similarly, emphasis is placed on the role played by the interests of the taxpayers, first in the conservative drift of the Government's reforming programme during its passage through the Spanish Parliament, and subsequently in the tax counter-reform which emerged between 1846 and 1852. These corrections altered the nature of the fiscal system first proposed in 1845, in exchange for helping it to take root, in such a way that we are faced not with an ideal construction but rather a possible system.

Keywords: tax policy, fiscal reform, tax system.
JEL classification: N43.