The servicio de millones* is first voted during the reign of Philip II in the Cortes of 1590 in an attempt to tackle the economic necessities of the Crown resulting from the defeat of the Spanish Armada.

Originally intended as a temporary measure, it quickly became a new form of fund-raising by the public Treasury.

At the beginning, its administration was entrusted to a Comisión de Millones (from Spanish “Commision of Millions”) within the structure of the Cortes. A number of noteworthy organizational modifications were introduced into the Comisión de Millones in the Cortes of Madrid between 1655 and 1658. The Superintendents from the Contaduría de Cuentas de Millones were dismissed and it was decreed that the Comisión de Millones be appended to the Council of Finance as a special chamber. It shall be known from thereon as Contaduría de Millones, responsible for justice issues.

Besides the Governor, the Contaduría would be staffed by three ministers and four commissioners of the kingdom. A system of rental would be implemented at a provincial level during this period in order to levy the taxes for the servicio de millones.

The arrival of the Bourbons and the restoration of the treasury in the 18th century gave rise to the establishment of the Contaduría General de los Servicios de Millones. It was created in tandem with the Contaduría de Valores and the Contaduría de Distribución for the administration of the servicio de millones.

The servicio de millones was abolished by the Cortes of Cadiz in 1813 and then provisionally reestablished by Ferdinand VII in 1823.

*Millones: an indirect tax on food in Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries.