This article explores the origin and the main changes in the regime of public financing of political parties in Uruguay. To this end, a dialogue with historical knowledge is established, since it is based on the conception of the evolution of the state subsidy as a process of incremental changes on a pre-existing structure, where the context has a great power of influence on the institutions and the decisions of the actors. The empirical analysis is based on the review of each parliamentary session where the subject was addressed, as well as on the compilation of national scientific production and press articles on the subject.