The Tax Burden in the Petrine Era: Historiographical Discussions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2019.4.434Keywords:
tax reform, household tax, capitation, emergency payments; tax burden; Commission on taxation; D. M. GolitsynAbstract
The author demonstrates that the tax burden was first calculated in Russia at the end of 1729 by the Tax Commission (1727–1730) headed by Prince Dmitry Golitsyn. The calculations allowed the Commission to draft a tax reform. Its documents contain unique information about extraordinary payments, i. e. sums for enlisting recruits and the construction of headquarters. These data allow the author to reconsider the results of the Petrine tax reform, which are reflected in the historical literature as an increased tax burden from 16 to 260 percent. According to the author’s calculations, with the introduction of capitation tax (and when comparing the sums from 1721–1723, 1724, and 1726–1727) taxes raised increased by 70 percent; taking into account the increase in prices for bread, they grew by 94 to 116 percent. Nevertheless, the article emphasises the fact that some information on the fees for the supply of recruits was obtained by Golitsyn’s Commission on the basis of incomplete data. Accordingly, it is only possible to obtain rough estimates of tax burden when using this information. In addition, the review of data indicates errors in the Commission’s calculations of taxes due per household in 1724 and in 1726–1727. These errors affected the calculation of the tax burden in Russia in the 1720s. The author comes to the conclusion that these mistakes were intentionally made by the Commission, the head of which, apparently, was interested in drafting a tax reform, not reducing the army’s budget. However, it is important to note that Golitsyn’s Commission carried out tremendous work in collecting and analysing data on the financial situation of the country. This work expands established ideas about the history of economic and statistical thought in Russia.
References
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Petrukhintsev, N. (2014). “Finansy voiny” i ofitserskii korpus polkov “novogo stroya” v voennoi reforme Alekseya Mikhailovicha (1663) [“War Finance” and the Officer Corps of the “New Order” Regiments in Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich’s War Reform (1663)]. In Quaestio Rossica. No. 2, pp. 263–292.
Petti, V. (1940). Ekonomicheskie i statisticheskie raboty [Economic and Statistical Work]. Moscow, Sotsekgiz. 324 p.
Pokrovskii, N. N. (1985). [Retsenziya na knigu: Anisimov E. V. Podatnaya reforma Petra I. Vvedenie podushnoi podati v Rossii. 1719–1728 gg. Leninigrad, Nauka, 1982. 296 p.]. In Istoriya SSSR. No. 2. pp. 192–194.
PSZ [Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire]. First Collection. Vol. 7, 11.
Ptukha, M. V. (1945). Ocherki po istorii statistiki XVII–XVIII vekov [Essays on the History of Statistics of the 17th‑18th Centuries]. Moscow, Gospolitizdat. 352 p.
Redin, D. (2016). Effektivnost’ mestnogo upravleniya v Petrovskuyu epokhu: paradoksy tsentralizatsii [Reforms of Local Administration in the Petrine Epoch: The Paradoxes of Centralisation]. In Quaestio Rossica. Vol. 4. No. 3, pp. 190–215. DOI 10.15826/qr.2016.3.183.
RGADА [Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts]. Stock 9 (Kabinet Petra I). Book 33; Stock 16 (Vnutrennee upravlenie). List 1. Dos. 35; Stock 273 (Kamer-kollegiya). List 1. Dos. 28575, 28676.
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Anisimov, E. V. (1982). Podatnaya reforma Petra I: Vvedenie podushnoi podati v Rossii, 1719–1728 [Petrine Tax Reform: Introduction of Capitation in Russia, 1719–1728]. Leninigrad, Nauka. 296 p.
Chernikov, S. V. (2014). Naselennost’ krest’yanskogo dvora kak faktor dokhodnosti imeniya i tyaglosposobnosti krest’yan (po materialam perepisei 1730-kh gg.) [The Population of a Peasant Household as a Factor of Manor Profitability and Tax Payment Capacity of Peasants (with Reference to Censuses of the 1730s)]. In Ezhegodnik po agrarnoi istorii Vostochnoi Evropy. No. 1, pp. 132–143.
Chernikov, S. (2015). Rossiiskii generalitet 1730–1741 gg.: chislennost’, natsional’nyi i sotsial’nyi sostav, tendentsii razvitiya [Russian Generals Between 1730 and 1741: Numbers, National and Social Background, Trends]. In Quaestio Rossica. No. 1, pp. 39–58. DOI 10.15826/qr.2015.1.078.
Cracraft, J. (1986). [Review of Anisimov E. V. Podatnaia reforma Petra I. Vvedenie podushnoi podati v Rossii 1719–1728 gg. Leningrad, Nauka, 1982. 296 p.]. In The Russian Rev. Vol. 45. No. 1, pp. 71–72.
Danilevskii, I. D., Kabanov, V. V., Medushevskaya, O. M., Rumyantseva, M. F. (Eds.). (1998). Istochnikovedenie: Teoriya. Istoriya. Metod. Istochniki rossiiskoi istorii. Uchebnoe posobie [Source Study: Theory. Story. Method. Sources of Russian History. Textbook]. Moscow, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi gumanitarnyi universitet. 702 p.
Gershenkron, A. (2015). Ekonomicheskaya otstalost’ v istoricheskoi perspective [Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective]. Moscow, Izdatel’skii dom “Delo” Rossiiskoi akademii narodnogo khozyaistva i gosudarstvennoi sluzhby pri Prezidente Rossiiskoi Federatsii. 536 p.
Istoriya krest’yanstva SSSR s drevneishikh vremen do 1917 g. v 5 t. [The History of Peasantry of the USSR from Ancient Times to 1917. 5 Vols.]. Moscow, Nauka. Vol. 3. Krest’yanstvo perioda pozdnego feodalizma (seredina XVII v. – 1861 g.). 664 p.
Kamenskii, A. B. (2001). Ot Petra I do Pavla I. Reformy v Rossii XVIII veka: opyt tselostnogo analiza [From Peter I to Paul I. Reforms in Russia in the 18th Century: The Experience of Holistic Analysis]. Moscow, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi gumanitarnyi universitet. 575 p.
Kareev, N. I. (2009). Zapadnoevropeiskaya absolyutnaya monarkhiya XVI, XVII i XVIII vekov: obshchaya kharakteristika byurokraticheskogo gosudarstva i soslovnogo obshchestva “starogo poryadka” [The Western European Absolute Monarchy of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Сenturies: General Characteristics of the Bureaucratic State and the Estate Society of the “Old Order”]. Moscow, Gosudarstvennaya publichnaya istoricheskaya biblioteka Rossii. 463 p.
Kiselev, M. (2015). State Metallurgy Factories and Direct Taxes in the Urals, 1700–50: Paths to State Building in Early Modern Russia. In Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History. Vol. 16. No. 1, pp. 7–36. DOI 10.1353/kri.2015.0012.
Kurukin, I. V. (2003). Epokha “dvortsovykh bur’”: Ocherki politicheskoi istorii poslepetrovskoi Rossii, 1725–1762 gg. Ryazan’, private publisher P. A. Tribunskii. 570 p.
Milyukov, P. N. (1905). Gosudarstvennoe khozyaistvo Rossii v pervoi chetverti XVIII stoletiya i reforma Petra Velikogo [The State Economy of Russia in the First Quarter of the 18th Century and the Reforms of Peter the Great]. St Petersburg, Tipografiya M. M. Stasyulevicha. 679 p.
Mironov, B. N. (1985). Khlebnye tseny v Rossii za dva stoletiya (XVIII–XIX vv.) [Bread Prices in Russia for Two Centuries (18th – 19th Centuries)]. Leninigrad, Nauka. 301 p.
Mustafin, A. R. (2016). “Kakoe oblegchenie v podushnykh den’gakh krest’yanstvu uchinit’?”: finansovye reformy v proektakh i mneniyakh vtoroi poloviny 1720-kh gg. [“How Can We Relieve the Peasants’ Duty of Paying the Poll Tax?” Financial Reforms in Projects and Opinions of the Second Half of the 1720s]. In Rossiiskaya istoriya. No. 2, pp. 91–101.
Mustafin, A. R. (2017). “Vedomosti odna s drugoyu nikakogo skhodstva ne imeyut”: verifikatsiya dannykh o khlebnykh tsenakh v Rossii v XVIII veke [“The Lists Bear No Resemblance with Each Other”: Verification of Grain Prices in 18th-Century Russia]. In Rossiiskaya istoriya. No. 2, pp. 198–209.
Mustafin, A. (2018). Rol’ barona A. Kh. Lyuberasa v kollegial’noi reforme Petra I [New Information about Baron A. Ch. Luberas and His Role in the Collegiate Reform of Peter I]. In Quaestio Rossica. Vol. 6. No. 1, pp. 99–113. DOI 10.15826/qr.2018.1.284.
Petrukhintsev, N. N. (2001). Tsarstvovanie Anny Ioannovny: formirovanie vnutripoliticheskogo kursa i sud’by armii i flota 1730–1735g. [The Reign of Anna Ivanovna: The Formation of the Domestic Political Course and the Fate of the Army and Navy in 1730–1735]. St Petersburg, Aleteiya. 352 p.
Petrukhintsev, N. (2014). “Finansy voiny” i ofitserskii korpus polkov “novogo stroya” v voennoi reforme Alekseya Mikhailovicha (1663) [“War Finance” and the Officer Corps of the “New Order” Regiments in Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich’s War Reform (1663)]. In Quaestio Rossica. No. 2, pp. 263–292.
Petti, V. (1940). Ekonomicheskie i statisticheskie raboty [Economic and Statistical Work]. Moscow, Sotsekgiz. 324 p.
Pokrovskii, N. N. (1985). [Retsenziya na knigu: Anisimov E. V. Podatnaya reforma Petra I. Vvedenie podushnoi podati v Rossii. 1719–1728 gg. Leninigrad, Nauka, 1982. 296 p.]. In Istoriya SSSR. No. 2. pp. 192–194.
PSZ [Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire]. First Collection. Vol. 7, 11.
Ptukha, M. V. (1945). Ocherki po istorii statistiki XVII–XVIII vekov [Essays on the History of Statistics of the 17th‑18th Centuries]. Moscow, Gospolitizdat. 352 p.
Redin, D. (2016). Effektivnost’ mestnogo upravleniya v Petrovskuyu epokhu: paradoksy tsentralizatsii [Reforms of Local Administration in the Petrine Epoch: The Paradoxes of Centralisation]. In Quaestio Rossica. Vol. 4. No. 3, pp. 190–215. DOI 10.15826/qr.2016.3.183.
RGADА [Russian State Archive of Ancient Acts]. Stock 9 (Kabinet Petra I). Book 33; Stock 16 (Vnutrennee upravlenie). List 1. Dos. 35; Stock 273 (Kamer-kollegiya). List 1. Dos. 28575, 28676.
RGVIA [Russian State Military Historical Archive]. Stock 23 (Voinskie Komissii). Dos. 825, 843.
Strumilin, S. G. (1960). Ocherki ekonomicheskoi istorii Rossii [Essays on the Economic History of Russia]. Moscow, Sotsekizdat. 548 p.
Troitskii, S. M. (1966). Finansovaya politika russkogo absolyutizma v XVIII v. [The Financial Policy of Russian Absolutism in the 18th Century]. Moscow, Nauka. 275 p.
Yatsunskii, V. K. (1955). Istoricheskaya geografiya. Istoriya ee vozniknoveniya i razvitiya v XIV–XVIII vv. [Historical Geography. The History of Its Origin and Development in the 14th‑18th Centuries]. Moscow, Izdatel’stvo Akademii nauk SSSR. 331 p.
Yukht, A. I. (1984). [Retsenziya na knigu: Anisimov E. V. Podatnaya reforma Petra I. Vvedenie podushnoi podati v Rossii. 1719–1728 gg. Leninigrad, Nauka, 1982. 296 p.]. In Voprosy istorii. No. 9, pp. 127–130.
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Published
2019-12-21
How to Cite
Mustafin, A. (2019). The Tax Burden in the Petrine Era: Historiographical Discussions. Quaestio Rossica, 7(4), 1214–1228. https://doi.org/10.15826/qr.2019.4.434
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Problema voluminis
