AMOUNT OF TAXES (IN RUBLES) TO ONE “REVISION” MALE.
| Classes of Peasants. | Dankoff. | Ranenburg. | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total. | Taille. | Redemption Tax. | Rent. | Per Cent. | Total. | Taille. | Redemption Tax. | Rent. | Per Cent. | |
| I. Former serfs: | ||||||||||
| 1. Temporary obligors | 12.6 | 8.2 | 65 | 11.9 | 7.5 | 60 | ||||
| 2. Proprietors | 11.1 | 6.6 | 59 | 10.8 | 6.3 | 58 | ||||
| II. Former serfs, subsequently state peasants | 7.9 | 2.9 | 36 | 7.0 | 2.4 | 34 | ||||
| III. Former state peasants | 10.0 | 3.8 | 38 | 10.4 | 4.4 | 42 | ||||
That there is one part of the payments to the landlord which is in reality nothing but a redemption tax for the person of the serf,[45] appears clear from the comparison between the amount of rent paid by the former State peasant to the treasury, and that of the taille paid by the “temporary obligor” to his master, since in neither is any portion set apart for redemption of the land. And the amount of taille paid is made the basis for the amortization.
On the other hand, the least amount in taxes is paid by those among the former serfs who have already redeemed their lots (“absolute proprietors”) or who received the so-called donated lots, i. e., the least is levied from those who are free from the obligation to their former masters.
Here, however, we are again face to face with the characteristic feature of the Russian financial system: the “absolute proprietor,” who owns from six to ten times as much land as the donee, and who breeds more than twice as much stock as the latter, is taxed from four to eight times less upon every acre. It would be absurd to suspect even a Russian financial administration of the intention to overtax the neediest while relieving the burdens of the better-off. Yet this is the necessary result of a financial system which belongs to a different historical epoch, and has survived the overthrow of its economic foundations through a social revolution.
Let us take as a unit every male of the revision, (i. e., the official unit of taxation); let us then compare with one another the assessments levied upon both exceptional classes of absolute proprietors and donees, on the one hand, and let us again compare with each other the assessments levied upon the remaining classes of the peasantry. We shall see that every male is taxed on the whole at an approximately uniform rate. This is the usual system of taxation in every primitive state, where land is in abundance and human labor is the main source of wealth. The labor powers of men being approximately equal, assessment per capita insures a rude equity in taxation. But after the reforms of 1861 and 1866, which added new and sharp distinctions to those already in existence among the peasantry, taxation per capita became a power that accentuated the social inequalities, and hastened, through its extortion, the ruin of the feeble.
Indebtedness of landed property is the inclined plane usually leading toward expropriation of the small farmer, as well as of the aristocratic landlord. In Russia the three minor subdivisions of the peasantry, viz. the “absolute proprietors,” the “donees” and the “quarterly possessors,” are the only ones who enjoy the title of property in their land, and consequently they alone are in a position to mortgage to private persons. The bulk of the peasantry[46] have no right of alienating their plots. Chronic indebtedness upon the latter takes, therefore, as its only possible form that of arrears in taxes, which is precisely the sore place of the Russian administration.
The amount of “arrears” due by the peasants to the treasury is represented by no inconsiderable figure, as may be seen from the following table:
| Amount of taxes apportioned (rubles). | Arrears. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rubles. | Per cent. | |||
| Ranenburg— | Former serfs | 347,672 | 176,288 | 50 |
| Former State peasants | 212,571 | 70,303 | 33.1 | |
| Total | 560,243 | 246,591 | 44 | |
| Dankoff— | Former serfs | 292,648 | 12,352 | 4.2 |
| Former State peasants | 135,019 | 4,936 | 3.7 | |
| Total | 427,667 | 17,288 | 4 | |
It is needless to dilate upon the consequences to the budget of a deficiency of about one-half of the direct taxes paid by the most numerous class of the population. Yet the average figures for the entire region do not convey any true idea of the real disturbance caused to the concrete communities which are unable to stand the burden of their payments. The number of those communities, as well as the rate of indebtedness, is very considerable, and the burden is, moreover, very unequally distributed among the communities indebted, the consequence being that some are entirely crushed.[47]