DOI 10.51255/2311–603X_2025_2_103

A. K. Kirillov. Tax Petitioner as Part of the Tax Optimization Culture in the Late Imperial Russia //
Petersburg Historical Journal, no. 2, 2025, pp. 103–113

Abstract:

The article under consideration pertains to the study of a relatively obscure phenomenon in the
annals of Russian history — namely, tax offices. By the onset of the 20th century, these institutions had evolved into a pivotal component of the tax calculation technology within the advanced segment of the Russian tax system. A significant aspect of their function pertained to the consideration of objections raised by entrepreneurs with regard to the amount of additional business tax levied upon them. The study draws upon a collection of objections lodged by taxpayers of the 2nd Tomsk office in 1907. The research methods employed encompass
graphology, textology and hermeneutics. By comparing the design of the objections, typical expressions and the logic of substantiating taxpayers’ demands, identifying differences between similar documents and analysing corrections in the texts, the author discovers three series of objections, in each of which all documents (from two to eight in number) were undoubtedly composed by the same person. The author’s analysis is further enriched by a comparison of the handwritings in which the objections themselves, the signatures under them and the notes
to them were written. This analysis demonstrates two key findings. Firstly, the objections were not composed by the taxpayers themselves, but by professional consultants. Secondly, at least two consultants had assistants who were directly involved in the preparation of the documents. In one particular instance, the name of the consultant was also identified. This finding suggests a discernible tendency among provincial entrepreneurs in late imperial Russia to entrust the reduction of their tax payments to professionals engaged in legal services.

Key words: late Imperial Russia, economic history, history of taxes, tax reforms, tax office, business tax, entrepreneurs, small business, judicial culture, solicitor.

Author:

Kirillov, Alexey Konstantinovich — Candidate in History, Institute of History of the Siberian
branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Novosibirsk, Russia).
E-mail: alkir.nsk@gmail.com

References:

Zaharov, V. N., Petrov, A. Yu., Shatsillo, M. K. Istoriya nalogov v Rossii. IX — nachalo XX veka [The
History of Taxes in Russia. 9 th — Early 20th Century. In Russ.]. Moscow, ROSSPEN, 2006. 294 p.
Kotsonis, Ya. States of Obligation: Taxes and Citizenship in the Russian Empire and Early Soviet Republic. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2014. 483 p.

Kravtsova, E. S. Istoriya sbora nalogov v rossiiskoi provintsii na rubezhe XIX–XX stoletii [The History of Tax Collection in the Russian Province at the Turn of the 19th –20th Centuries. In Russ.]. Kursk, KGMU, 2007. 164 p.

Kirillov, A. K. Stil’ raboty raskladochnogo prisutstviya i lichnost’ podatnogo inspektora v Tomskoi
gubernii nachala XX v.: faktor chinovnika v epokhu stanovleniya podokhodnykh nalogov [The Style of Work of the Clamshell Presence and the Personality of the Tax Inspector in the Tomsk Province at the Beginning of the 20th Century: The Factor of an Official in the Era of the Formation of Income Taxes. In Russ.]. In Vestnik Tomskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. 2022. No. 482, pp. 125–134. DOI: 10.17223/15617793/482/13

Kirillov, A. K. Ot podushnoi podati k podokhodnomu nalogu: podatnye reformy kapitalisticheskoi Rossii i ikh voploshchenie v Zapadnoi Sibiri vtoroi poloviny XIX — nachala XX veka [From Poll Tax to Income Tax: Tax Reforms in Capitalist Russia and Their Implementation in Western Siberia in the Second Half of the 19 th — Early 20 th Century. In Russ.]. Novosibirsk, Parallel’, 2017. 178 p.

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