State finances

Abstract

This chapter discusses the Russian state finances that examines the Russian government's chief elements of expenditure and revenue, and analyses the changes during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The Russian state budget hardly warranted such an appellation until well into the nineteenth century. It was military expenditure that dominated Russia's state finances. The main component of government revenue during the eighteenth century was the poll tax. The crises that affected the Russian government's finances were mostly precipitated either by war or by the threat of war. The impact of Russia's budgetary policies on its population was considerable. Since the overwhelming majority of Russia's population were peasants, it was inevitable that they would bear the greatest burden of taxation. The Russian state did not have the bureaucratic capacity to maintain accurate records of its finances during this period and the budget-making process was still rudimentary.