THE EMERGENCE AND DEVELOPMENT OF TAXATION IN THE LEGAL TRADITION OF THE PEOPLES OF EASTERN EUROPE

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to determine patterns of the creation of taxation given the centuries-long history of state-building of the peoples of Eastern Europe; to reveal the interaction of public and state elements as factors in creating a tax system. The use of dialectical, historical and legal, comparative methods allowed analysing standards, specifications and guidelines and solve a number of objectives: to find out the origin of taxes in the history of state creation; determine the laws of the origin and development of taxation in accordance with the nature of social relations; identify the factors that influenced the formation of taxation of the peoples of Eastern Europe. In the course of the study, it is found that taxation arises on the principles of self-government, social contract, and collective responsibility. Before the state creation, compulsory payments were collected from the population at the level of the communities and their associations in the form of “gifts” and “poliudie”; payment for the rituals; as well as tribute-farming. Objects of taxation were “dym” – a household with a house and a fire; “plough” – a plough or a plot of land that could be cultivated with one plough. Generally recognized for peoples and states of the early Middle Ages was the payment of tribute-indemnity. Polans, Severians, Vyatichi paid tribute to the Khazars, and in the northwest of Rus – to the Varangians, the Drevlians – to the Kievan land. The process of forming the state (princely) tax system began by Prince Oleg from the abolition of tribute-farming in favour of other peoples and the establishment of an internal single tribute in favour of the Kievan land. Depending on the relations between the lands of Rus and the prince, this tribute acquired either the form of “gift” or farming. In 947, Princess Olga conducted a tax reform and used it for the affirmation of princely possessions. Places, norms, and sizes of tribute in favour of the princely treasury are determined. The results of the study will enable the tax institution to be recognized as a dynamic, historical phenomenon, formed on the basis of a social contract and a consolidating function.