The System of Taxation in Tuva in the Period of its Incorporation into the Ch’ing Empire

Abstract

Various taxes to be collected from the population of Tuva were introduced after Tuva’s incorporation into Ch’ing empire. The article based on archive sources attempts to systemize all sorts of taxes collected from khoshuns of Tuva. The main unit of direct tax (alban) was in the form of sable furs. Extermination of fur-bearing animals and penetration of Russian and Chinese commercial capital into Tuva led to increase of price for furs and impoverishment of the population of Tuva. Undurug was one more kind of tax which had to be paid on domestic animals. Undurug was used to pay salaries to officials and for various economic needs. Military duty seemed to be the most burdensome because it involved labor and financial resources. According to the “Code”, there were made “military lists” once in every three years and men from 18 to 60 years old had to take part in annual military call-up. In doing so, they had to provide themselves with the ammunition, two replacement horses and foodstuffs. In addition, guard duty on the borders of Tuva and urton duty (maintenance of messenger service) lay as a heavy burden on arats (poor herdsmen). In particular, urtons had a military organization and Tuvan khoshuns had to pay salaries to officials and maintain urtons. The average expenses for maintenance of all nine urtons equaled up to 4,860-6,480 lans of silver. Thus, Tuvans had to pay various kinds of taxes and perform various duties in the period of Ch’ing empire. Penetration of Russian and Chinese commercial capital, barter trade and usurious type of commerce imposed by Russian and Chinese merchants considerably aggravated the difficult socio-economic situation as it was in Tuva.