Poll tax under Peter 1. Tax reforms of Peter I. See what it is

Poll tax under Peter 1. Tax reforms of Peter I. See what the "poll tax" is in other dictionaries

The system of taxation in Russia has existed since ancient times. Today we are obliged to pay income tax to the treasury, calculated as a percentage of total income, and once in our country a poll tax was used, which did not depend on the amount of earnings.
Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky "On the Harvest"

What was this tax? Why was it canceled and who made the decision to stop tax payments?

What is a poll tax?

Although we usually associate the poll tax with Petrine Russia, in fact, it was first introduced in ancient Rome. Then she was called tributum capitis and initially extended to citizens living in the provinces.

Later file appeared in all European countries ah and acted for many centuries, and in the 19th century it was canceled in connection with the adoption of a new reform and the introduction income tax.

The poll tax was a tax that was paid by all people subject to taxation. It was calculated according to the results of the population census and was charged in approximately the same amount from each person. This is where the name "per capita" came from, which means "from every soul."

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky "Peasants on the mowing"
In Russia, all men from babies to the elderly were taxed, with the exception of the clergy and members of the nobility. The tax rate could vary depending on the categories of citizens. As a rule, they took less from state peasants than from serfs.

Who introduced the poll tax in Russia?

The initiator of the introduction poll tax was Peter I. He made such a decision in 1718 in connection with the need to increase the size of the regular army, the maintenance of which required additional sources of funds. The king considered that the best option would be to attract money from his own subjects, and ordered a census of the population, and then divide the required amount by all those counted.

Initially, only peasants, single men and backyard people were considered, but by 1720 it was decided to take into account churchmen and courtyard people. As a result, it turned out more than 5 million people, who decided to pay 74 kopecks each.

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky "On the hay near the halt"
By 1722, urban residents were also taken into account, and they were assigned to file 1 ruble 20 kopecks. The poll tax began in 1724.

The poll tax operated in Russia until the end of the 19th century. Over time, its size increased and in some regions reached 2 rubles 61 kopecks. With the introduction of indirect taxation, it began to be abolished. In 1866, taxes were no longer levied on the guilds and philistines, and in 1882, Emperor Alexander III signed a decree on the gradual abolition of taxes from all people for 8 years.

As new sources of replacement were found, the tax was first abolished in the central part of Russia, and by 1897 in Siberia as well.

Why was the poll tax abolished?

One of the reasons for the abolition of the poll tax was the violation of equality between citizens before tax legislation. The fact is that over time, certain estates were consistently exempted from paying the tax.

As a result, by the end of the 18th century, taxes were levied only on peasants, and many circumstances were taken into account in its calculation - the number of souls in the family, the size of land plots, etc. The existence of taxes that were paid only by part of the population of the state was considered discriminatory.

Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorsky "Mining at the Bakal mine in the Urals"
Another reason for the abolition of the tax is the difficulty in collecting it and large arrears. By the middle of the 19th century, the population owed huge sums to the state. After signing the decree on the abolition of taxes, Alexander III issued a manifesto, according to which he forgave the citizens of all debts as of 1883.

Subsequently, the poll tax was replaced by duties on the transfer of property, an increase in customs tariffs and excise duty, as well as an increase in the quitrent tax from state peasants.

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CAPIT TIT

CAPIT TIT, in Russia 18-19 centuries. basic direct tax, introduced in 1724, replaced yard taxation. P. p. were taxed on all men of taxable estates, regardless of age. Canceled in 1880-1890s.

Source: Encyclopedia "Fatherland"


The main direct tax in Russia in the XVIII-XIX centuries. Introduced by Peter I in 1724 instead of household taxation. The poll tax was imposed on the entire male population of the taxable estates. Its introduction was preceded by a census of the taxable population since 1718. To determine the size of the poll tax, not the economic resources of taxpayers were taken, but the amount necessary to maintain the army. Based on this, the initial size of the poll tax was set at 80 kopecks. from a male soul, which would amount to approx. 4 million rubles in year. As the size of the taxed population was clarified, the poll tax was reduced for peasants to 74 kopecks, then to 70 kopecks. from the soul. In addition, they charged 40 kopecks from state peasants. quitrent tax from the male soul. Until 1782, the schismatics paid a poll tax in double size, townspeople - 80 kopecks. poll tax and 40 kopecks. quitrent tax. The audit soul received the value of a layout unit. At the same time, the secular layout of taxes within the peasant and township communities was preserved, since it ensured a more regular flow of taxes to the treasury. The introduction of the per capita tax was accompanied by an expansion in the number of taxpayers due to new categories of the population and the population of the newly annexed territories.
S.I.

Source: Encyclopedia "Russian Civilization"


See what "PILL SERVICE" is in other dictionaries:

    Poll or head tax is a polysemantic term: poll tax (Ancient Rome and France) tax "capitatio" in Ancient Rome and "capitation" in old France; poll tax introduced in Russia by Peter I in 1724 ... Wikipedia

    Law Dictionary

    In Russia 18-19 centuries. main direct tax. Replaced in 1724 household taxation. All men of taxable estates were taxed, regardless of age. Canceled in the 80s and 90s. 19 in … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

    Poll tax is a direct personal tax levied on each soul (person) in the same amount, regardless of the amount of income and property. Known since ancient times. In Russia, introduced by Peter I in 1724 for males. Canceled between 1887 and... Economic dictionary

    Poll tax- (poll tax), a tax levied on each resident of the country. In England, it was established by the House of Commons in 1377, 1379 and 1380. The last one is 1 shilling. per person, according to the general opinion, was the cause of the peasant uprising ... The World History

    Main direct tax in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries. Introduced by Peter I in 1724 instead of household taxation. P. p. was taxed on all husbands. the population of the taxable estates. The introduction of P. p. 1718 (see Revisions). For determining… … Soviet historical encyclopedia

    In Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries main direct tax. Replaced in 1724 household taxation. All men of taxable estates were taxed, regardless of age. Canceled in the 80s and 90s. 19th century * * * POll TIT POll TIT, in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries. basic… … encyclopedic Dictionary

    The main direct tax in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries. Introduced by Peter I in 1724 instead of the household tax (See Household tax). The entire male population of tax-paying estates (all ranks of peasants, townspeople, and merchants) was taxed. The introduction of P. p ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

    poll tax in Russia in the 18th and 19th centuries main direct tax. Replaced in 1724 household taxation. All men of taxable estates were taxed, regardless of age. Canceled in the 80s and 90s. 19th century... Big Law Dictionary

    CAPIT TIT- - a form of taxation introduced in Russia by Peter I to replace the previously existing household taxation. The size of the P. p. was established by dividing the amount necessary for the maintenance of the army by the number of the male population of the taxable estates ... ... Soviet legal dictionary

Books

  • The population of Russia according to the Fifth revision. Poll tax in the 18th century and population statistics at the end of the 18th century. T. 2. Part 2., Den V.E. The book is a reprint edition of 1898. Although serious work has been done to restore the original quality of the edition, some pages may…

Since 1716, Peter again seriously took up questions financial policy and economy. In 1716-1717, the tsar's policy was significantly influenced by the ideas of mercantilism. This was expressed primarily in the creation of new manufactories and the development of the country's natural wealth - minerals.

All projects advised, firstly, to calculate the entire male population of the country without distinction of age, secondly, to calculate the amount required by the treasury, except for tavern and customs fees, and thirdly, to determine the amount of fees from each person by dividing the amount of income by the number of souls.

The tax system of European countries, primarily France, had a great influence on the introduction of the poll tax in Russia. On November 26, 1718, by decree of Peter I, a population census was started. In January 1720, Peter ordered to carry out a census not only of the peasant population, but also of householders, serfs and churchmen.

Since January 1722, the distribution of regiments in the provinces and also the revision - revision of the census began. To carry out an audit, generals were sent to the provinces with officers seconded to each, who were supposed to revise the census on the spot. This work was completed only in 1727, but already in 1724 the total number of the taxable population was clarified: it turned out to be 5,570,458 against 2,874,685 people according to the 1710 census. In 1724, it was appointed to take 80 kopecks per soul, but in 1725 this figure was reduced to 74 kopecks, and after the death of Peter, to 70 kopecks. Moreover, state peasants who did not pay dues to their owners were subject to an additional fee of 40 kopecks. The townspeople had to pay the state 1 ruble 20 kopecks. Therefore, the poll tax contributed to an increase in state revenues compared to the income from the previous collection.

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In the case of equal taxation, an equal amount of tax is established for each subject, regardless of the income or property status of the taxpayer. It performed exclusively fiscal and redistributive functions. This includes the most ancient and simple form of taxation - the poll tax. In the Russian Empire, for the maintenance of the army in peacetime, poll taxation was introduced by Peter I after the census of the male population in 1718-1724. In 1724, the per capita tax was set at 74 kopecks. per year (dividing 5.4 million taxable souls into annual expenses for maintaining the army of 4 million rubles). The poll tax for the bulk of the Russian population was abolished only on May 14, 1883.


In Russia, the organization of public finances under Peter I was similar to that described. When Peter I needed large funds to maintain the growing army, he introduced a poll tax. The size of this tax was determined by the size of the expenditure plan for that part of the troops, which was supported by the income from the poll tax. Under such a system, one need was met with excess, the other with a deficiency. All this upset the country's financial economy, exhausted the solvency of the population and led to the realization of the need to have one general plan that would cover all state revenues and expenditures.

The poll tax was introduced in 1724 with the end of the census. Household taxation was preserved for the population of Ukraine and Belarus. For the Russian provinces, the size of the poll tax was determined as follows: the cost of maintaining the army is 4 million rubles. (the content of one dragoon was 40 rubles 50 kopecks, and a soldier of an infantry regiment - 28 rubles 52 kopecks per year) was assigned to the peasants - it turned out 80 kopecks. per capita per year (in 1725, the poll tax was set at 74 kopecks per peasant soul; in 1727, the size was reduced to 70 kopecks). State peasants who did not pay dues to landlords were charged an additional fee of 40 kopecks. The maintenance of the fleet was entrusted to the townspeople, while the obligation to pay tax from the townsman's soul was set at 1 ruble. 20 kop. (in 1725 the tax was reduced to 1 ruble 14 kopecks)1.

In the revenues of the treasury, receipts from this type of taxation reached 50%. Subsequently, the share of revenues from the poll tax gradually decreased as a result of the exemption of certain categories of the population from its payment, a reduction in the size of the salary from the audit soul (as in absolute terms, and as a result of a decrease in the purchasing power of the ruble), an increase in the value indirect species taxation. The poll tax in the European part of the Russian Empire was used until 1887, and in Siberia - until 1899.1

During the reign of Catherine II, the main direct tax remained the poll tax, which accounted for 30 to 33% of state revenues. Relatively insignificant incomes were brought by the household tax and other direct taxes. The poll tax could be laid out by the community among the members of the community at its discretion. The merchant class was exempted from paying the poll tax in connection with the introduction of a special type of taxation for it - the guild tax. In 1794, the poll tax was sharply increased and supplemented with a food (grain) tax.

All merchants were divided into three guilds depending on their property status. To be included in the third guild, a minimum capital of 500 rubles was required, merchants with a capital of 1,000 to 10,000 rubles were included in the second guild, and merchants with a capital of more than 10,000 rubles were included in the first guild. Persons with a capital of less than 500 rubles were not recognized as merchants, but were considered philistines, and paid a poll tax. The capital was declared in good conscience, and no property checks were made and no denunciations of concealment of property were accepted. Initially, the guild tax rate was set at 1% of the declared capital. All private fishing fees that existed before that time were canceled.

By the end of the reign of Catherine II in 1796, in the total amount of state budget revenues, the head tax accounted for 33.7%, for drinking income - 2.6, for salt tax - 7, for customs duties - 8,7%2.  

A number of changes in tax system The Russian Empire was introduced during the period of Emperor Paul I (1754-1801, reigned from 1796). Created by Paul I in 1796, a special commission proposed replacing the grain collection with money (40 kopecks per capita), which was supposed to give the treasury additional income up to 5.6 million rubles banknotes. According to the list of income for 1801 - 1802. the entire poll tax from the peasants was equal to 18.5 million rubles. In the total amount of ordinary state revenues, the poll tax and quitrent tax, as well as drinking fees, accounted for about 72%. Income from the poll tax and dues amounted to 39.1 million rubles, and drinking fees - 19.1 million rubles.

From January 1, 1883, the poll tax is abolished for certain categories of payers on total amount 19 million rubles, and then completely destroyed for all taxable estates of European Russia according to the Law of May 28, 1885 (since January 1, 1886). At the same time, land taxes from former state-owned peasants were increased by 45% under the pretext of transferring them from quitrent to redemption (according to the Law of June 12, 1886), and the excise tax on alcohol was increased. In addition, an excise tax on light oil (1887), an excise tax on matches (1888), an inheritance tax (Act of June 15, 1882) and a tax on interest-bearing papers (Act of May 20, 1885) are introduced.

Poll tax (poll tax, poll tax) - 41.49, 57.59.62.65.71.73.83.181

Each inhabitant of the province had to pay a single poll tax for all.

Many economic traditions and foundations of ancient Rome passed to Byzantium. In the early Byzantine era until the 7th century. inclusive in the empire there were 21 types of direct taxes. Among them are land tax, poll tax, taxes on equipping the army, a tax on the purchase of horses, a tax on recruits, by paying which one could be released from military service, a duty on the sale of goods (usually its rate was 10-12.5%), a duty on issuance of state acts, etc. If, during the construction of a building, it exceeded the dimensions established in advance, then a fine was levied, called the air tax. Special taxes were paid by senators, as well as officials and the military, who received promotion.

At the same time, Peter I took a number of measures to ensure, as we would say now, the fairness of taxation, an even distribution of tax burdens. The severity of some former taxes has been eased, especially for the poor. To eliminate abuses in the census of households, a poll tax was introduced. The author of the History of Peter the Great, A.S. Chistyakov, writes, Poll taxes were small from the peasants of the palace and synod departments and they took 74 kopecks each from the serfs, and from the state peasants, in addition to 74 kopecks, they exacted another 40 kopecks, instead of quitrents, which palace, synod and serfs paid their departments or landowners. Having paid these 74 or 114 kopecks, the peasant did not know any cash and grain requisitions. Polls were collected in three terms in winter, spring and autumn. They took 120 kopecks from merchants and workshops. from the soul 2 (modern spelling).

Throughout the 19th century the state direct and indirect taxes remained the main ones. The main direct tax was the poll tax. The number of payers was determined by audit censuses.

LOAN SUBSCRIPTION - PERCITATION

Poll tax is a type of direct personal tax levied on every soul (except for the privileged classes) in the same amount, regardless of the amount of income and property. P. p. was known even from the most ancient times in China (for 12 centuries BC), in Babylon, Persia, Ancient Greece and Rome. In the Middle Ages, taxes were levied in England, Germany, France, and some other states. It was usually introduced in wartime. In Austria, Prussia, and Italy, the tax rate has been levied since the 19th century.

REVISION - in tsarist Russia, a population census introduced by Peter I in 1718 in order to identify each taxable soul in connection with the transition from household to poll taxation (see Poll tax). A total of ten surveys were carried out, specifying the number of the tax-paying population.

The revenues of the ordinary budget for 1963/64 are provided for at £67 million, expenditures at £58 million. against respectively 61.0 million and 53.3 million pounds. in 1962/63 revenues are indirect taxes - customs duties and excises (including the sugar fiscal monopoly and fees and charges on goods and services), specific gravity to-rykh in the total amount of budget revenues is approx. 70%. Direct taxes (the share of budget revenues does not exceed 3%) include land tax, head tax, taxes on crops, livestock, etc. Since July 1964, a personal income tax has been introduced for the first time. A significant item of budget revenues is the participation of the state-va in the village - x. enterprises. The funds of the ordinary budget are spent mainly on administration, defense, health care, and transport. An insignificant part of the funds is allocated for subsidies to local budgets. The cost of maintaining the state apparatus consumes 15% of the entire ordinary budget. S.'s military expenditures go through the Ministry of Defense, the Department of Equipment Warehouses of the Ministry of Finance and Economics, and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. transport min-va public works. In 1960/61 the total military expenditure was £10.8 million. with a total budget of £47.8 million. Education expenditures amounted to £7.5 million. According to official data, in 1960 the number of illiterates exceeded 85% of the country's population. According to the development budget, expenses are spent on a ten-year development program (1961 / 62-1970 / 71), which provides for a total investment of 565 million pounds, including government investments to be 337 million pounds. and private - 228 million pounds. For 1963/64 the development budget has been approved at £54 million. The ordinary budget, as a rule, is reduced with an excess of income over expenditure, and the budget as a whole is in deficit. A significant part of capital investments is made at the expense of external loans, credits and foreign aid.

Poll tax - a type of direct personal tax levied on each soul (except for the privileged classes) in the same amount, regardless of the amount of income and property (poll tax).

Despite the obvious injustice, the theory of equal taxation reflected the practice of taxation in the Middle Ages in the form of a head or poll tax,2 which, as a weighty state, was levied for the longest time in Russia. The poll tax was a sharply expressed class tax; it fell only on peasants and philistines. It was abolished from the burghers in 1863, from the peasants - in 1882, but the remnants of it were eliminated only in 1907. governments, not knowing the subtle ways of dividing taxes, charged everyone equally.

Peter I divides the entire trade and craft class into merchant guilds and craft workshops. The main targets are the policemen, while the fiscal interest is also pursued. Merchants are subject to the guild tax (see 6.1. Guild tax in 1863-1917), the fiscal significance of which is gradually increasing. The establishment of the guilds was associated with the desire to organize the commercial and industrial population of cities into a special class, since merchants along with other non-serving classes paid a poll tax.

Tatishchev was the first Russian economist to formulate a demand for a more perfect organization of public finances and suggested the need to take into account changes in fiscal policy in fiscal policy. economic situation taxpayers. He was a supporter of increasing the size of the poll tax and extending it to the female population (he proposed to establish a poll tax for men in the amount of 4 rubles, for women - 2 rubles, which, according to his calculations, should have received income from the peasant household on average in the amount of up to 20 rubles).

In 1775, Catherine II introduced fundamental changes in the taxation of the merchant class. She abolished all private trade taxes and the poll tax from merchants and established a guild tax on them. All merchants were divided into three guilds depending on their property status. In order to get into the third guild, it was necessary to have a capital of more than 500 rubles. Those who had less capital were considered not merchants, but philistines and paid a poll tax. With capital from 1 thousand to 10 thousand rubles. a merchant was included in the second guild, and with a large capital - in the first. Each merchant himself announced his capital according to his conscience. Checks of property were not made, denunciations of its concealment were not accepted. Initially, the tax was levied at a rate of 1% of the declared capital. After 10 years, the City Regulations were approved, which increased the amount of declared capital for enrollment in a particular guild. The tax rate remained the same. However, later it grew and at the end of the reign of Alexander I was 2.5% for merchants of the third guild and 4% for merchants of the first and second guilds.

History knows such a non-distorting tax as the poll tax. However, he also faced the problem of information and discovery costs - a timely and reliable census of the entire population was very costly and met with resistance. Let us recall that the protagonist of Gogol's Dead Souls just took advantage of the imperfections of such a system for his own purposes.

In Russia, initially the land was taxed (land tax), the yard (household tax). There was also a streltsy tax - a fee for the upkeep of the troops and a ransom of prisoners - polonian money, a poll tax (poll tax), levied on every male soul, including children and the elderly. With the development of commodity-money relations, tax was gradually supplanted by property and income taxes.