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Password Please enter your Password. Forgot password? Don't have an account? Sign in via your Institution. You could not be signed in, please check and try again. Sign in with your library card Please enter your library card number. Show Summary Details Overview tariff reform. Subjects: History. Thus, for instance, the cotton and woollen industries have during the last fifteen years doubled their production severally from 15,, and 23,, to 40,, and 40,, roubles.
During the same period the mechanical spinning of wool was introduced, while the mechanical weaving of flax increased three-and-a-half fold since from , to , puds , owing to [the] dearness of cotton. At the same time, the heavy burdens which the Imperial Treasury is called upon to bear render it incumbent on the Minister of Finance to discover new means of meeting the increasing revenue of the State.
In the present state of manufacturing industry in Russia, requiring, as it still does, a somewhat considerable amount of protection, the revenue from Customs cannot be raised to the level attained in other countries in Europe, where industry has reached its full and independent development. Nevertheless, while preserving even the measure of protection established in , it is possible, in the opinion of the Minister of Finance, to obtain a certain increase of revenue by such changes in the Tariff as may be considered useful, with a view both to counteract the extensive contraband trade which has been produced by the excessiveness of the duties, and to promote the regular trade of the country.
If, in order to counteract this smuggling, a reduction of the excessive duties imposed on cheap goods were effected to an extent that would not inflict any injury on native industry, the measure would benefit not only the Exchequer but the manufacturers also; for effectual protection is only afforded by those duties which permit the existence of a regular trade, and not by those which merely afford a premium to smuggling and are subversive of all regular commerce.
The proposed object can be affected by establishing a [more just] proportion between the value of an article and the duty imposed on it. On the other hand, this measure is necessary in respect to certain high-class articles which are not sufficiently taxed, to the prejudice of the revenue, viz.
The duties levied on articles that are not raised, or at all events not sufficiently produced in Russia, are mostly moderate, and their further reduction can only be admitted with the view of promoting national industry by rendering raw materials less costly. Such a measure would inevitably at first, have the effect of decreasing the revenue, and would therefore fall heavily on the resources of the Imperial Treasury. It should not at the same time be lost sight of, that the greater part of the fiscal duties are imposed on articles of luxury consumed by the well-to-do classes, viz.
With the view to a simplification of the Tariff, it is also necessary to take the following points into consideration:. At the present time, when the Empire and the Kingdom of Poland are connected with foreign countries by means of railways, it is necessary to equalize the duties by sea and land, in order to prevent a further artificial deflection of maritime trade to the prejudice of the ports of the Empire, more especially since such a deflection necessarily increases the number of vessels that come in ballast, and raises the rate of outward freight to the detriment of the export trade.
The difficulties which are frequently encountered by merchants in declaring their goods, according to the nomenclature adopted in the Tariff, renders it necessary to make such changes in the classification of the Tariff as experience may have shown to be necessary, and thus to lessen, as far as possible, the liability of fines for mistakes which is produced by a mere misunderstanding of the Tariff; and. Since the enactment of the Tariff of , two additional taxes of 5 per cent each on the amount of duty leviable according to that Tariff have been imposed on all foreign goods except sugar , while at St.
Petersburg and Moscow a special charge of 2 per cent on existing duties is levied to cover a loan made for the construction of the Nicholas Bridge. These special taxes complicate the accounts of the Customs, and the bridge tax is not [infrequently] avoided by clearing goods destined for St.
Petersburg and Moscow at Custom-houses on the land frontier. The duties should be made inclusive of these taxes, which should be abolished in the case of those articles which are already sufficiently [burdened].
With a view to decrease smuggling, the establishment of a [more just] proportion between Customs duties and the prices of such goods as are at present not imported regularly, but almost entirely introduced by smugglers, owing to the excessiveness of the duties, which, without protecting national industry, and while inflicting a loss on the Imperial Treasury, almost exclusively benefits the contraband trade.
The simplification of the Tariff classification and of the process of clearing goods at Custom-houses. The equalization of the duties on their importation by sea and by land; and.
The reduction of duties on materials used in manufactures, as far as the means of the Treasury will admit it. Kolesoff, Vice-Director of the Department of Customs, whose exhaustive work, containing, as it does, a minute review of each article of the Tariff, and considerations for proposed alterations, has been printed, together with a short review of the principal branches of industry in Russia, with the addition of data indispensable to an examination of the Tariff question… 3.
Kolesoff, with a view to obviate the prejudicial influence which mere rumours of impending changes might have on the industry of the country, were it deprived of information respecting the extent and nature of the contemplated changes.
To examine, with the cooperation of deputies from manufacturers and merchants, and likewise of experts, should it be necessary to invite such for the solution of technical questions, both the preliminary Report on the revision of the Tariff and such observations as may be supplied by commercial bodies and private individuals; and.
To prepare the draft of a Customs tariff, which shall be submitted to the Council of the Empire, with a Report by the Minister of Finance. Lastly, the Minister of Finance cannot but express his conviction that the Tariff can only be improved on the basis of an independent commercial policy, in harmony with the interests of national industry and trade, as well as with the financial condition of the Empire, and that, in the present position of Russia, the Tariff question should not be subjected to the conditions of Commercial Treaties.
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