ABSTRACT
The Budget reforms of 1862 were part of the general reform movement following upon the liberation of the serfs, and mark the beginning of the modern era in Russia's financial system. Indirect taxes also included Customs Revenue receipts, although most of the duties were protective rather than fiscal in nature. The expenditure mounted rapidly during the early years of the century, owing to the expenses of the Russo-Japanese War. In Russia, local taxation was in the hands of the local administrative bodies, the Zemstvos, which were established in 36 provinces of the Empire by the Statute of 1864, and later created in other provinces as well. They were instituted as a result of the necessity of reorganizing the provincial administration after the Emancipation of the serfs in 1861. Towns, although represented in the Zemstvos, were independent units, and had their own system of municipal government.
