ABSTRACT
Taxation is one of the most complicated state functions. Behind the concepts and names of taxes, intricate social and economic processes are concealed. Springing forth from the obscure tribal world of 12th-century Inner Asia, in 1206 Chinggis Khan first united the nomadic Mongol and Turkic tribes into a nomadic realm, then in two decades created an empire which during his successors’ rule developed into the largest Eurasian empire in history. The practice of censuses was a revolutionary step in building the Mongol Empire; it paved the way to the formation of a sophisticated administration and taxation, so vitally important in organizing and running a state. In the 14th and 15th centuries, the growth in the authority and the territory of the Grand Principality of Lithuania at the expense of the West Russian principalities negatively affected the Jochid Ulus since it lost some of its important tribute-paying Russian territories.
