On the Replacement of the Requisitions with a Tax in Kind
[Abridged]16 March 1921
1. In order to ensure a correct and tranquil working of the land on the basis of greater freedom on the part of the farmer to dispose of his economic resources, to strengthen his peasant holdings and raise their productivity, and also in order to determine exactly the state taxes imposed on the farmers, the requisitions, as a means of state procurements of food, raw materials, and forage are replaced by a tax in kind.
2. This tax is to be lower than the amount levied by the requisitions. The amount of the tax is to be calculated in such a way as to cover the minimum needs of the army, the urban workers, and the non-agricultural population. The sum total of the tax is to be constantly reduced to the extent that the restoration of transport and industry enable the Soviet state to receive agricultural produce in the normal fashion, i.e., in exchange for the output of factories and craftsmen.
3. The tax is assessed in the form of a percentage or share of the output produced on the farm, proceeding from the size of the harvest, the number of mouths the farm has to feed, and the actual amount of livestock on the farm.
4. The tax is to be a progressive one; the percentage payable by the farms of middle peasants and those with small holdings and by the farms worked by urban workers, etc., is to be scaled down.
The farms of the poorest peasants are to be exempted from certain forms of the tax in kind, and in exceptional cases, from all forms of the tax.
Hardworking peasant proprietors who increase the sown area of their holdings or who increase the productivity of their holdings as a whole, are granted advantages in the payment of the tax in kind, either in the form of a reduction in the tax rate, or in the form of partial exemption from the tax.
5. The law on taxes is to be drawn up in such a way and published in time so that even before the beginning of the spring field work the farmers are as well informed as possible about the extent of their obligations.
6. Delivery to the state of the produce due to it under the tax law is to be completed within a definite period of time, established by law.
7. The amount of produce due for delivery under the law is calculated for the village associations (societies). Within the village association, the tax is apportioned among the proprietors as they see fit, in accordance with the general norms stipulated in point 3.
To supervise the application of the tax norms and the assessment of the same, elected organizations of local peasants are formed according to the groups of taxpayers in the various tax brackets.
8. All stocks of food, raw materials, and forage that remain in the possession of the farmers after they have paid their taxes are completely at their disposal and can be used by them to improve and strengthen their holdings, to increase personal consumption and to obtain, in exchange, products of factory and cottage industry and agricultural produce.
Exchanges are permitted within the bounds of the local economic turnover.
With a view to supplying the poorest of the population and for purposes of exchange against surpluses of food, forage, and raw materials voluntarily delivered to the state to cover taxes due, a special fund is to be created, a fund of farm equipment and supplies and of common consumer goods. This fund is to be created from products of domestic manufacture and from those articles being obtained abroad in part through disbursements from the state gold reserves and in part from raw materials procurements.
The Congress, in approving in general the proposals of the Central Committee to replace the requisitions with a tax in kind, instructs the Central Committee to act with all speed to co-ordinate these proposals, to work out in detail the forms for implementing the tax, and to get the appropriate law through VTSIK and Sovnarkom ....
This abridged version was the best we could find. The full version is certainly desired!
Resolved: 15 March 1921
First Published: Pravda, 17 March 1921
Source: KPSS v rezoliutsiiakh 2, 206-66
Transcription/Markup: Brian Baggins
Copyleft: Soviet History Archive (marxists.org) 2002. Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.