ABSTRACT
The purpose of this paper is to assess the weight of taxation borne by the collectivized sector of the Soviet rural economy. As is known the kolkhozy (collective farms) are responsible for the bulk of Soviet agricultural output. No mention will be made of the sovkhozy (state farms), or of the few surviving individual peasants (although the latter are heavily taxed). The paper serves as background to the changes announced in the Soviet budget of 1953. A summary of these changes appears at the end of the paper, which perforce had to be completed before the publication of the budget.
