States of Obligation: Taxes and Citizenship in the Russian Empire and Early Soviet Republic

During this seminar, Professor Kotsonis will discuss his recent book, States of Obligation: Taxes and Citizenship in the Russian Empire and Early Soviet Republic (2014).  The discussion will focus on the introduction, “A Short History of Taxes: Russia and the World from the Eighteenth to the Twenty-First Centuries,” as well as chapters 5 and 6, “Mass Taxation in the Age of the Individual: The New Personal Taxation in Russia and the World” and “The Income Tax as Modern Government: Assessment, Self-Assessment, and Mutual Surveillance,” which will be pre-circulated.

Yanni Kotsonis is professor of history at New York University. He is founding director of the Jordan Center for the Advanced Study of Russia. His recent book, States of Obligation: Taxes and Citizenship in the Russian Empire and Early Soviet Republic (2014) was awarded the Wallace K. Ferguson Prize of the Canadian Historical Association. He has fathered three tax exemptions.