Editing Prodnalog

{{Short description|Food tax}}
{{refimprove|date=December 2009}}
[[File:1921. Продовольственный налог - это маховое колесо государственного механизма.jpg|thumb|"The Food Tax is the Flywheel of the State Mechanism"]]
'''Prodnalog''' ({{lang-rus|продналог|p=prədnɐˈlok}}, [[syllabic abbreviation|from]] '''прод'''овольственный '''налог''', '''''prod'''ovolstvenniy '''nalog'''''; {{literally}} '''"food tax"''';) is the [[Russian language|Russian]] word for a [[taxation|tax]] on food production, [[barter|paid in kind]] in the [[Soviet Union]], and sometimes known as "'''the tax in kind'''". ''Prodnalog'' replaced ''[[prodrazvyorstka]]'' (introduced in 1919) and was introduced by a [[Soviet Decrees|Decree]] of the [[All-Russian Central Executive Committee]] on March 21, 1921. Separate decrees were issued for taxes on particular categories of produce: bread, milk, eggs, meat, oil, etc., as well as on hay, wool, and tobacco. After paying the tax, the peasants were allowed to trade the surplus.<ref>[https://ia601304.us.archive.org/9/items/kratkispravochn00komigoog/kratkispravochn00komigoog.pdf Краткий справочник продработника Моск. губ] (Brief Reference for Food Workers of the Moscow Governorate), 1921 (Includes the texts of the corresponding decrees)</ref> It was abolished in 1923 with the introduction of the unified {{ill|agricultural tax|ru|Сельскохозяйственный налог (СССР)}}.<ref>[https://bigenc.ru/c/prodnalog-ef3e24 Продналог], ''Great Russian Encyclpedia''</ref>

==History==

The transition to prodnalog was the first act of the [[New Economic Policy]] and a necessary incentive for increasing [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] [[agricultural]] production . The [[peasant]]s knew in advance how much produce they would have to surrender to the state. The [[Tax rate|rate]] of prodnalog was much smaller than [[prodrazvyorstka]]. For comparison, in 1920-1921 the peasants surrendered to the state 367 million ''[[pood]]s'' (6,010,000 [[tonne|metric tons]]) of [[cereal]]s through prodrazvyorstka, as opposed to 240 million poods (3,930,000 metric tons) in 1921-1922 through prodnalog.

During the first year of introduction of prodnalog, a significant amount of [[bread]] and other products remained at peasant [[household]]s' disposal, which provided an incentive for peasants to develop their own household [[economy]], widen the sowing areas, increase the total number of [[livestock]] and [[productivity]] of [[agriculture|crops]]. The rate of prodnalog on each kind of agricultural product was determined depending on local conditions and prosperity of a given peasant household. The Soviet state adhered to a policy of [[progressive taxation]]; the highest rate of prodnalog had to be paid by the [[kulak]] households.

In March and April 1921, a number of [[Soviet Decrees]] introduced a natural tax on bread, [[potato]], oilseeds, [[egg (food)|eggs]], [[dairy products]], [[wool]], [[Hide (skin)|hides]], [[flax]] and [[Industrial hemp|hemp]] linen, [[tobacco]] etc. The collection of agricultural goods in excess of prodnalog, if necessary, was intended to be made on a [[barter]] basis by giving peasants manufactured goods. In order to accelerate the expansion of [[commodity]] circulation, create necessary conditions for developing [[farming]] and [[Industrial sector|industry]] and speed up the productive forces of the country, the government encouraged small-scale production all over  [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Union]]. The introduction of prodnalog revived the trade and created a different kind of relations between the city and the village.   
       
By the decision of the [[12th Congress of the RCP(b)|12th Congress]] of the [[CPSU|RCP(b)]] (April 1923), prodnalog and other taxes in the rural areas were exchanged for a universal direct agricultural tax (decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and [[Sovnarkom]] on May 10, 1923). The latter would be collected in [[monetary]] form starting in 1924, with the establishment of [[hard currency]] in the [[USSR]].

However bad harvests combined with the increased needs for hard currency to support industrialization in the [[Soviet Union|industrialization]] had led to grain procurement crises. [[Stalin]] blamed [[kulak]]s for the crisis, and in 1928 extraordinary measures were introduced, including grain confiscation. This crisis was an additional motive for Stalin's [[Collectivization in the Soviet Union|forced collectivization]].<ref>Vladimir Kuznetsov, [https://www.rubtsovsk.ru/history/ruarea01/010.htm ОТ ПРОДРАЗВЕРСТКИ К ПРОДНАЛОГУ], book chapter from ''Земля Рубцовская: События. Факты. Люди'', 1999</ref>

==See also==
*[[Ural-Siberian method]] of grain procurement

==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Soviet phraseology]]
[[Category:Taxation in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:1921 establishments in Russia]]
[[Category:Abolished taxes]]