AGRARIAN' TAXES IX BOSXIA AXD HERZEGOVIXA 8 1 



During his tenure of office, which lasted for more than twenty years, 

 he introduced in fact onh- the following changes into the sj-stem of taxation 

 inherited from the Turkish government : 



i) For the payment of the tithe in kind a payment in cash was sub- 

 stituted. The basis on which this was effected was the market price of 

 the various articles of merchandise representing the tax in kind, and the 

 quantity- of these produced on a given holding. 



2) For the collection of the tithe b}' the medium of responsible col- 

 lectors, as described, the s^'stem of direct collection by the vState was substi- 

 tuted. 



3) The tithes still payable to Vacouf properties were made payable 

 to the State. This was effected gradually. At the time of the Austrian and 

 Hxingarian occupation these entities so privileged still existed, although 

 their number was small, and until igii they are mentioned in official re- 

 ports. 



It should be noted that all the retouching of the old Turkish s^'stem 

 of taxation eff'ected under Kalaj's administration was profitable onl}^ to 

 the agas, to whom the kmeti were by old feudal bonds obliged to give a 

 part of the products of the soil they cultivated, that is a tribute in kind, 

 called Hac in the language of the country. When Kalaj had introduced his 

 reform it fell to the governor's agents to fix for each holding the quantity 

 of its produce and the share of this which belonged to the State as a tax. 

 This calculation, which had an official source and therefore was not much 

 subject to error, afterwards served the agas as a sure basis for establishing 

 the amount of the products of the soil due to themselves from their re- 

 spective kmeti. The latter, as has been said, derived no advantage from 

 the reform of taxation in question. 



After the death of Kalaj his successor Barian devoted himself to the 

 task of reforming taxation. He took for point of departure the reform 

 of the tithe, which was considered to be the worst of all the forms of taxa- 

 tion. At first he thought of substituting for it a tax on revenue, but 

 fearing that too rapid a transition from one system of taxation to another 

 might arouse discontent and disorder in the country he prefererd a provi- 

 sionar}^ measury, the introduction namely of the so-called tithe in the block. 

 This is the name given to the following system : 



In the case of ever}' single piece of land to be taxed its average gross 

 product in the period between 1895 and 1905 was ascertained. Such aver- 

 age was multiplied by the average price of a unit of the various products ; 

 and thus a figure was obtained the tenth part of which represented the tax 

 due to the State and payable in money. 



For motives of prudence this new system of taxation was introduced in 

 1905 only in two or three villages of each department. The result obtained 

 was so satisfactory that in the next year — 1906 — the law was passed 

 in virtue of which the system of the tithe in the block was adopted as the offi- 

 cial system of taxation applicable to the whole country except the districts 

 which still lacked a cadaster. 



This reform met with favour above all from tlie kmeti because the dif- 



