AUSTRIA AND HUNGARY - AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY IN GENERAL 



f erence between the quantity of products which they obtained from their 

 respective cultivated holdings, and the quantity of such products officially 

 certified by the agents of the State, remained exempt from any tax to the 

 Treasur}^ and any feudal contribution to the agas, 



Among the different secondary reforms adopted, other than that of 

 the tithe in the block, we note the following : 



i) The perpetual exemption from every tax on their products of 

 vegetable and other gardens near dwelling-houses, if they have an area of 

 no more than a dunum (i). 



2) The temporary exemption for ten years of lands recenth' brought 

 under cultivation. 



3) The temporary exemption from taxation of lands granted to colo- 

 nists, whether these belong to the population of the country or be of foreign 

 nationality. 



4) Partial or total exemption from the tithe in bad years. 



5) The total exemption from taxation of the products of vegetable 

 and other gardens cultivated by soldiers or fiscal agents, provided such 

 products be not intended for sale. 



6) The total exemption from taxation of lands of the State cultiva- 

 ted with a view to their improvement. 



It may be stated more precisel}^ that the system of taxation here de- 

 scribed is applied, with the exceptions previously indicated, to products of 

 all arable lands and to those of apiaries. As regards woodlands these also 

 are burdened w^ith the tithe in the block, calculated on their net return based 

 on the data in the cadaster. 



The reform of taxation which we have described was initiated in 1905 and 

 terminated in 1907. Its application was prorogued only in the four de- 

 partments of Biletch, Bazco, Ljubinje and Trebinje because all these lacked 

 a cadaster. The expenses relative to the reform of taxation amounted to 

 1,600,000 crowns (2) As regards the expenses of collection these were by 

 the new system diminished by 70 per cent, in comparison with those in- 

 volved by other methods of collecting taxes. 



The old Suliis and Verghia taxes, to wdiich we have already alluded and 

 the abolition of which was begun while Turkish domination was still in force, 

 were little by little replaced by taxes on returns. In fact in the official 

 report for 1911 these taxes are mentioned only in relation to the five depart- 

 ments of Zepzc, Gasko,Foca, Ljubinje and Trebinje, while in all the others 

 the new taxes on laud, buildings, moveables and the returns from labour 

 had alrespcly been applied in this period. 



The new land tax was planned as an improvement to be introduced 

 into the system of collection represented by the tithe. It should be regarded 

 as the beginning of the reform of taxation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a 

 reform which aims at causing the incidence of taxes on proprietors and not 

 on cultivators and at making the real value of the land the basis of taxa- 



(1)1 dunum = about 1091 I/2 square yards. 

 (2) I crown of gold = 10.0809 d at par. 



