Playing Card Tax in Solikamsk Chancellery as a Reflection of Legislative Attitude toward Gambling in 18th Century

Abstract

The problems of tax collection by voivodes offices in the 18^th century at the heyday of absolute monarchy seem to be little studied at the regional level. The author organizes data on the playing card tax based on the study of income books, extracts, arrears, and other financial documents of the above mentioned period. This article presents a number of previously unknown sources. Based on them, the author concludes that there is a twofold situation: on the one hand, the state introduced prohibitive measures toward playing cards, and on the other hand, it pursued its financial interests and did not remove the records on playing card tax from account books. In the second half of the 17^th century the government received income from playing card tax and did not want give up the opportunity to get this money. A complete ban on gambling was issued in 1733, which eventually led to a shortage of card collection. The author analyzes the percentage of the tax on the playing-cards among other incomes of the voivodship office and reveales a bunch of imperfections of the tax legislation and the problems of its use by local authorities. It is notable that the voivodes office did not try to actively recover the playing card tax, realizing the absence of legislative support.