Reconstruction of Tomsk Provincial Finance Office in 1921-1925: the staff

The purpose of this article is to review the process of restoring one of the most important authorities of the New Economic Policy -Tomsk Provincial Finance Office in the context of solving human problems. A feature of provincial finance departments in the 1920s was their double subordination: to the local government - executive committees of provincial councils and to the People's Commissariat of Finance (NKF). In the first half of the 1920s monetary and tax reforms were carried out simultaneously. The basis of the tax reform was the tax system of the pre-revolutionary Russia such as trade tax, household tax, war tax, housing tax, inheritance and gift tax, excise tax, duties, stamp duty. Along with the reform of the tax system the formation of the tax system apparatus began. In accordance with the provisions of NKF approved by the Central Executive Committee in July 1921 Organizational and Tax Department as part of NKF was established, which was later renamed the Department of Taxation and State Income. The state of the fiscal apparatus in the country was critical. The old taxation regime collapsed, the new one was formed hastily. In the summer of 1922 provincial tax offices were staffed by the average of 5%. Tax officers were assigned to the last salary group of the Comissariat employees. A similar situation was in the provincial financial department of Tomsk (GFO). In November 1921 the Head of GFO V.F. Yargin acknowledged that the tax apparatus was destroyed, and the local authorities treated the interests of financial institutions with disdain. In August 1921 the number of tax officers in Tomsk was only 16. In the counties it was even smaller: Mariinsk had three officers, Shcheglovsk - two, Kuznetsk - one. The main channel of the personnel problem solving was tax officer training. There were six-month courses at the People's Commissariat and short-term courses at GFO. However, many graduates of these courses lacked not only experience, but also knowledge. In this article the portrait of a tax officer of Tomsk Province is given on the basis of personal files of three employees, S.M. Gambarg, A.S. Ostapchuk and R.K. Linde. They were largely typical figures. On the one hand, they had a low level of education and lack of professional experience in taxation. On the other hand, they were the participants of the Civil War (in the Red Army), members of the Communist Party. In his memoirs former financial comptroller G.V. Darkov particularly emphasized the enormous work financial inspection had to do. The vast territory of the province, the lack of reliable communication and an undeveloped transport system created additional difficulties. In late April 1925, there were 499 people in Tomsk GFO. Despite the inconsistency of personnel policy a functioning body was established by October 1925. It made a significant contribution to the implementation of the monetary reform, to the recovery of the national economy.

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