Chapter 32, The Wayward Tsarist Government

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Domestic sales are out of the question, but it's negotiable in the colonies. Despite appearing to manage its territories domestically, in reality, many regions of the Tsarist Government exhibit colonial characteristics.

One could specifically refer to the tax-farming system. Even after Alexander II had completed tax reform, many places in the Russian Empire continued to use this tax-farming system.

It's not that the Tsarist Government was blind to the dangers of the tax-farming system, but the Russian Empire was simply too vast. In many remote areas, tax revenue wasn't even sufficient to pay the salaries of tax collectors.

To prevent its already fragile finances from collapsing, the Tsarist Government had no choice but to sell the tax collection rights to capitalists.

Even to save costs, some regions' administrative powers were directly handed down to the local nobility.