The Specifics of the Fiscal Mechanism Operation in the Ukrainian Lands in Cossack Times

The study of sources of filling and areas of use of the state treasury in the Cossack times becomes especially relevant, because it allows finding out whether this process was carried out in the Ukrainian lands chaotically, or had a clear order. The purpose of the study is to consider the specific features of the development and functioning of the fiscal mechanism on Ukrainian territory in the Cossack era (16th-18th centuries). The specific features of scientific tasks that are the subject of the study required the use of a set of special methods (philosophical, general, specific), the use of which helped analyse the historical aspects of the fiscal mechanism during the Zaporozhian Sich and Hetmanate. The study clarified the specific features of operation of the fiscal mechanism components, in particular the revenues and expenditures of the Cossack states. It is established that in Cossack times the revenues of the state treasury were mostly formed from tax sources, and also came from economic, judicial, military, and trade activities of the state. There were also specific revenue instruments of the fiscal mechanism, in particular “ralets”. In the Zaporizhzhya Sich, the revenues of the state treasury included monetary and material support from other states, and in the Hetmanate part of the state needs were met at the expense of state duties. In addition, separate taxes were imposed on the maintenance of the church and the clergy in the Hetmanate. The study found that in the Cossack era the expenditures of the state treasury were usually directed to the maintenance of the Cossack (Hetman's) administration, provision of military needs and financing of the church. With the increasing military and political pressure of the neighboring Polish and Russian states, the fiscal mechanism of the Cossack states lost its independence and acquired the characteristics of the invading states. The practical value of the study is that the historical analysis covered the basic principles of the fiscal mechanism in Cossack times, the elements of which can be introduced in modern conditions.