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Direct taxation of various kinds, both ordinary andextraordinary, had increased greatly in the seventeenthcentury, but in 1680 it only accounted for about one-thirdof the total revenue.Peter's poll tax, on the contrary, accounted for overhalf of the revenue, though it completely failed in oneof its objects, the covering of the chronic budget deficit.It continued to be the main source of direct taxationright down to its abolition in 1886, but from the end ofthe eighteenth century it declined steadily in importancecompared with the amount raised by indirect taxation,which resumed its earlier position in the state budget.The further main consequences of the poll tax werethreefold:(i) Peter placed the general responsibility for itspayment on the serf-owners, but its actual collection wasfirst entrusted to the army, then to the provincial officials,with almost equally ghastly results. Finally, in 1731the serf-owners were by law made responsible for thecollection of the poll tax from their serfs, with comparativelylittle interference from government officials.Thereby the state became more than ever linked withthe serf-owners. As a corollary, in order to prevent theexhaustion of so important a source of revenue tothe state, the serf-owners were required (1734) to tidetheir peasants over bad times by practical assistance,"in order that the land should not lie idle." Thisremained a legal obligation, though its efficiency was,in the main, proportionate to the interest of serf-ownersin keeping their peasants from too utter destitution.(ii) The eighteenth century was marked by a greatincrease in the amount of land under cultivation. Thiswas in part due to the increase of population, in part toother causes, but it was also due to one effect of the polltax. Even though it bore much more heavily upon thepeasants than previous direct taxation, they paid thesame fixed sum however much land they ploughed,however much money they made. There is no doubtthat there was a growing increase in production andinternal trade, which was much facilitated by the abolitionof internal tolls (1754) and of restrictions on free internal154