摘要：The article analyzes the process of creating a system of excise taxes in the Central Asian outskirts of the Russian Empire on the basis of historical sources of diverse origins, which were introduced into scientific circulation at first. It is noted that the goal of the excise reform in the Steppe Territory and Turkestan was to modernize and integrate this ethnoregion into the Russian economy, to increase its profitability. In the Steppe Territory, an increase in excise receipts to the state treasury in the second half of the 19th century was associated with the development, first of all, of the distillery industry. A number of factors contributed to this situation: permission for the free production of alcohol, unlimited trade in alcoholic beverages, the development of the raw material base of this industry and an increase in demand for products due to a sharp influx of the peasant population into the region. After the introduction the state wine monopoly, the size of excise taxes in the regions of the Steppe region began to decline at the beginning of the twentieth century. In Turkestan, the introduction of the provisions of the excise reform began later – in the 70–80s of the XIX century. This was due to the later involvement of the region in the modernization processes, the lack of demand for wine and vodka products, the orientation of government circles to the development of cotton farms. Nevertheless, by the end of the 19th century, as a result of the development of the railway network, the distillery industry in Turkestan, oriented towards the Russian market, began to bring significant tax revenues. State wine monopoly did not affect the region at the beginning of the twentieth century.
