The tax system first began with the reform of the Qi State Administration, and has been continuously improved over time, from a simple "decay of the land" to "apportionment into the mu".
During the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong carried out reforms in the Qi State and implemented the "land and decay levy", which refers to the levy of taxes according to the amount of land and the quality of the land, which essentially recognizes the ownership of land by private individuals.
Subsequently, Lu State implemented the "initial tax per mu", stipulating that the state should collect taxes according to the actual number of acres of land and private land, recognizing the private rights of cultivators to the cultivated land. After that, feudal exploitation methods emerged: some slave owners and aristocrats turned public land into private land and adopted new methods of exploitation, making the laborers who farmed the land hand over most of the produce and kept a part of it. This new mode of exploitation is the mode of exploitation of the peasants by the feudal landlords.
The management of the people in the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty implemented the household system. Those yeoman farmers, helpers, hired farmers, etc. who are officially included in the ** household registration are called household Qi people. The people of the household have an independent identity, and bear the state's taxes, conscription, and military service according to the amount of assets, and if they have more assets, they must pay more taxes. The obligations of the people to the feudal state include land rent, calculation or oral tax (population tax), conscription, military service, etc. In the Han Dynasty, the land rent was lighter, but the population tax and the more levy (substitute tax) were heavy.
Rent modulation
Rent modulation began in the Cao Wei period. The rent is the land endowment, and the product is levied according to the mu; The adjustment is the household adjustment, and the silk cotton is levied according to the household, which is collectively called rent modulation. In 204 AD, Cao Cao promulgated the rent regulation, stipulating that the people should pay four liters of millet to the state per mu of land; Each household produces nine horses of silk and two catties of cotton; All other tax items will be discontinued; Landlords must also pay land rent according to the number of acres of land, and they are not allowed to let the people go out on their behalf. The Northern Wei Dynasty stipulated that the peasants who received the land should bear a fixed amount of rent, and a husband and a woman would receive two stones of corn and one horse of silk or cloth every year. Ding Nan also had to bear a certain amount of forced labor.
The Western Jin Dynasty, the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Sixteen Kingdoms, the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the Sui Dynasty, and the early Tang Dynasty all successively implemented rent regulation, although the specific content changed slightly, but the general principle was the same, that is, to ensure the basis of state taxation from the aspects of restricting land annexation and ensuring the peasants' right to occupy and use small pieces of land; Pay attention to the equal tax payable.
In 780 AD, Yang Yanjuan requested the change to the two-tax law, and since then, the rent regulation that had been in place for nearly 600 years was abolished.
Rent modulation
On the basis of the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty reformed the service system with the idea of lightly leviing and valuing the people, and implemented the regulation of rent. Rent regulation stipulates that adult men pay a certain amount of grain to the government every year, which is called "rent"; Paying a certain amount of silk or cloth is called "tune"; During the period of conscription, those who do not go to serve can be paid silk or cloth for service, which is called "Yong".
There was no longer an age limit for the Yong of the Tang Dynasty. The regulation of rents has made the production time of the peasants relatively lighter than the burden of servitude, and the tax income of the peasants has been guaranteed.
In 780 AD, Tang Dezong accepted the suggestion of Prime Minister Yang Yan and implemented the two-tax law. The two tax laws stipulate that the total tax amount shall be determined by *** and distributed to all localities for collection; Regardless of the main and guest households, they are registered according to the place of residence at that time; Each household pays household tax according to assets and land tax per mu, and abolishes rent and all miscellaneous labor and miscellaneous taxes; Taxes are paid twice a year, in the summer and in the fall.
The function of the two tax laws is to unify the extremely chaotic tax system since the middle of the Tang Dynasty, and to ensure the state's fiscal revenue for a certain period of time; changed the enslavement system based on people since the Warring States period, indicating that the personal control of the feudal ** over the peasants was relaxed; The two tax laws stipulate that aristocrats, bureaucrats, and businessmen must pay taxes, which expands the source of taxes, increases the financial revenue, and relatively reduces the burden on the peasants.
This was a major reform and progress of the ancient social taxation system.
When Wang Anshi of the Northern Song Dynasty changed the law, he implemented the conscription law and the Fangtian tax law.
The conscription law stipulates that ** to households that should serve but are unwilling to serve, they will be exempted from military service according to the level of wealth and poverty, and hire people to serve. Bureaucrats and landlords who do not serve in the service also have to pay. It relieved the peasants of the burden of errand labor and ensured production time.
The law stipulates that the land shall be re-measured, the amount of land occupied by each household shall be verified, and taxes shall be collected according to the amount and fertility of the land, and bureaucrats and landlords shall not be exempted. Increased the income of the feudal state. After the fall of Wang Anshi and the death of Shenzong, the conservatives took power, and the two laws were gradually abolished.
In 1581, Zhang Juzheng, the first assistant of the Ming Dynasty cabinet, in view of the historical lessons of heavy enslavement and reckless peasant recklessness, reformed the enslavement system and ordered the implementation of a whip law throughout the country. A whip law "combined the original land levy, forced labor, and miscellaneous taxes into one piece" and converted them into silver taels, and distributed the service silver that was previously levied on the basis of households and households, and shared it according to the number of people and acres of land, which greatly increased the proportion of money in the tax.
A whip law is a major reform in the history of China's servitude, and the provisions of "serving the land to the land", "measuring the land", and paying silver for the service on behalf of the peasants have relatively reduced the burden on the peasants, and at the same time show that the peasants' personal dependence on the feudal state has been relaxed. The method of levying silver from servants meets the needs of the development of the commodity economy, promotes the development of money and land rent, and is conducive to the commercialization of agriculture and the growth of the budding capitalism.
In 1712, the Qing Dynasty stipulated that the number of people in Kangxi for 50 years should be used as the fixed number of Ding taxes for levying taxes, and in the future, "breed people and never increase them". During the reign of Emperor Yongzheng, he also implemented the method of "apportioning the ding into the mu", and the ding tax was evenly distributed into the field endowment, and a unified land and silver were collected. In this way, the poll tax, which had been practiced for a long time since the Han and Tang dynasties, was abolished. The physical control of the peasants by the ancient dynasties was further relaxed, and the phenomenon of hidden populations gradually decreased. The spread of land into acres has promoted population growth and social and economic development.
The above is a brief introduction to the famous tax system in more than 2,000 years, mainly the tax system of land. In fact, the tax system of the past dynasties was very complicated, and there were many items collected, including land tax, population tax, commercial tax, miscellaneous tax, and so on. It can be said that in any dynasty, whether it is a peasant, a merchant, or a craftsman, he has to bear a heavy tax, not to mention military service and servitude.
History