Chapter 19 Chapter Five: The Thought of Taxation and Service in Ancient China

Excessive taxation and extortion is a basic feature of taxes and corvee in ancient China.This feature is mainly manifested in two aspects: First, due to the low productivity of labor in ancient times, one husband and one woman, men farming and women weaving, with parents on the top and children on the bottom, supported a family of several people, and there were very few surplus products.Feudal taxation not only confiscated all the surplus products and surplus labor of the people, but also often robbed the necessary products and necessary labor that were indispensable for the people to support their families.The food and cloth harvested by farmers for a year's labor, after taxation, is often difficult to maintain food and clothing for the family.It is said that during the Warring States Period, Li Kui [kuikui] calculated the income of farmers’ families: one labor force, supporting a family of five, cultivated 100 mu of land, yielding 1.5 shi per mu, 150 shi in total.Pay 1/10 of the land tax to the state, a total of 15 shi, leaving 135 shi.Each person eats 1.5 shi per month, and a family of five eats 90 shi throughout the year.There are 45 shi left, and if you sell 30 qian for each shi, you can get 1350 qian, and 300 qian for Spring and Autumn Sacrifice in Shelu, leaving 1050 qian.It costs 300 yuan per person to dress, and 1,500 yuan for the five people for a whole year. In the end, there is still a shortage of 450 yuan, which is beyond the means.However, this account does not include unexpected illnesses in farmers' families, birth, marriage, death and funeral expenses, and additional collection by the state.Under the conditions of the tithe tax, which was regarded as a light tax at that time, it was already difficult for a family of five to make ends meet.Second, the normal tax system is often destroyed by the rulers themselves, and feudal countries often impose additional money and food on the people arbitrarily due to various temporary needs.For example, the land tax in the Eastern Han Dynasty was stipulated as 30 yuan per mu. During the reign of Emperor Huan of the Han Dynasty (147-167 A.D.), due to extravagance and the empty treasury, an additional land tax of 10 yuan per mu was ordered.For example, according to Li Kui's calculation, the income per mu is 1.5 shi, 30 qian per shi, 45 qian per mu, 10 qian is added, and the tax rate has exceeded 2/10, and the tax has become a dead letter so far.Emperor Huan also sold officials and nobles. People who bought officials could pay the money first, or they could not pay the money temporarily, and then double the payment after they took office.In order to get back the money spent on buying officials, these people desperately searched and extorted the people as soon as they took office.Therefore, although the system of thirty and one tax in the Han Dynasty has not been changed in name, it has actually existed in name only.This kind of additional levies in addition to the regular tax has continued throughout the dynasties.It is like adding fuel to the fire, making the people who are already struggling to make a living under the regular tax become helpless, hungry and cold, displaced, until they revolt, and directly point the spearhead of the struggle at the oppression and exploitation of the feudal state. endangered the rule of the landlord class.The fuse of many peasant uprisings in Chinese history was caused by the heavy taxes and servitude of the feudal state.Therefore, thinkers in feudal society generally opposed excessive taxation and expropriation, and advocated light corvee and light taxation.

The founder of Chinese Confucianism and a great thinker in ancient times, Confucius, once passed by Mount Tai, and heard a woman crying in front of the tomb, so he sent his student Zilu to ask why.The woman replied that my father-in-law was eaten by a tiger before, my husband was also eaten by a tiger later, and now my son was eaten by a tiger again.Confucius said: Why don't you move your house away from here?The woman replied: Because it is located in the deep mountains, it can avoid the pain of the government's harsh collection.Confucius was very emotional after hearing this, and said to his disciples: You must remember: "tyranny is fiercer than a tiger" ("Book of Rites · Under the Tan Gong"), the tyranny of the government is more fierce than a tiger!Confucius advocated that the state should give as much favor as possible to the people, while taxation should be as thin as possible to collect people's wealth.Meng Ke, a representative of Confucianism in the Warring States Period, also regarded "thin tax collection" as an important content of his benevolent government.He believes that the country has city walls and palace buildings, hundreds of officials have the salary of officials and the needs of the princes, and taxes cannot be cancelled, but the country's money from the people must be controlled within a certain limit.After taxation, the people must be able to "look up enough to serve their parents, and bow down enough to raise their wives" ("Mencius · King Hui of Liang"), and be able to support the whole family.The author of the legalist book "Guanzi·Quanxiu" written in the Warring States period pointed out that there are seasonal restrictions on land production and wealth, people are tired when they are engaged in labor, but the monarch's greed has no limit.If the monarch's greed is not controlled, and there is no limit to taking the people's wealth and using the people's power, it will inevitably intensify the conflict of interests between the monarch and the people, leading to the serious consequences of ministers killing the monarch and sons killing their fathers.Therefore, he believes that if the tax can be light and the corvee light, the wealth of the people can be taken to a certain extent, and the power of the people can be used to a certain extent, the country will be stable even though it is weak.On the contrary, if there is excessive taxation, there is no restriction on taking people's wealth, and the power of the people is used endlessly, even if the country is strong, it will inevitably perish. The exposition of "Guanzi" very profoundly reveals the great significance of light corvee and thin tax to the consolidation of feudal rule.The rulers of the early Han Dynasty put forward and implemented the taxation principle of "measuring officials' salaries, appropriating officials' salaries, and giving them to the people" ("Historical Records Ping Zhun Shu"), that is, taxation should be able to pay officials' salaries and government expenses. In order to meet the extravagant needs of the monarch and nobles, the people’s tax burden was no longer increased beyond the “official salary” and “official use”. Under the guidance of this principle, a series of policies of light corvee and low tax were implemented.

In the middle and late period of feudal society, some thinkers also criticized the feudal state's heavy business tax policy aimed at suppressing business.When Wu Zetian was in power in the Tang Dynasty, some people proposed to expand the scope of tax collection for the customs; Cui Rong, a member of Fenggeshe, believed that the taxation of the customs would inevitably lead to the impassability of goods, the loss of merchants, the decline of commerce, the people's livelihood, and the impact on social stability.Qiu Jun of the Ming Dynasty also opposed the collection of industrial and commercial taxes.He believes that the establishment of Guanshi is to exchange needs and meet social needs, and the state collects taxes from Guanshi to enrich finances, which is contrary to the original intention of establishing Guanshi.He believes that the industrial and commercial tax is extremely unreasonable.For example, wine is made from grain, and the state has already taxed grain. Now people use grain to make wine, and wine is taxed.

Thinkers of past dynasties also put forward some specific propositions of light corvee and low tax, such as "tithe tax", that is, to implement a tax rate of 1/10 on land tax. "With the power of the people, the age is only three days" ("Book of Rites·Royal System"), that is, the time for the common people to serve the country for no more than three days a year. "Close the market but not levy", trade customs checkpoints and markets, only inspection, no taxation, etc. The idea of ​​light corvee and low taxation in Chinese history once played a certain positive role.Some enlightened monarchs in feudal society, especially some founding monarchs in history, because they saw with their own eyes how excessive expropriation led to people's uprisings and the demise of the previous courts, they were able to pay attention to reducing the exploitation of the people and implement some policies of light corvee and low taxation.For example, after the rulers of the early Han Dynasty took power, they immediately abolished the tyranny of the Qin Dynasty.Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty stipulated that the land tax should be less than the tithe and the tax should be less than the light tax policy of 15 taxes.During the reign of Emperor Hui of the Han Dynasty, the life-long corvee of hard-working farmers was exempted.During the reign of Emperor Wen, the land tax was reduced to one tax per 30 years, and the land tax was exempted from the world for 12 years, and the corvee tax was also reduced from one year to three years.Due to the implementation of the policy of light corvee and low tax at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, in the 50s and 60s, the common people were able to recuperate, the economy was restored and developed, and the society was extremely prosperous. It became the first feudal prosperity in Chinese history.

However, the policy of light corvee and low tax has not been implemented for a long time.Generally, when the political situation is slightly stable, the greed of the feudal ruling group will be indulged, and the phenomenon of excessive expropriation and extortion will reappear. This is determined by the nature of the exploiting class in the feudal state.The reason why there have been calls for light corvee and low tax in Chinese history is that the feudal state has never been able to put an end to the excessive expropriation of the people for a long time.Excessive taxation has been continuous, and various specific propositions of light corvee and low tax have never been fully realized. This is the objective reason why the thought of light corvement and low tax has been throughout the history of taxation in Chinese feudal society.