Chapter Ninety-Four

In the history of the country, excesses and miscellaneous taxes can be said to be the most intuitive description of heavy taxation.

As the name suggests, miscellaneous tax is a tax category that is strictly different from formal taxation.

Miscellaneous taxes are also known as "miscellaneous levies" and "miscellaneous levies". The general term for all harsh taxation in the old country other than the regular tax. For example, in the Qing Dynasty, Tian Fu and Ding Yin were the regular taxes, and other taxes such as salt tax, tea tax, Yan Xuan, tooth post, pawn tax, deed tax, etc., were collectively referred to as miscellaneous taxes.

However, during the Qin Empire, there should also be a part of the category of miscellaneous taxes:

"The Origin of Things, the Dispatch of Profits, and Miscellaneous Taxes": "At the end of the decline of the Zhou Dynasty, the princes were still strong and domineering, and the military revolution was endless, so Fei Bo and tithe were insufficient, and the law of miscellaneous taxes was also the origin. ”

However, there are not many detailed records of miscellaneous taxes in the Qin Empire, and it is still a big question whether the miscellaneous taxes in the Han Dynasty were inherited from the Qin Empire:

In the Han Dynasty, there were three more famous miscellaneous taxes, one was the loan tax, the other was the money tax, and the last was the livestock tax.

The tax on loans is the tax levied on the interest earned on the lending of money or grain, which is equivalent to the interest tax on future generations.

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the rapid development of handicrafts and commerce produced some powerful industrialists and merchants, such as trafficking merchants, Ziqian families, etc., and wealth was more and more accumulated in these people. The scale of usury is very large, and the interest rate is also very high, even 100% per annum, which not only makes ordinary borrowers often unable to repay and sells their wives and children, but even some high-ranking officials and nobles have to turn to them. The excessive concentration of wealth in the hands of a few is bound to be a factor of social instability and instability of governance.

In the last years of Emperor Jing, he began to restrict the interest on usury loans, stipulating that the annual interest rate should not exceed 20%, and at the same time levying a 6% income tax on the interest obtained.

The purpose of the loan tax was to limit the excessive concentration of wealth and curb the exploitation of the common people by usury, but throughout the Han Dynasty, this purpose was not achieved.

In the Han Dynasty, merchants were very powerful, and they accumulated large amounts of money by smelting iron and boiling salt, or by stealing and plundering, and then lent this money for high interest. is a typical usurer.

The interest rate on usury in the Han Dynasty was high. Loan sharks sometimes take advantage of natural disasters to collect double the interest and borrow 100 to repay 200. Due to the high interest rate and the cruelty of exploitation, many people who were exploited by usury fell into the predicament of selling their fields and houses and their children and grandchildren to pay off their debts.

The industrialists, merchants, and usurers of the Han Dynasty gained a great deal of wealth through harsh debt interest, and many princes and feudal lords sometimes had to borrow from them. Due to the large number of borrowers and high interest rates, many loan sharks became billionaires in an instant, such as Wuyan's and Ning Cheng's recorded in the "Historical Records".

The rulers of the Han Dynasty also imposed some restrictions on usury in order to maintain their rule. According to records, Liu Yin, Marquis of Panguang, and Liu Xin, Marquis of Lingxiang, were both punished by law for "taking interest and passing the law (rate)". As for the maximum amount of interest on money lending stipulated by the government reserves, there is no record in history.

In addition to restricting the interest rate on money lending, the government also imposed a tax on interest income from usury, which is a tax on loans. The rate of the loan tax was unknown before the Money Suppression Order. However, after the issuance of the Order, a tax rate of 6% (2,000 dollars per piece) will be levied on the principal amount of the order, and it is estimated that the tax rate before the order will not exceed 6%.

Because of the wealth that usury can generate, in the Han Dynasty, some princes and nobles also participated in money-lending activities, and they used their privileges not to pay taxes to the public. The Han Dynasty vigorously cracked down on tax theft and evasion, and even princely families who stole and evaded taxes were guilty. In the sixth year of the Yuan Dynasty, the Marquis of Bian Guang was punished by law for not paying taxes for usury, and the interest exceeded the standard set by the state, but he was only exempted from punishment later when he was pardoned.

The money tax is a tax levied on the money and goods accumulated by the merchant's hands. Silk rope, used to run money, 1,000 money consistently, the money tax is levied according to the line.

During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the military expenditure was very large, and the national finances fell into the predicament of making ends meet, and the merchants hoarded goods for profit, and did not support the urgent needs of the public.

The characteristics of this kind of tax are: first, it is a temporary levy for satisfying a certain temporary needs of the state; second, it is a cash tax for vehicles and ships that carry merchant goods and merchants' hands, and although there is a tax rate regulation, it has the nature of donation; third, the object of collection is businessmen, and it is part of the policy of valuing agriculture and suppressing business.

The origin of the livestock tax cannot be examined, but Emperor Wu has reached the six animals, and the tax is calculated according to the mouth.

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The Yamazawa tax is a tax levied on the finances of Yamazawa and Dachuan, which is similar to the resource tax currently levied by the state. In ancient times, the wealth of the mountains belonged to the Son of Heaven, so private logging was prohibited. However, some people ignored the royal ban and secretly cut down wood and iron in the mountains, and went to the sea to cook salt and fish. In response, the government had to collect taxes on local social security cards where the "thieves" passed.

In the later part of the Zhou Dynasty, he began to collect taxes on the mountains, and set up officials to take charge of the precepts and taxes on gold, jade, tin, danqing and other mineral products. During the Qin and Han dynasties, all those who cut down bamboo and wood in the mountains and forests and excavated mineral deposits, and those who picked fruits, hunted birds and beasts, and fished fish and shrimp in rivers and lakes and government-owned gardens were all subject to mountain tax. In the Han Dynasty, these revenues were given to the royal family, but the princes, princesses, and relatives were given as fiefdoms, and the taxes were levied by the feudal monarchs for personal support. Wang Mang's new dynasty implemented the "five equals and six", and ordered the products taken from the mountains, as well as craftsmen and merchants, to declare their own taxes, and pay one-tenth of the tax in addition to the profits.

During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the wealth of the mountains and rivers was sometimes allowed to be mined by the people, and the government levied taxes, and sometimes monopolized them; in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, there was once a situation where "the mountains, lakes, rivers and rivers were all specialized in the powerful and powerful, and the small people's salaries were all taxed directly for fishing and fishing." Since then, miscellaneous taxes have gradually increased, and the main taxable items that originally belonged to the Shanze tax, such as fish, salt, tea, mineral products, etc., have become special taxes, and the mention of the Shanze endowment is no longer common.

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If the tax system in the Qin and Han dynasties is still "rule-based", then the tax system in the Qing Dynasty is a bit "wanton":

Its "apportionment into the mu" can be said to be the most typical "favorable" tax:

At the beginning of the establishment of the Qing regime, the flames of war were still burning, and many people were killed and wounded and went into exile. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, in the third year of the Apocalypse, there were still more than 50 million people registered in the country, but by the eighth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, there were only more than 30 million people left.

During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, there were more than 800,000 hectares of cultivated land on the record, and in the eighth year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty, there were only more than 500,000 hectares left. The mountains and rivers are dilapidated, and the economy is withered. Moreover, the class contradictions are very serious, and there have been dozens of uprisings and riots in China.

In order to appease the exiles, restore and develop the social economy, alleviate class contradictions, stabilize social order, and consolidate political power, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty resolutely abandoned the system of enslavement outside the Guan, and looked at the system of "apportioning the land into the mu" that had been tried in the previous dynasty.

At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, a large number of the original household tax service books of the Ming Dynasty were destroyed by fire, and the Qing government used the only remaining "Wanli Whip Book" as the basis for the levy and distribution of military service. In the process of its requisition, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty gradually realized the rationality of some of the "apportionment into mu" measures in the "Wanli Whip Book", and in the late Kangxi period, the domestic land annexation was serious, "one yi, eleven those with land, and nineteen those without land".

The land annexation has also caused a large number of population movements, and many people have gathered and fled, "the amount of Ding is short, the money is lost, the financial conscription is carried out by Ding, the inspection is difficult, the tax is set by the mu, and the inspection is easy."

They advocated that "the land should be calculated and the land should be determined", that is, the implementation of "apportionment into the mu", in order to eliminate the former disadvantages by adopting the method of combining the assignment and servitude. The land is indeed complete and stable, but the population is changing, so the system of fixed service according to the field or the apportionment of the land to the mu and the system of the lijia according to the per capita service should be prudent and applicable.

The Qing Dynasty also conformed to this trend in the late Ming Dynasty, that is, in the spirit of the reform of the Ming Dynasty's service law, it more widely implemented the "apportionment into the mu", and gradually replaced the Lijia compilation and examination system with the law of arranging the land and the service. In this way, it is imperative to reform the service law in order to alleviate the suffering of the poor and stabilize social order and fiscal revenue.

Since Kangxi put down the "Rebellion of the Three Feudatories" in the twentieth year, the military threat of the Qing Dynasty in the original has no longer existed, but the political legitimacy of its entry into the original has been repeatedly questioned, which is criticized and ridiculed by the "old men" who intend to restore the Ming Dynasty. In order to completely isolate them, it is necessary to take a two-pronged political and economic approach, with political high-pressure deterrence, that is, the well-known Xingzi Prison; the economy is moving forward in a roundabout way, first by frequently exempting money and food, and then by "never increasing the endowment", with the help of a relaxed and tolerant tax policy to consolidate the lower strata of the people and disintegrate the social foundation of the "old people."

By the time of the fifty-first year of Kangxi, the Qing sage ancestor Xuanye had already integrated martial arts, so he naturally wanted to show his political achievements and magnify his kindness. Xuan Ye has repeatedly flaunted to his subordinates that he is close to the people, loves the people, and understands the people's feelings.

For example, in the forty-second year of Kangxi, he said: "I have experienced Shandong four times, and I know all about the livelihood of the people. Unlike other provinces, the small people in the fields are cultivated by wealthy people. In good years, those who have wealth earn more, while the poor receive very little; In a fierce year, there is no land industry of its own, the strong are displaced from all directions, and the old and weak die in the ravines. ”

The following year, he added: "If the shepherds of the people love what is good and take little, the people will become richer." Now it is a demanding and unskilled work, and he will exhaust his efforts all year round, how can he make a living?"

Later, the Yongzheng Emperor, who was fully apportioned into the mu, also often inherited the legacy of the previous emperor, and repeatedly told the ministers to be diligent in government and love the people, saying that he himself "diligently seeks the people's suffering, no matter how big or small, he will postpone his visit and observe it, and benefit the people for a long time." And pay special attention to the collection of money and grain, for fear of disturbances, this thought is always in mind." At the beginning of his succession, Yongzheng issued edicts to the provincial governors, governors, divisions, provinces, and officials of Fuzhou and counties, asking them to put the collection of money and grain in the first place of their responsibilities and not to arbitrarily extort them. Moreover, the edict of the state and county officials who directly collected money and grain was particularly strict, pointing out: "The state and county orders are officials close to the people and the foundation of the rule of officials. As for money and food, the relationship is particularly important, and the slightest grain is the fat of the people. If you increase one point, the people will suffer a point, and if you subtract one point, the people will get a point. If there is a request to temporarily increase the fire consumption to make up for the shortfall, the emperor will send an edict to the court, and he will not be allowed to ask, and all the ministers will hear about it. The arbitrary increase in fire consumption in Jinzhou County is regarded as a precedent, and the people should be deserved? ”

That is to say, in addition to ensuring that the state's finances are sufficient, it also emphasizes the maintenance of social justice and the guidance of social psychology, and also creates a social atmosphere of peace of mind and peace of mind through the policy of tax exemption.

However, to a certain extent, the apportionment of land into the mu promoted the social and economic development at that time, but the Qing government incorporated many taxes that were not originally related to the land into the field tax, causing deeper class contradictions.

Spread into the acres ended the land, households, Since the object of taxation was land, the government relaxed its control over household registration and increased the number of labor forces that could move freely, thus promoting the activation of the commodity economy; the landless peasants who had no land and little land got rid of the burden of Ding servitude and were no longer forcibly bound to the land, which further relaxed the peasants' personal dependence on the feudal state, and played a positive role in the social economy at that time, especially in the budding development of capitalism。

As a result of the transfer of land to the rich households, who possessed a large amount of land, the burden of servitude was heavier than before, and the burden on the people was not lightened, but increased, and the situation of fleeing to other places to avoid paying taxes became more and more serious.

The policy of apportionment to the mu cannot maintain a fixed amount of taxation, thus discouraging the people from evading taxes.

The policy of apportioning the land to the mu is beneficial to the poor and not to the landlords, and it is a major reform in the history of taxation in our country. It has eased social contradictions, strengthened feudal rule, and promoted economic development and a slight improvement in the people's living standards, which is of certain positive significance.

However, the policy of apportioning the land to the mu did not deal with the problem of evenly apportioning the tax, thus affecting the interests of the proud, strong and wealthy households, down to all strata of the common people.

Judging from the general trend of social development, the policy of apportioning land to mu has obvious limitations. It did not eliminate it, but strengthened the feudal land ownership system, and did not and could not eliminate the class contradictions in society. Fundamentally, it still defends the interests of the ruling class – the interests of long-term rule, firm rule.

It made feudal rule more solid. As a matter of fact, the reason why the apportionment of land to mu can be carried out to a certain extent is, first of all, the result of the fierce struggle of millions of working people against the inequality of servitude; Although the nominal application has been carried out in the provinces one after another, it is not possible to implement it in a sustained and serious manner.

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