In China's more than 2,000-year imperial society, the royal families and courts of all dynasties have followed: (1) The principle of governing the country and ensuring peace of the people: "The people are the most important, the king is the most important, and the country is the second." (2) "Is there anything in the world other than the royal land?
The civil rights protection mechanism of "On the shore of the land, there are no kings and ministers" (3) The people-centered democratic principle of "hiding wealth from the people and returning wealth to the people" Therefore, China's 2000-year history of imperial power is a story of "few officials and few soldiers"
, the history of light taxation.
No royal family and previous imperial courts dared to impose excessive taxes on citizens, and it is difficult to find evidence that can conclusively prove that royal courts have imposed excessive taxes on citizens! Xia (about 10%) taxation in our country began in the Xia Dynasty, and "the Queen of Xia paid tribute at fifty."
That is, fifty acres of land is used as the unit of measurement, and one-tenth of the average land is taken as the tribute paid to the country.
Western Zhou Dynasty (about 10%) The Western Zhou Dynasty implemented the well-field system. Land was given to nobles at all levels, but they only had the right to enjoy it but not ownership, so transfer and sale were not allowed.
The country divides square miles of land into nine districts in a tic-shaped pattern. The middle district is public land, and the remaining eight districts are private fields assigned to eight husbands. The eight husbands help cultivate the public fields, and all the harvest is given to the lord.
Spring and Autumn and Warring States (about 20%) During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period, the State of Lu implemented the "initial tax per mu", regardless of public land or private land. Anyone who owned land must pay land tax per mu.
The initial tax per mu was the first major reform of my country's ancient tax system. It abolished the forced land rent system based on labor and established a physical land rent system based on acres.
"Spring and Autumn" records: "The method of public land is to take one out of ten acres. Now we cover the remaining acres and take out one out of ten acres." That is two-tenths, twice the amount of the well field system.
Qin (66% is cruel enough!) "Hanshu Shihuo Zhi 1": "Take more than half of the gift." Yan Shigu's note: "Taiwan, take two of three points." Two-thirds, too harsh
Got it!
In addition to collecting rent based on land, the Qin Dynasty also collected tax per household, which was the so-called oral tax, or head tax.
During the Han Dynasty (no more than 8%), the state registered farmers as household registrations as a basis for collecting taxes and corvees.
Peasants are the main recipients of state taxes. There are four taxes on farmers: land rent (land tax), calculation and oral taxes (capitation tax), corvee, and military service.
The rulers of the early Han Dynasty learned from the lessons of the Qin Dynasty and made light of corvee and low taxes. However, the land rent of the Han Dynasty was light and the poll tax was heavy.
Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty implemented a tax of fifteen to one, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty implemented a tax of thirty to one, and Emperor Guangwu of the Eastern Han Dynasty restored land rent to thirty taxes to one.
Tang and Song Dynasties (less than 7%) The Tang Dynasty's tax adjustment system is a summary of the physical taxes implemented by various dynasties in my country for more than two thousand years before the Tang Dynasty.
The content of Zuyong modulation is: Ding Nan pays two stones of millet to the state every year, which is called rent; he pays two zhang of silk, three liang of cotton or linen, which is called tune.
Each Ding served twenty days of corvee service every year, which was called Yong (the service developed into a service that could accept silk).
The land equalization system is premised on the implementation of the land equalization system. The land equalization system stipulates that every adult farmer will receive one hundred acres of land. Therefore, when the state levies the land rent, it only concerns the individual, not the property.
(The above is mainly based on people, the following is based on acres) After the land equalization system was destroyed, in the first year of Jianzhong (780) of Emperor Dezong of the Tang Dynasty, the two tax law was changed to the two tax law following the advice of Prime Minister Yang Yan.
The total tax amount is determined based on fiscal expenditures, and each locality collects it from the local people in accordance with the amount allocated by the central government.
The two tax laws changed the principle of using population as the standard for tax collection to the principle of using property, mainly land, as the standard for tax collection, and merged them into household tax and local tax.
(The time for taxation is gradually fixed.) The Song Dynasty still followed the two tax laws of the Tang Dynasty. Wang Anshi implemented an equal tax on every square field and cleared the land, which was in line with the principle of fair tax burden.
The two tax rates are based on 1 dou per mu, which is about 15 taxes per mu.
Yuan Dynasty (less than 7%) The land tax laws in the Yuan Dynasty were not uniform. The north imitated the Tang Dynasty's rent and tax law, and the south of the Yangtze River imitated the Tang Dynasty's two tax laws.
Ming Dynasty (less than 4%) The taxes in the Ming Dynasty were the lowest in history, about one for forty to one for thirty.
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the Two Taxes Law was implemented. Since the 10th year of Jiajing, the tax and levy reform of "One Whip Law" has been implemented, and various taxes and levies have been merged into several monetary taxes as much as possible, and currency collection has been used to replace the collection of physical goods and the collection of levies and levies.
This was a major reform of the ancient Chinese tax system.
But it was not fully implemented.