Equal field system along the line
In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan led an uprising, overthrew the rule of the Sui Dynasty and established a unified empire-the Tang Dynasty. At this time, after several years of war, the economy of the Tang Dynasty was depressed, "taxes were heavy, officials were greedy, and they were hungry and cold." During the Wude period, the registered population was only 2 million, less than one third of that of the Sui Dynasty.
In the poll tax era, the most direct impact of the loss of registered population was the reduction of tax revenue, and the meager finance could not support the operation of the empire. In the face of this situation, the measure taken by Gao Zu Li Yuan is to continue to implement the land equalization system. The so-called "land equalization system" simply means that the land controlled by the government is distributed to landless farmers for farming. It originated in the period of Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty and was used by the Tang Dynasty after the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty. Specific measures mainly include:
1,/kloc-Men over 0/8 years old are given one hectare, of which 80 mu is Kubanden and 20 mu is Yongye field. For the elderly and the disabled, 40 mu of land and 30 mu of widows and concubines will be granted, of which 20 mu will be Kubanden and the rest will be Yongye field.
2. For Yongye field, mulberry and jujube trees can be planted, but the quantity should be controlled. After his death, Kubenden will be redistributed to the landless.
For some more detailed measures, I won't repeat them here. Although the Tang dynasty followed the previous equal land system, it was also different from the previous dynasty. The first is the number of fields granted. Compared with the Northern Wei Dynasty, the field area has expanded. For example, men's land grants increased from 40 mu to 80 mu. Secondly, in the object of land grant, it is more focused on men, which is inseparable from the social situation at that time. The depressed economy urgently needs a large number of young and strong laborers.
Finally, the control over Yongye field has also weakened, and people can moderately sell some Yongye fields when they are unable to funeral. Through this measure, the economic situation in the early years of the Tang Dynasty was greatly improved. First, a large number of refugees settled in the war, which can develop production with peace of mind and increase national tax revenue. The second is to make household registration statistics more convenient and to collect poll tax more convenient. More importantly, a large number of wasteland was reclaimed in the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties, which increased the grain output and was of great significance to the development of the national economy and the stability of the political power.
However, as mentioned above, the premise of implementing the land equalization system is that there are a large number of landless wasteland in the hands of the state. With the steady economic development in the Tang Dynasty, more and more land was reclaimed, and less and less land was controlled by the government. Finally, in the mid-Tang Dynasty, the equal land system was destroyed. As for the specific destruction process, I will not go into details here. Those who are interested can read the book "Chinese Economic History" dictated by Mr. Qian Mu and edited by Mr. Ye Long.
Create a rental system
As the saying goes, the economic base determines the superstructure, and the land equalization system was implemented in the early Tang Dynasty, and the economy was restored. At the same time, the Tang dynasty also made appropriate adjustments in fine architecture-implementing the tenancy system. Tenancy system was formed on the basis of land equalization system, which was closely related to the tenancy system in the Northern Zhou Dynasty.
In the Tang Dynasty, the land was distributed per ding, and each person paid Sulzer stone every year, which was called "rent". Twill and silk have to pay two zhangs every year, and if cloth is used instead, it will increase by one fifth. Those who pay for twill and silk pay three taels of cotton, and those who pay for cloth pay three catties of Ghana hemp, which is called "tune";
According to the regulations, each able-bodied man needs to serve 20 days of hard labor a year. If he wants to be exempted, he can pay three feet of silk. In addition, it is specially stipulated that "transfer" can be exempted after serving for 35 days, and "rent" and "transfer" can be exempted after working for 50 days, which is called "service". The above is the "tenancy system" in the Tang Dynasty. This system had great advantages at that time, and even later generations praised it. What are the advantages of this system?
1, greatly reducing the burden on the people. When the rent-to-rent system was established, it was to build houses for the people. Take "rent" as an example. In the Tang Dynasty, the tax rent was 40 yuan, and Kubandong only had to pay 80 yuan every 80 mu, while in the Han Dynasty, it was 15 yuan, and when it was light, it was 30 yuan. In terms of "adjustment", the Tang dynasty stipulated that it only needs to be kept for 20 days, which is greatly reduced compared with the Han dynasty system, and farmers can concentrate more on agricultural production, especially in the busy farming season.
2. The tax items are clearly defined and recorded, which makes local officials and gentry have evidence to follow when collecting rent, and they can't impose exorbitant taxes. This is somewhat similar to the function of the western "Twelve Copper Table Method".
3. Rent-and-rent system is based on households, not fields. Therefore, in order to better implement this policy, the rulers of the Tang Dynasty established a complete household registration system to cooperate with it. "One account every year, one account every three years" enables a large number of hidden accounts to be registered, which is conducive to ensuring the national tax revenue.
Under the guarantee of this fiscal policy, the Tang Dynasty moved towards prosperity step by step. Du Fu said that "rice is rich and white, and public and private warehouses are rich". But dialectical materialism tells us that the development of things has its process of development and extinction. With the change of social form, the new thing of "rent agent system" has gradually become out of date. First of all, the household registration policy in the Tang Dynasty was extremely strict, and people's appearance, age and physical condition should be registered.
Tenancy adjustment system is a policy under the system of equal land. When dividing fields, we must strictly follow the household registration information, and it will become more and more difficult over time. Secondly, at the beginning of the establishment of the land equalization system, it was stipulated that the land granted by the government ranged from five hectares to one hundred hectares, which was several times or dozens of times that of civilians, further aggravating the trend of land annexation. After the merger, the people's land is getting less and less, and the land of powerful officials is getting more and more. After the Anshi Rebellion broke out, the population lost and the household registration was incomplete, so the tenancy system was abolished and put on the historical stage.
From rent adjustment to two tax laws
Mr. Qian Mu said that "the evolution of any system in history is not overnight, and it can only be formed after some brewing in advance", which can also be explained by dialectical materialist development view. After the rent adjustment system gradually became out of date, another brand-new tax system began to brew, that is, the "two tax laws."
After the Anshi Rebellion, there were many buffer towns in various places, and people's livelihood was difficult. A large number of farmers left their homes and became refugees, and their original household registration was completely lost. Faced with this situation, Tang Dezong made two tax laws in the first year of Jianzhong, which was put forward by then Prime Minister Yang Yan. Its main contents are:
1. Cancel all kinds of taxes under the original "rent-rent adjustment system" and unify them into household tax and local tax, with currency as the main means of collection.
2. "If a household has no host and guest, it is a book to look at the house". Do not distinguish between customers and main households, but collect taxes at the current place of residence to avoid tax loss.
3, live within our means, based on the number of cultivated fields in the fourteen years of Dali, and collect them on average.
These two taxes are collected in summer and autumn. "Summer tax is in June and autumn tax is in November." That is, summer tax is paid in June and autumn tax is paid in 1 1 month.
After the promulgation of the two tax laws, it caused great controversy in the society, which can be described as mixed. On the positive side, the two tax laws are no longer the same rent adjustment system with per capita tax as the tax standard, but based on assets. It has greatly broadened the scope of taxation and increased fiscal revenue. At the end of the first year of Jianyuan, the tax revenue reached more than130,000, which was unique in the history of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, the two tax laws simplify the tax items and reduce the tax pressure of the people to some extent.
On the other hand, it is extremely unreasonable for the two tax laws to take the tax of 14 as the standard and live within our means. If crops fail in disaster years, the government only considers the total tax revenue, so the burden on farmers will increase. Furthermore, taking assets as the tax basis, it seems that the more assets, the more taxes, and the less assets, the less taxes. In fact, assets are not easy to count. The random apportionment with the region has also caused the situation that the rich get richer and the poor want to be poor.
The tax system in the Tang Dynasty ended with two tax laws. Even in the reform of the later dynasties, it was slightly modified on the basis of the two tax laws, which shows that the tax system of the Tang Dynasty has a far-reaching impact on future generations.