After Li Yuan destroyed the Sui Empire and established the Tang Empire, the Tang court formulated a detailed equalization system on the basis of the previous generational tax system, and at the same time introduced the rent system. However, in 780 AD, Yang Yan, then the chancellor of the empire, advised Tang Dezong to change the empire's tax policy, that is, to replace the multi-year rent adjustment with two tax laws.
So what was the reason why the Tang Empire had to choose to abandon the old tax system, and what positive effects did the two tax laws play?
Yang Yan, the prime minister who proposed the two tax laws
After the Anshi Rebellion, the Tang Empire's finances gradually deteriorated
In 755, An Lushan, who was trusted by Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, united with Shi Siming, and together the two raised the banner of rebellion and marched against the old lord, and the An Shi Rebellion broke out.
Because the Tang Dynasty had not previously formulated more stringent early warning measures and countermeasures that could limit the degree of moderation to make the support of the troops respect themselves and threaten the central government, most of the territory of the Tang Empire fell into the hands of the rebels in a very short period of time. Fortunately, at this time, the Tang court still had a large number of troops in its hands, and some of the emissaries also fell to the imperial court at this critical moment and took on the heavy responsibility of the king of Qin. After years of fighting the rebels, the Tang dynasty finally put down the rebellion in 763 AD.
The festival that almost subverted the tang emperor's rule made An Lushan
Although the war has ended, the after-effects of the war cannot be eliminated in a short period of time. During the war, the Tang dynasty could no longer maintain the balance of financial revenue and expenditure, and the first goal was to quell the rebellion. After the rebellion was put down, the tang empire's financial situation was already on the verge of collapse, triggering a series of chain reactions at any time.
The negative impact of the Anshi Rebellion on the finances of the Tang Empire was enormous, first of all, the rich north gradually collapsed under the influence of the war. Although most of the south has always been in the hands of the Tang court and has not yet been seriously damaged, the overall finances of the empire have been greatly affected.
Second, years of war depleted the Empire's financial reserves. Because the north had basically fallen into the hands of the rebels, the Tang court could only impose taxes on the south, making the burden on the people in the south increasingly heavy. In order to alleviate the contradictions between the feudal ruling class and the people in the south, the Tang court also had to reform the tax system.
The rent-to-wear system is no longer adapted to the status quo of the empire
During the early Tang Dynasty, the Tang Empire always took the rent system as the core of the tax system. The rent-to-rent system not only detailed the way in which the imperial tax would be collected each year, but also specified the specific "amount" of the tax in great detail. It should be noted that the rent modulation of the early Tang Dynasty was collected on the basis of the head.
Tang Gaozu had already begun to implement the rent-to-rent system as soon as he was in the dynasty
At the same time, the rent-to-rent modulation is also based on the Juntian system. In the early Tang Dynasty, the Juntian system could still be effectively implemented, and it could provide a guarantee for the effective implementation of the rent system, and the financial situation of the empire was getting better and better. However, with the passage of time, the juntian system was gradually destroyed, and the rent-to-rent modulation also lost its original meaning, and it was unable to exert its original effect. Based on this situation, the two tax laws followed, and the rent modulation was abolished at the same time. In this regard, there are relevant records in the Zizhi Tongjian Tang Ji:
The costs and the number of offerings for each year of the prefecture and county are calculated and given to the person, and the amount is measured and paid. Households have no owners and customers, and they take seeing the dwelling as a book; no one has Ding, middle, and the rich and the poor are poor; for the merchants, they tax one of the thirty in the prefecture and county, so that they and the residents are equal, and there is no profit. The tax of the residents is levied in autumn and summer. Its rent, mediocrity, and mixed provinces are all presidents of the province.
Map of the tang empire at its peak
The failure of the equalization system and the rent system is actually a direct consequence of the increasingly serious phenomenon of land annexation. When the Tang Dynasty formulated the equalization system, it relaxed its control over land circulation, that is, allowing the people to buy and sell land under certain circumstances. Although there are strict conditions for land transactions, this is equivalent to opening the door of convenience for the landlord class.
By constantly annexing land, the landlord class caused many peasants to lose the land on which they depended for their livelihoods, thus becoming bankrupt sharecroppers. The Tang Dynasty's rent-to-rent system was based on the head of the tax, so the bankrupt small farmers could not afford such a heavy tax, and the country's fiscal revenue trend also declined every year.
The shrinking of the territory is also the reason for the decline in tax revenues
The gap between the rich and the poor is too large, and the social crisis is becoming more and more serious
As mentioned above, due to the fatal loopholes in the equalization system formulated by the Tang Dynasty, by the time of Wu Zetian's reign, the phenomenon of land annexation within the Tang Empire had become very serious. The land in the whole country tended to be concentrated, so the gap between rich and poor became wider and wider within imperial society.
Under such circumstances, when the Tang Dynasty continued to collect taxes according to the previous rent system, the commoners and the poor were completely unable to bear it; the landlord class only needed to pay a small price to meet the annual tax amount. At the same time, the rise of merchant groups has made the life of the peasants even more difficult. To this end, Tang Ting revised the method of taxation on the basis of head taxation, which was changed to taxation according to total assets.
Taxing according to the total amount of assets was a major step forward in the tax system of the Tang Dynasty. As soon as the two tax laws were introduced, the landlord class and the merchant clique could no longer "exploit the loopholes in the law" and had to pay much more taxes than before; and the burden on the peasants who were on the verge of bankruptcy or who were already bankrupt also suffered less.
With the gradual implementation of the two tax laws, the phenomenon of the gap between the rich and the poor within the Tang Empire has been greatly alleviated, but this does not mean that the gap between the rich and the poor is gradually narrowing. Although the landlord class and the merchant group have to pay high taxes, they still hold a large amount of land, which is an objective reality. It is precisely because of this that the Tang court will continue to increase the tax rate in the future to further alleviate social contradictions.
Schematic map of the distribution of the Tang Empire economic zone
From some details of the difference between the two tax laws and the rent adjustment, it can be seen that the Tang Empire has become tired after experiencing the Anshi Rebellion, and the social crisis and financial crisis have reached a more serious point. In this case, the feudal rulers had to launch a huge reform movement from top to bottom to alleviate the contradictions that existed in various fields. If not, the national fortunes of the Tang Empire would really be in danger.
Of course, the crises faced by the Tang Empire were not only those mentioned above, but also crises in many fields such as politics, military affairs, and diplomacy. However, the so-called "economic base determines the superstructure", if the Tang Dynasty can not effectively deal with economic problems in a short period of time, then it is naturally impossible to solve the crisis in other fields.
In general, the implementation of the two tax laws did play a lot of positive influences, the most direct impact was to extend the Tang Empire's national rule. Although the Tang Empire has not returned to its peak state since then, it can at least barely maintain itself, which is already a valuable result.