The land endowment of the Han Dynasty was repeatedly reduced, and Emperor Wen even waived rent for many years, so why did the peasants still have to sell land?
Mencius once said, "Tithe, the king's government."
It can be seen that in mencius's eyes, it is very good to pay taxes on one-tenth of income, which also shows that the taxes in the Warring States period were not light.
In the early Han Dynasty, in order to recuperate, the rulers generally adopted a policy of lightly dispensing with thin endowments, and the official stipulation was "fifteen taxes and one tax".
Actually less, sometimes only half, thirty taxes one. That is to say, when farmers harvest 100 stones of grain a year, they only need to pay more than 3 stones, and the rest belongs to themselves.
Xun Yue's "Pre-Han Dynasty" records that during the reign of Emperor Wen of Han, there were more than one hundred taxes, and even all land rent was exempted for 11 years, which may be the only time in Chinese history.
"China has a vast territory, a prosperous household registration, and as light as possible taxes, so it is still impossible to support a government."
However, there was a big problem with the tax system of the Han Dynasty.
The land policy of the Han Dynasty was very free, after the abolition of the well field system, the cultivators had their own land, the land was the peasants' own, and they had money to buy, and no money to sell, and no one could control it.
At that time, the level of productivity was low, the harvest of the land was not good, and for the peasants, it was okay to adjust the wind and rain for many years, and once they encountered a disaster year, it might be difficult to make up for the harvest for several years. In three years, it is difficult to withstand a natural disaster in one season, and whether the peasants have a bumper harvest or not is quite a bit of gambling.
In fact, in addition to the land rent, the Han Dynasty also had a poll tax and a military service tax, although it was not heavy, but in the event of a disaster year, it often became the last straw that overwhelmed the small peasants.
Struggling peasants had to sell their land to make ends meet, and their identity changed from farmer to sharecropper.
The difference is that the peasants only have to pay taxes to the state, while the sharecroppers have to pay taxes to the landlords. No matter how low the state's taxes are, they have nothing to do with the sharecroppers, and the state is light on the small amount of money, but the landlords have become more and more intense, and usually the land tax of the sharecroppers is more than 30%, or even 50%.
As a result, the lighter the state tax, the less the landlord pays, but the sharecropper still needs to hand over nearly half of the harvest to the landlord, the landlord is getting fatter and fatter, the peasant is getting fewer and fewer, and he does not enjoy the benefits of light and thin endowment.
Of course, this is only one aspect of the problem, and I will not say more about the rest here.
