The Policy of Tan Ding Ru Mu and the Policy of Poll Tax.

茍佳民

In the mid and late of 17th century， the national treasury of China realized surplus. In order to reduce the burden on farmers， Emperor Kangxi changed the tax policy from the poll tax to Tan Ding Ru Mu. From an overall respective， the new tax policy promoted the development of agriculture and handicraft industry over a period of time.

Emperor Kangxi started to carry out the policy of Tan Ding Ru MU in 1712. In the early period of the Qing Dynasty， the government levied taxes by using One Lash Method 1which was created by Emperor Wanli in the Ming Dynasty. Although the One Lash Method had stipulated that the tax was jointly undertaken by landlords and farmers， the poll tax was not abolished. At that time， the farmers had undertaken tax in huge amounts and they were forced to abscond.

A poll tax ， also known as head tax or capitation， is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual. In order to improve the situation of financial strain， Peter the Great performed a series of tax reforms. In 1718， Peter the Great imposed a poll tax， which had a great effect on the subsequent history of Russia.

During the administration of Peter the Great， the country was in a financially difficult situation. A large amount of money was needed in large-scale projects like the expansion of armament， the construction of the port and the canal， the improvement of transportation， which aggravated the financial tension. To ease this situation， Peter the Great had to adopt a series of measures to refill the national treasury.

The taxation policy was an important part of economic policies. Due to the specific conditions of different countries， Peter the Great and Emperor Kangxi respectively implemented different taxation policies. In the period of Emperor Kangxi， Qing Dynasty was newly founded. Long periods of wars and disasters made the population shrink alarmingly. To recover the country， Emperor Kangxi abolished the poll tax imposed for over two thousand years and implemented the policy of Tan Ding Ru Mu. On the whole， this policy favored farmers over landlords. As an important economic system， the reform of tax naturally had a significant importance. Firstly， Tan Ding Ru Mu marked the tax system of feudal countries changed to a unified tax system， which played an important role in promoting the development of social economy. Secondly， Emperor Kangxis reform guaranteed relatively stable fiscal revenue. Besides， it also created the economic force for the multi-ethnic states unification and development. Thirdly， to some degree， this tax reform reduced the heavy burden of farmers and slackened the tie of the feudal system to people， which promoted the growth of the seeds of capitalism. To conclude， given the development of the feudal society， Tan Ding Ru Mu eased social contradiction， strengthened the rule of feudalism， boosted economy and slightly improved peoples livelihood. However， given the general trend of social development， the policy of Tan Ding Ru Mu had obvious limitations. Instead of abolishing the feudal land ownership， it was strengthened by the implementation of the tax reform. It also didnt eliminate the class contradiction of society. In essence， Tan Ding Ru Mu still safeguarded the interests of the ruling class who needed long and tight rule， which strengthens the feudal regime. In fact， the implementation of Tan Ding Ru Mu is attributed to the fact that thousands of farmers opposed the inequity of taxes system. Although the policy was successively carried out in the country， it was impossible that the policy was implemented enduringly and seriously. Hence， the significance of Tan Ding Ru Mu cannot be overestimated.

Before Peter the Great， Russia adopted the taxation policy based on households which was very unfair in that most taxes were undertaken by farmers and many taxpayers complained about this policy. And during the administration of Peter the Great， the country was in a difficult situation. Finally， Peter the Great implemented the new taxation policy， the poll tax， to realize his political ambition.

The implementation of the poll tax in Russia changed chaotic and unequal taxation phenomena. All kinds of fixed fixes and special taxes were replaced by the poll tax， which provided convenience in budget， taxation and statistics. At the same time， the promotion of poll tax， to some degree， helped to eliminate the unfair phenomenon in taxation. The implementation of the poll tax also increased the revenue of the national treasury. It was estimated that Russias revenue was 25，000 Rouble. But in 1724， national revenue reached 850，000 Rouble in which 460， 000 Rouble was from then poll tax. During this period， the supply of Russias navy and army， the expenditure of administrative organization， the construction of the palace and the government building and the establishment of culture and science institution were all guaranteed by the taxation reform， which eased the financial crisis. ?The new taxation system also accepted the slaves as the objective of taxation. In fact， the slaves were treated equally with the farmers in juridical status， which improved their status and provided the possibility to take part in manual labor. The feature of the new taxation system was that the tax was paid on the basis of the number of the people and each family needed to pay 74 Kopeck no matter how many lands the farmers had， which certainly stimulated them to expand plantation areas and increased their incomes. This would play a positive role in promoting the development of agriculture and bringing more lands under cultivation. In the early 18th century， not only the landlords， but also the slaves knew the value of money. The landlords tried hard to expand the area of the arable lands and strengthened the exploitation of the slaves by aggravating corvee. Under this condition， the slaves also had to expand the area of arable land. Around the same time， the economist Poshkov pointed out that when the three field system was carried out in the early 18th century， a “complete” usually had 6 mu arable land， which each person had 1.5 mu arable land on average. Because of the implementation of the poll tax， farmers were stimulated to expand the area of arable lands by exploiting the wasteland and forest. However， the implementation of the poll tax also played a negative role which greatly changed the status of farmers for it strengthened the farmers dependence on landlords. The poll tax also made the farmers living in the land of landlords become slaves. Peter the Great ever said as long as the price was greatly raised， more things would be obtained. Beside the poll tax， the government also stipulated all kinds of harsh duties， which the farmers had to corvee for the landlords and government. However， because of the implementation of the poll tax， other hard duties were greatly reduced， like the duties in the shipyard， roadwork and canal work. In order to avoid the heavy burden of all kinds of harsh duties and corvee， many farmers chose to flee.

1 ?A taxation and corvee system established in the Ming Dynasty