On the Tax System of Western Han Dynasty and Its Enlightenment on Modern Tax Governance
The taxation of the Western Han Dynasty was roughly divided into tallage,land tax and corvee,which generally adapted to the economic and social situation at that time and became the source of the Zuyongdiao system in Tang Dynasty.However,it had serious shortcomings,such as failure to construct a proper supporting system,resulting in serious land annexation in the later period of the dynasty(which devoured the ideal system of Reduced Corvee and Taxes),Salt and Iron Monopoly,resulting in huge social costs(though it raised a large amount of tax revenue),and Physiocracy and Commerce Suppressing,resulting in exacerbated land annexation,thus resulting in a serious financial crisis.The enlightenment of the tax system of the Western Han Dynasty on modern tax governance can be described as follows:first,any system must be supported by relevant supporting policies in order to achieve the policy goal of good law and good governance of law;secondly,any system must be based on social ideal values,reflect common social needs and be tested by social practice to get a lasting vitality;thirdly,any system is limited by tax collection and management technology and capabilities,so that it is necessary to empower tax collection and management through modern information technology to improve the efficiency of tax collection and management,so as to promote the modernization of tax governance.
Tax System of Western Han DynastyTax GovernanceReduced Corvee and TaxesPhysiocracy and Commerce Suppressing
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