The Tax and Grain Assessment and the Actual State of Local Gov-ernance in Ming Dynasty
The integration of official performance assessment and fiscal management through the evaluation of tax and grain collection was an essential institutional design for maintaining the operation of national finances in the Ming Dynasty.During this period,there were two significant adjustments in the positioning of this evaluation system.Firstly,during the middle and later periods of the Hong-wu reign,as the national tax collection policy shifted from expansion to consolidation,the purpose of the tax and grain evaluation gradually changed from pursuing the growth of total tax revenue to ensuring the completeness of the original quota,focusing on whether taxes and duties were fully paid or in ar-rears.Secondly,from the middle of the Ming Dynasty,due to local defaults and fiscal pressures,the central government altered the early Ming principle of equally valuing the welfare of the people and the collection of taxes and grain.Gradually,the completion of tax and grain payments became the central focus of local officials'performance evaluations.The Ministry of Revenue intervened,compiling de-tailed records of completed tax payments and expanding the scope of rewards and punishments to strengthen the evaluation process,thus resulting in a unified system of rewards and punishments that spanned from the provincial to the prefectural,fu(government),and county levels.On the other hand,in terms of evaluation standards,a flexible benchmark was formed that partially compromised with local collection realities while distinguishing between the priorities and urgency within the fiscal distribution.Under the later Ming Dynasty's system that prioritized tax collection assessments,local administrative pressures were mainly derived from the completeness of tax and grain payments.Conse-quently,the responsibilities of local officials and their focus of governance showed a trend of fiscaliza-tion.
official performance assessmentcompleteness of tax and grain paymentstax col-lection assessmentslocal governance
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维普
