The ancient taxation system in China was as follows:

1. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period,

A large number of private fields were produced due to the extensive use of iron tools in agricultural production. In order to promote the transformation of land ownership from state-owned to private ownership, various vassal States began to implement political reform. In the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong of Qi State "declined with the land" and Lu State's "initial tax mu". In particular, the "initial tax mu" in Lu began to pay taxes by mu, which promoted the change of cultivated land from state-owned to private.

2. During the Qin and Han Dynasties,

After Qin Shihuang unified the whole country, he issued a decree of "making the first place in Guizhou a real field", which made landlords and farmers with land declare the number of land they occupied and pay taxes according to their orders.

Han inherited the Qin system, and the tax system basically followed the Qin dynasty. However, Han and Qin were different teachers, and the rulers in the early Han dynasty learned the lesson of Qin's death and were forced to adopt the policy of "rest and recuperation". From the "fifteen taxes and one tax" in Emperor Gaozu's period to the "thirty taxes and one tax" in Emperor Wendi's period, farmers' tax burden was reduced, which made the productivity recover and develop greatly.

3. Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties

The more important tax system in this period was the land equalization system implemented in the Northern Wei Dynasty. In the ninth year of Taihe in the Northern Wei Dynasty (485), the Order of Land Equalization was promulgated, the main content of which was the system of land distribution according to the old population. But only the land owned by the state is allocated, and the original land of the landlord is not touched.

at the same time, there is rent modulation, that is, farmers who are receiving farmland in Juntian must pay a certain amount of rent to the state every year. Rent, that is, land rent, pay grain; Transfer refers to household tax and payment of silk or cloth.

4. Sui and Tang Dynasties

The Sui Dynasty always followed the rent modulation of the Northern Wei Dynasty. On the basis of the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty reformed the tax service system with the idea of being frivolous and generous, and implemented the rent-to-mediocrity system. Rent-for-hire system stipulates that adult men pay a certain amount of grain to the government every year, which is called "rent"; Paying a certain amount of silk and cloth is called "adjustment"; During the corvee service, those who don't go to service can pay silk or cloth instead, which is called "Yong".

in the late Tang dynasty, the land equalization system was destroyed and the state promulgated two tax laws. Every household pays household tax according to assets, pays local tax according to fields, and cancels rent adjustment and all miscellaneous taxes and chores; Taxes are paid twice a year in summer and autumn.

5. During the Liao, Song, Xia, Jin and Yuan Dynasties

During this period, the important tax systems were the square field average tax law and the levy law in Wang Anshi's political reform. The average tax law of farmland means that the government re-measures the land and collects taxes according to the amount of land occupied by each household, and bureaucratic landlords are no exception.

Conscription law refers to that people who should serve but are unwilling to serve collect exemption money and hire people to serve. Bureaucratic landlords who do not serve also have to pay. This reduces the differential burden on farmers and ensures the production time.