<論説>唐代人民の負担体系における課と税の意義 : 唐律の輸課税物と課税用語との関連

Abstract

唐代人民の負担体系は均田制時代には課と税の二種目があったが、前者は丁身にわりあてるものであり、後者は所得・収益から収取するものである。均田制時代は前者が主で、両税法時代になると後者が基本になる。この間において税制用語には種々のものが登場し混乱をきたすおそれもないとはいえない。本稿ではこれら税制用語を整理・検討しつつ、課と税の相違点および課より税への移行の考察をこころみることとした。

As I wrote previously in an article entitled "The Significance of 税 and 課 in the Ledgers and Registers of Western Wei" in the Far Eastern History Review, Vol. 20, Nos. 1 and 2, the appropriations from the people under the 均田 (Land Division) system of the Northern Dynasties period in China can be divided into the two categories of tax and levies. Similar principles of classification are applicable in the 均田 systems of the Swe and Tang Dynasties. Therefore, I would like to discuss the taxes and levies of the Tang period as an extension of my previous article. As the Tang period was the period of the breakdown of the 均田 system which had continued and developed from the time of the Northern Dynasties, and the period of the appearance of a new system of taxation called the 両税法 (Two-Tax System), the relation between the old and new systems as well as the problem of 税 and 課 must be considered. But the general discussion of 均田 and 両税 systems involves many problems with wide ramifications and therefore, in this article I have confined myself mainly to a discussion of the terminology of the taxation system. To enumerate the main points : 1.) Terms such as 課役, 課調, 課物, and 課 itself in the 唐律 (Tang Laws) and 疏議 (Commentaries) signify exactions in kind for various taxes or labour levies. 2.) 資課 is generally considered to refer to payment of money for relief from the labour levy, and as this was applied as part of the salaries of officials, their salaries came to be known as 課料 and 官課, and later offiicial incomes were called 官課 and 課利. 3.) 課 was levied against 丁身 (adults) and was fixed at a certain rate by the Laws, while 税 was levied against income and profits from fixed or other assets. 4.) Even though the 両税法 maintained a fixed total revenue from all taxation, as the object of taxation shifted from individuals to household property, the old form of legally equalized levies against individuals disappeared. That is, 賦 (tithes) and 課 (levies) gave way to 税 (taxes). 5.) However, as the levies of both central and provincial governments, whether in the form of tithes or taxes, were both actually maintained at fixed totals, from this point of view they were similar in nature. Perhaps this is the reason why both taxes were called either 賦税 or 税賦.