Taxation in premodern China

Other means of state revenues were inflation, forced labor (the corvee), and the expropriation of rich merchants and landowners.

[13]: 70 Guan Zhong (723-645 BCE) wrote that because taxation would reduce the people's wealth and make them dislike the government, it was better to obtain revenue by monopolizing the sale of salt, iron, forest products, and ore.[13]: 5 Confucian thinking generally held that taxation should be low.

[13]: 4  Discontent with these policies contributed to rebellion and ultimately the defeat of the Qin and establishment of the Han dynasty.

[13]: 4 During the Han dynasty, Emperor Wu (156-87 BCE) collected min qian (a form of business tax) from merchants, businessmen, and handicraftsmen.

[13]: 97  The penalty for evading this tax was one year of hard labor and confiscation of the entirety of a person's property.