Changes in Taxation

At a glance

The theme on the map

11 events in this theme

1. AD 755Silla Village Registers

   Registers of the people, land, livestock and trees of four villages near Seowon-gyeong (Cheongju), revised by village heads every three years.

2. AD 935 – AD 943Policies of Taejo and the Ten Injunctions

   Wang Geon both embraced and checked the regional lords, pursued a northward policy, and left his successors the Ten Injunctions before he died.

3. 1391The Gwajeon Law

   Yi Seong-gye and the new scholar-officials abolished the magnates’ estates and enacted the Gwajeon Law, granting officials rent rights to land in Gyeonggi only.

4. 1444Sejong’s Gongbeop Land Tax

   Sejong fixed a land tax graded by six classes of soil fertility and nine classes of harvest.

5. 1608Daedong law

   Tribute in local goods was replaced by a tax in rice levied on land; begun in Gyeonggi, it took a century to cover the whole country.

6. 1635Yeongjeong Law

   Injo fixed the land tax at 4 to 6 du of rice per gyeol regardless of the harvest.

7. 1750Equalised service tax

   The annual military cloth tax on commoner men was halved from two bolts to one, with the shortfall covered by new levies on fisheries, salt and land.

8. 1800 – 1863In-law Government (Sedo Politics)

   For some sixty years after Jeongjo, through the reigns of Sunjo, Heonjong and Cheoljong, royal in-law clans such as the Andong Kim and Pungyang Jo monopolized power; the three taxes became corrupt and peasant revolts followed.

9. 1862Jinju Uprising

   Peasants in Jinju rose against extortion by the provincial army commander; that year uprisings spread to some 70 counties in the south.

10. 1871Household Military Cloth Tax (Hopoje)

    The Heungseon Daewongun levied the military cloth tax per household rather than per adult male, so yangban households also had to pay.

11. 1894 – 1896Gabo Reform

    A deliberative council abolished the class system and the civil service exam and overhauled government; the cabinet of Kim Hong-jip led it under Japanese pressure.

Key people

• Cheoljong1831 – 1863

  Twenty-fifth king of Joseon, raised on Ganghwa and placed on the throne by the Andong Kim clan; after the 1862 uprisings he set up an office to reform the three taxes

• 
  Gojong1852 – 1919

  Twenty-sixth king of Joseon and first emperor of the Korean Empire

• Taejo Wang GeonAD 877 – AD 943

  Songak magnate who served Gung Ye, took Naju, overthrew Gung Ye to found Goryeo in 918 and reunified the Later Three Kingdoms in 935–936

• Jo Jun1346 – 1405

  New Confucian official who drafted the Gwajeon land reform and helped found Joseon

• 
  Taejo (Yi Seong-gye)1335 – 1408

  Founder and first king of Joseon, formerly a general who fought Japanese pirates and the Red Turbans

• 
  Jeong Do-jeon1342 – 1398

  Neo-Confucian architect of the new dynasty who named the palace and capital gates; killed in the First Strife of Princes

• King Gongyang1345 – 1394

  Last king of Goryeo, placed on the throne by Yi Seong-gye’s faction; the Gwajeon Law was enacted in his reign

• 
  Sejong the Great1397 – 1450

  Fourth king of Joseon, creator of Hangul, patron of science and of the northern frontier

• 
  Gwanghaegun1575 – 1641

  Fifteenth king of Joseon who began the Daedong law and balanced Ming and the Later Jin; deposed in 1623

• 
  Yi Won-ik1547 – 1634

  Chief state councillor who proposed the Daedong tax reform

• Kim Yuk1580 – 1658

  Chief State Councillor under Hyojong who extended the Uniform Land Tax Law and urged adoption of the Shixian calendar and minting of coins

• 
  Injo1595 – 1649

  Sixteenth king of Joseon, enthroned by coup; endured two Manchu invasions and surrendered at Samjeondo