| Samurai Movies (13) |
December 16, 2021
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| The Tokugawa Shogunate needed to develop a governmental budget, but their way of collecting tax was unique. Normally, central governments in any county impose taxes on their people and businesses. In his country, the national taxes are the income tax, the inheritance tax, the gift tax, the corporation tax, the consumption tax, etc. Municipality taxes are the resident tax, the property tax, etc. There are national tax offices in each municipality. The Tokugawa Shogunate didn't directly impose taxes on the 270 hans (clan/domain), and, of course, on their citizens. There were no central governmental office branches in each han. The Tokugawa Shogunate had their own lands like the other hans, they were called, 'Tokugawa 8 million koku'. They imposed a 40% to 50% tax on their farmers, when paying out their workers' salaries, who were called 'hatamoto' or 'gokenin'. They also had mines of gold, silver, copper, etc. around the country, to add to their treasury. In addition, although trading with  other countries was prohibited, the Tokugawa Shogunate could trade with China and Holland through a port in Nagasaki, which was run by the government. They could collect revenue this way as well. One unique way that the Tokugawa Shogunate created infrastructure projects without collecting tax was using the 'sankin-kotai' system. The 270 daimyos of each han, their families and retainers lived in Edo. So, the Tokugawa Shogunate asked each han to cooperate to make various construction projects in Edo. Some hans were ordered to construct some canals, some to build some temples, some even to build some castles, including the Edo Castle. Because of those construction projects, Edo's infrastructure and lifelines became elaborate. Because of a lot of construction in Edo, there were a lot of workers, physical labor, who came from various local areas, and so the population of Edo increased. They were mainly young single men, so new businesses started, like soba (buckwheat noodles) stands, sushi stands, standing bars, etc. (A bowl of soba was 16 mon, 1 mon equals about 20 cents in today's money.) They lived in a small room apartments with communal bathrooms. There were a lot of public baths here and there. (A bathing fee was 6 mon.) There was a lot of consumptions not only by workers, but also by the samurai from each han (remember, they emphasized their status). Therefore, merchants' businesses began to flourish. Although the Tokugawa Shogunate didn't charge taxes on them (maybe they didn't know how to charge taxes on them), but they asked them for "donations", which generated a lot of money for the government. Even in the present time, imposing a consumption tax is very hard. In this country, the first consumption tax was carried out in 1989. (To be continued ...) |
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No.459
*impose :課す
*inheritance tax :相続税
*corporation tax :事業税
*property tax :固定資産税
*treasury :宝物庫、国庫
*revenue :歳入
*canal :運河
*communal :共同の
*flourish :反映する
*generate :生み出す
*carry out :実行する