Lijin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The lijin or likin (Chinese: 厘金 líjīn) was a form of local taxation in China, which was first introduced as a means of financing the largely locally recruited armies to suppress the Taiping Rebellion.

The likin tax was first introduced in 1853 by censor Lei Yixian in the area around Yangzhou as a way of raising funds in the campaigns against local rebels. As the central government was short of revenue, the imperial court sanctioned the tax and it quickly became an important source of funds for the campaign against the Taiping and Nian rebellions.

The tax was levied on an ad valorem basis on goods in transit and on shops, and rates ranged from 2 to 10 per cent. After the Taipings were suppressed in 1864, the lijin became a permanent feature of the Chinese tax system and it became an important source of revenue for local government, as China had lost its tariff autonomy after the conclusion of the Treaty of Nanking. In many ways, the tax signified the decentralization of state authority in the wake of the Taiping rebellion.

Foreign merchants in the treaty ports believed that the lijin tax was a barrier to the importation of foreign goods into China and a violation of the commercial treaties, which China had concluded with the West. Consequently, foreign merchants made a number of unsuccessful attempt to pressure the Chinese government to abolish the tax. The tax was abolished by the Chinese government on 1 January 1931.