Land Tax Reform

The Meiji government implemented a reform of the land and tax system in 1873 (Meiji 6). This abolished the early modern kokudaka system of taxation and imposed a fixed amount of land tax on private land ownership. As a preparatory step for this reform, the government lifted the ban on land sales in 1872 and began issuing Jinshin land certificates to landowners, but in the middle of this project, the Land Tax Reform Law was promulgated on July 28, 1873. In the end, the results of the Jinshin land certificate survey were not used in the tax reform project, with a few exceptions such as Yamaguchi Prefecture. The Land Tax Reform Law completely abolished the old field tax law and instead stipulated that a land tax of 3/100 of the land price (land price) would be collected, and that the county and village taxes related to the land would be limited to one-third of the land tax. The law also stipulated that land prices should be calculated by capitalizing the profits from the land for one year at the interest rate customary in each region. However, measures were taken to raise land prices, such as setting necessary expenses (seed and fertilizer costs) at a uniform rate of 15% of the harvest, and limiting interest to 7% for owner-cultivated land and 5% for tenanted land. The method of implementing the tax adjustment gradually changed from the early method, which tried to set land prices based on the current situation in each region, to the status and village rank assembly method, which set land prices in each region under the government's jurisdiction in a balanced manner based on the government's planned average land price. The tax adjustment work began with the land survey for each plot, regardless of the results of the Jinshin land certificate survey. Next, village ranks for each village, and status ranks for each plot within each village, were determined by consultation among peasant representatives, and harvest yields were determined according to these ranks. During this process, local officials provided guidance and intervention to ensure that the average land price in each prefecture reached the planned amount. Land prices were then calculated from the determined harvest amount using the set grain prices and interest. The government adopted a policy of not reducing the new land tax below the old tax rate, and nearly achieved this goal. However, in 1976, three large-scale peasant unrests against the land-tax reform broke out in Wakayama Prefecture, Ibaraki Prefecture, Mie Prefecture, Aichi Prefecture, Gifu Prefecture, and Sakai Prefecture, and the government made a concession by lowering the land-tax rate to 2.5% from the following year. The land-tax reform project was completed for cultivated land at the end of 1980, and for forests and wilderness areas it was almost completed by June of the following year, 1981, and the Land-Tax Reform Bureau, which had been established in March 1975 with the aim of completing the project as soon as possible, also closed in June 1981. The peasants' rebellion against the tax reform was carried out in various ways, including peasant riots, petitions, lawsuits, and refusal to sign the tax reform agreement (village acceptance letter), but even after the project was completed, the peasants' demand for tax reduction was continued by the Freedom and People's Rights Movement. On the other hand, the government was able to secure a high land tax through the land tax reform and secure its financial base.

[Kunio Niwa]

"Study of the Land Tax Reform by Masao Fukushima (1962, Yuhikaku)"

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

1873年（明治6）以降明治政府が実施した土地・租税制度の改革。これによって近世の石高(こくだか)制による貢租制度は廃止され、私的土地所有を前提にした定額金納地租が課せられることになった。この改革の準備段階として、政府は、72年に土地売買を解禁し、土地所有者への壬申地券(じんしんちけん)交付を始めたが、この事業のなかばで、73年7月28日地租改正法を公布した。結局、壬申地券調査の結果は、山口県など一部の例外を除いて、改租事業に用いられなかった。地租改正法は、旧来の田畑貢納法を全廃し、かわりに土地の代価（地価）に従い、その100分の3の地租を徴収し、また土地に係る郡村入費は地租の3分の1以内とすることを定めた。そして、地価は、その土地1年の収益を各地慣行の利子で資本還元して求めるとの原則を示した。しかし、必要経費（種子・肥料代）を一律に収穫の15％と定め、利子を自作地は7分以内、小作地は5分以内に制限するなど、地価を高める措置が設けられている。改租の実施方式は、各地の現状に基づき地価を定めようとした初期の方式から、政府の予定平均地価額を目途に、管下各地の地価を均衡をとって定めてゆく地位・村位等級組立法へとしだいに変化している。改租作業は、壬申地券調査の結果にかかわりなく、一地ごとに土地丈量を行うことから始められた。ついで、村ごとに村位が、村内では一筆(いっぴつ)ごとに地位等級が、農民代表の協議で定められ、その等級に応じて収穫高が決定された。この際、地方官が、府県平均地価が予定額に達するよう指導干渉を行っている。そして決定した収穫額から所定の穀価、利子を用いて地価を算定した。政府は、新地租を旧租より減じない方針で臨み、ほぼその目標を達成した。しかし、76年、和歌山県、茨城県、三重・愛知・岐阜・堺(さかい)県下で地租改正反対の三つの大規模な農民騒擾(そうじょう)が起き、政府は、翌年から地租率を100分の2.5に引き下げる譲歩を行った。改租事業は、耕宅地では80年末に終結し、山林原野も翌81年6月にほぼ終了し、75年3月、事業の早期遂行を目ざして設立された地租改正事務局も81年6月に閉局した。改租に対する農民の反抗は、農民暴動のほか、嘆願上申運動、出訴、改租承諾書（村民請書）への調印拒否など種々の手段でなされたが、事業終了後も、農民の減租の要求は自由民権運動に引き継がれていった。一方、政府は地租改正によって高額地租を確保し、財政的基盤を確保することができたのである。

［丹羽邦男］

『福島正夫著『地租改正の研究』（1962・有斐閣）』

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