546 MILITARY REFORM
recluse philosopher of practical learning. But what did that mean, especially since
the 1704 reforms were not the most radical program possible? That the officials
of the time were only slightly less radical than he, or conversely that he was
only slightly less conservative than they?THE REFORMS OF [7 I JCapitation Tax on Yang ban BlockedA JO percent quota reduction of the capital divisions and the half-hearted attempt
at a uniform two-p 'il tax rate did not succeed in eliminating the pressures on a
shrinking population of taxpayers to bear the costs of the whole military estab-
lishment. The quota reduction was only temporary in its effect because enroll-
ment of support taxpayers continued almost without interruption to the middle
of the eighteenth century. At the same time, tax evaders were still signing up for
lower, one p 'if service or escaping registration and taxation altogether. The reg-
istration of cxtra-quota students in government schools was also bccoming a
particularly egregious form of evasion.
In 17 [ I, Yi Imy6ng, one of the four Patriarchs executed later in 1722, a sup-
porter of Prince YOn'ing (later King Yongjo) for the throne, and heir to a tradi-
tion of practical statecraft in the Westerner faction that could be traced back
through Song Siyol to Yulgok, made the strongest argument to date for a per capita
tax on all adults (women as well as men) to provide a better and fairer financial
base of support for the military system than the current support-taxpayer sys-
tem. He cited as a precedent for this proposal the cash capitation tax used in the
Formcr Han dynasty, but he added the proviso that because of the cash shortage
in Korea at that time, cloth would be used instead. Although he would have ben-
efited the slaveowners by exempting slaves (contrary to Yu Hyongwon's plan),
only a limited number of high officials and their eldest sons would have been
exempted from the tax. Although he did not say so explicitly, Vi's capitation tax
would have separated military finance from military service by including women
as persons to be counted as subjects for the tax and by not requiring the yang-
ban taxpayers to enroll either as duty soldiers or support-taxpayers.
Six months later, after Sukchong had rejected Yi 's proposal and made his final
decision on policy, Pak Kwon, the assistant vice-mayor of Seoul and previously
an advocate of the household doth tax, offered his own amendment ofYi Imyong's
capitation cloth tax proposal by lowering the rate on men and women of good
status and taxing slaves at half the rate of commoners. He naiVely believed that
lowering the tax rate would eliminatc the resistance of yang ban to the proposal.
Both he and Vi, by the way, placed a lighter burden on slaves than Yu Hyongwon
had proposed.
Pak clearly stood against inherited privilege as he articulated his belief in equal-
ity as the fundamental principle of taxation. "It is clear," he said, "that in tax-
ing the people, one should be concerned about inequality and should not vary