MILITARY SERVICE SYSTEM 547taxes according to whether some people are noble and others base," and he truly
believed that the T'ang tiao or household cash tax did not exclude men of high
status. II Since active officials like Yi Imyong and Pak K won perceived the T'ang
and Sung tax systems as more egalitarian than those of mid-Chason Korea and
were willing to cite them as precedents for making inroads into the tax-exempt
privileges of the yangban, they were participants in a shared discourse with so-
called practical scholars like Yu Hyongwon. Nonetheless, like the advocates of
the household cloth tax in 1682, their notion of equality did not extend to the
question of military service for yanghan, just the ability to levy a supposedly
status-neutral cash tax on all persons.
Yu Ponghwi also advocated that a tax-rate reduction from the current rate of
two p'il per adult male be reduced to one p'il as a means of lessening yangban
resistance to their payment of a new tax, but backed by a national census to pro-
vide information to calculate total revenues. Minister of Rites Cho T'aegu pre-
felTed simply to strengthen the system of investigation and registration of tax
evaders, including irregular or extra-quota school students.
Although Yi lmyong believed in the legitimacy of financing the military by a
general capitation tax, he noted his opposition to the household cloth tax
because it would be susceptible to comlption and could not be fine-tuned to take
into account variations in the number of persons per household. He astutely
observed that a registration campaign such as Cho T'aegu suggested would not
work because past history had proved it was impossible to find and register enough
untaxed adult males. He also argued that a household tax would still be opposed
by yangban even if the rate were reduced to one p'illhouschold, and it would
not yield enough revenue. It is hard to understand, however. why Yi believed
that yangban would be any less opposed to a capitation than a household tax.^12
Enrollment of Failed Students for Military Sen'iceDiscussion of major systemic reforms such as the household or capitation taxes
had almost become ritualistic because Sukchong showed no signs of reversing
his decision in 1682 to reject the household cloth tax, and the capitation tax on
yangban was only marginally different in nature. In this instance he expressed
favor for investigating and registering extra-quota students for military service
(instead of simply fining them) and for punishing incompetent magistrates-
a more radical challenge to yangban privilege than the fine on failed students
of 1704.
The final set of regulations adopted at the end of 17 T I closed loopholes in
administrative procedure and delegated responsihility to village officials and local
yangban under the village responsibility system for registration and paper work
governing runaways and deceased soldiers. Qualification tests for school stu-
dents and low-level military officers were required, and those who failed were
to be enrolled forthwith for military taxes, without any mitigating measures to
ease the pain - a second attempt at the measure King Injo had adopted in 1626