TRIBUTE AND THE TAEDONG REFORM 807
rice tax (thirteen mal/kyol) on the lowlands was collected in the fall and winter
- a far too burdensome tax schedule.7° Since there were not enough revenues
to cover the miscellaneous taxes (chaby6k) and the rice taxes on land were too
large to raise further, the magistrates instituted new levies on individual house-
holds (inho). Pae Ki and his friends concluded by asking that the taedong tax
for upland ChOlla be abrogated so that at least a couple of dozen districts would
be given some tax relief.
Nevertheless, two governors of Cholla later reported to King Hyonjong that
even though popular opinion had always been divided on the merits of the tae-
dong system, evils developed in any law as time passed, Pac Ki's criticisms were
not sufficient justification for abolition, and some of the problems were not the
product of the taedong system. Even though it was unjust that large households
with several dozen adult males as well as fractional families of widows, orphans.
and single sons were all counted as single households. the population still
approved of the taedong system.^71
In ,663, Chief State Councilor Chong T'aehwa then reported that all but three
of the upland districts in ChOlla were opposed to the taedong law, and only one
of the five districts that had favored the idea in 1659 still felt that way. Third
State Councilor Hong Myongha also concluded that although the coastal region
favored it, the uplands were opposed. A battle broke out between Second State
Councilor Won Tup'yo, who demanded its abolition as always, and acting mayor
of Seoul Ho Chok, who wanted to preserve it. Nevertheless. since both ChOng
and Hong approved of the law in principle and opposed abolishing it in half a
province, they advised King Hyonjong to retain the taedong system in ChOlla.
Chong T'aehwa, however, pointed out that the commutation rate was no longer
realistic because cotton cloth had become more expensive and rice cheaper, and
he recommended raising the rice price of cloth in the commutation rate used in
the uplands from six and one-half to seven and one-half mallp' ii, a recommen-
dation that Hyonjong accepted in ,664. The increase in the commutation price
of cloth probably benefited peasants who were growing cotton and weaving cot-
ton cloth and selling it on the market to meet the demand for tax payments, if
not consumption, but raised the taxes paid by peasants who had to pay the tae-
dong tax in grain or buy cloth. When Hyonjong raised the commutation rate again
in 1665 to eight mallp 'il, upland residents of Cholla continued their opposition
while upland cloth weavers resident in Ch'ungch'ong Province now complained
that their cloth was now egregiously undervalued at only fivemallp.il. (On the
other hand, peasants who paid the taedong tax in rice or bought cloth to pay the
tax in Ch'ungch'ong enjoyed a lower tax than the residents of Cholla),72
Kim Okkiin has argued that a small increase in the taedong tax caused by a
change in the commutation rate would not be that onerous to small landowners
and cultivators, a dangerous underestimate of the sensitivy of the poor to tax
rates. In any case, the increase in the price of cloth also antagonized the rich
and large landowners who had to pay more grain to pay the taedvng cloth tax.
A rise in the commutation rate from six and one-half to eight mal/p 'il raised the