812 FINANCIAL REFORM AND THE ECONOMYEven though the taedonR system might not have been consistent with the in-kind
tribute system adopted at the beginning of the dynasty, there was no better sys-
tem for guaranteeing sufficient revenues to the state without afflicting the popu-
lation. If only the government could have economized on its expenses and issued
funds consistent with revenues, there would never have been any need to worry
about linancial shortages. At the present time we have not been able to do this,
and [officials] want to raise taxes on the poor and starving pea,ants, or if not,
abolish a good law that has already been operating [effectively]. It would be a
mistake in policy to double the hardships of the people instead of offering them
relief. In general the problem is that there are standard limits on tax revenues,
but no limits on expenditures. If you fail to economize, you could raise taxes
every year and still not raise enough revenues. Yi Inhwan was only saying that
the local population did not want fa tax increase], but he could not understand
that the real way to spare the people [excessive taxes] was to economize on
expenditures. ,(>Finally, Han YOngguk found additional evidence about the popularity of the
taedong policy by citing the remarks of Royal Secretary Yi W6nj6ng in 1677 that
the people of Kyongsang Province were earnestly hoping for the adoption of the
taedong system to provide relief from tribute levies that were twice as bad as
any other province.S! Han concluded that the the taedong tax had proved suc-
cessful in Ch6lla, a province that was a crucial part of the financial base of the
dynasty. Later on, when the effects of the taedong system became worse and the
peasants came to think of it primarily as a new land tax and an extra burden, it
was not the fault of the system itself but the general decline of order and the dis-
ruption of the economic system.^82 Han also believed that the extension of the
taedong surtax over thiI1y years of debate was significant because the policy had
been adopted when the govemment sought to place priority on the wishes of the
people over the rich landlords, magistrates, and conservative officials at court.S3
CONCLUSION
Although the taedong system provided the basis for Yu Hy6ngwon's plan for a
thorough reform of the whole system of government salaries and expenses, his
account of the history of the taedong movement was fairly abbreviated. After
mentioning Yi Won'ik and the adoption ofthe taedong system in Kyonggi Province
in 1608, Yu only referred next to Kim Yuk's important role in extending the sys-
tem to Ch'ungch'ong Province during King Hyojong's reign in T6S T without quot-
ing any of Kim's now famous memorials to the throne, although he may not have
had access to them at the time. Yu did say that when the people of Ch'ungch'ong
demonstrated that they approved the reform, Kim then tried to persuade the king
to adopt it for Ch611a Province as well, but because of opposition among court
officials, Hyojong only applied it to the coastal region of Ch6lla.
He also explained that the taedong land tax rates in the last two provinces