Yu Kilchun’s Concept of Reform of the Tax System in the Korean Empire

Abstract

Yu Kilchun in “Semubu (Tax Department)” criticizes the trend of the tax system, in which the authority to impose and collect taxes had been taken away from the local magistrates and the isŏ class (composed of hyangni, local functionaries, and sŏri, petty clerks) during the Kabo Reform was once again returned to them. Yu Kilchun devised a concept of tax system reform on the premise of the reorganization of the administrative districts into the chu-kun-hyang-ri (state-county-district-village) system. Yu’s idea was to make myŏn (hyang, district) a governing administrative unit, placed under direct government control. To fund the operation of local governments, Yu proposed to create local taxes, chu taxes and hyang. Tax amounts were to be determined by local assemblies, chuhoe and hyanghoe, which were given the authority to deliberate on budget. The authority to review tax sources, levy and collect taxes was given to hyang, a small unit of administrative division. By imbuing this authority to hyang, Yu Kilchun planned to exclude local magistrates and the isŏ class in the tax collection process. Since “Semubu” discusses the reorganization of administrative divisions and local tax administration, as well as local tax system reform, the discovery of this text is significant, as it expands the range of the reform ideas proposed by Yu Kilchun, and furthermore the Enlightenment Party.

Keywords

• Yu Kilchun
• (稅務部)
• local taxes
• local autonomy
• (鄕會)