Sejong’s Gongbeop Land Tax

Sejong fixed a land tax graded by six classes of soil fertility and nine classes of harvest.

In 1430 Sejong polled some 170,000 people, from officials to farmers, on a new tax law. After long debate, in 1444 he fixed the six-grade land classification and nine-grade harvest classification, setting the tax between 20 and 4 du per gyeol.

The old practice of inspecting each harvest had invited abuse by officials. Gongbeop wrote the standards into law, but grading the harvest proved cumbersome and land came to be taxed at the lowest grades, leading to Injo’s fixed-rate Yeongjeong law.