Page:Japan by the Japanese (1904).djvu/384

known. The feudal tenants also had not the absolute liberty of deciding for themselves what products to raise from the land they cultivated. Since each fief aimed at being self-sufficient so far as possible in its supplies, and the production of rice was everywhere considered all important, official interference was exercised sometimes in disregard to the aptitude of the soil. But the full proprietorship confirmed by the land-tax reform included as a matter of course the right of alienating or exploiting the land according to the free choice of the owner, so that the resources of the country might be developed and utilized to the best advantage.

3. As the basis of taxation, an official assessment of the value of land was made throughout the country. This accounts for the fact that rather a long time was required for completing the land-tax reform. Under the Shogunate the produce of land was the basis of taxation, so that the annual crop had to be officially examined from time to time. Not only was the process highly embarrassing to all concerned, but it was not calculated to insure a steady public revenue. The adoption of a new basis of taxation was therefore to be desired from all points of view, only the undertaking was one of tremendous magnitude, as may be imagined from the fact that the cadastration of land has not been finished or even attempted in certain countries of Europe. But the Government of Japan, impetuous for reform and progress, was strongly determined to overcome every obstacle in accomplishing it. In assessing the value of land, the annual amount of its net average produce for five years was first converted into money value according to its average price for the same period of time, and then the money value of the produce being considered as interest, the estimated amount of capital necessary for yielding it was regarded as the value of the land.^[1] By this method the official assessment of the value of land was completed in 1881, and it was revised in 1899 with a view to removing certain unfair inequalities, so that Japan has at present a cadaster of tolerable perfection.

4. The land tax was made payable in money, whereas under the Shogunate it had to be paid in rice and other produce. With this change the quasi-rental character of the land tax entirely disappeared, and its rate was fixed at a percentage of the officially assessed value of land. The burden of the agricultural population was also considerably lessened, for the tax on land was at first fixed at 3 per cent. of the assessed value, and in 1877 reduced to 2½ per cent., at which latter rate it remained till the recent slight increase of taxes as a part of the post-bellum financial programme.