La « compensation après-vente » (zhaojia 找價) au Jiangnan sous les dynasties des Ming et des Qing. Étude de cette pratique à travers l’évolution de la taxation des transactions foncières

Abstract

The emergence and spread of the practice of “after-sale compensation” (zhaojia 找價) under the Ming and Qing dynasties was driven not only by rising land prices and regulation of resales, but also by changes in the system of taxation of land transactions, notably in the tax rate. Some previous studies have suggested that a 3% tax rate on these sales was maintained throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties ; however, the government in fact lowered the taxes on these transactions at the beginning of the Ming. In the mid-and late Ming, the tax rate was intermittently restored to 3%, depending on the state’s financial exigencies. In the mid-Qing a more rigorous system of the “notarization” of base contracts, and afferent acts drawn up simultaneously with them, was established. The development of the practice of after-sale compensation thus coincided with changes in the system of both fiscal acts and taxation rates. From several of the extant after-sale compensation contracts, notably separate contracts to arrive at an irrevocable sale in urban property sales, it is clear that the practice of after-sale compensation was aimed at avoiding paying tax.