晚清臺灣釐金、子口稅與涉外關係(1861-1895)

本文所討論的主題是1861至1895年間，臺灣政府在實施釐金與子口稅制度過程中，隨著政治、經濟、社會變遷的影響，產生的階段性轉變。在制度轉變的過程中，商人反應如何，以及商人反應又如何影響政策的改變，這些改變又有什麼樣的歷史意義。本文研究成果主要有三：第一，透過對釐金制度的觀察，釐清晚清臺灣貿易活動與國家稅收兩者間的互動。並藉由對晚清兩次釐金改革的比較，本文指出，隨著貿易日盛，釐金在地方財政稅收中扮演的角色愈顯重要，國家對釐金控制的力量亦逐漸增強，管理方式亦愈趨細膩。從臺灣當局將稅制由從量稅改為從價稅的方式，即可印證臺灣官員了解臺灣主要出口商品具有高單價的條件而進行的稅制改革。第二，過去研究認為，釐金的抽收增加華商成本，對華商的活動及華貨的流通都有不良影響；而洋商在子口稅特權保護下，可傾銷洋貨並搜括土貨，使洋商在與華商的競爭中佔居優勢。本文則指出，由於臺灣釐金與子口稅金額通常是一致的，當政府嚴格執行釐金與子口稅制度時，反而促成華洋商人公平競爭的局面。且由於臺灣南北各地抽收釐金的稅率不同，華商用來載運貨物的中式帆船可選擇釐金稅率低的口岸進行貿易活動，釐金的出現反而使得中式帆船在面臨西式輪船的競爭下，有了生存的機會。第三，從本文的討論來看，華洋商人呈顯出有合作，也有競爭的面向。與洋商有合作關係的華商通常是商品生產者、中介者和買辦；有競爭關係的則是同樣進行出口貿易的華商，尤以中式帆船載貨進行兩岸貿易的華商為主要競爭對象。

關鍵字

釐金；子口稅；涉外關係；洋商；領事

並列摘要

The theme in this study is to discuss how the changes in the process of Taiwan local government affected the systems of Likin and Transit dues in 1861-1895. During the changing process, what is the merchants' response, how the merchant's response turn around to influence the policies and what is the history meaning of these conversions are under discussion. There are three main results of this study: firstly, it is clarify the interaction between trade and tax by the observation of the Likin System of Taiwan in late Qing dynasty. By comparing the twice Likin reformations, this study pointed out that as the trade flourishs, likin would plays the more important role in local finance, and the state's power to control likin also gradually increased, and the state's management of likin would be more meticulous. Because Taiwan's officials understood that the exported goods of Taiwan have the speciality of high unit price, they put the Likin from specific tariff to ad valorem tariff. Secondly, Previous researchs indicated that likin would increase the cost for Chinese merchants, and it had a detrimental effect for Chinese merchants and goods. The foreign merchants who were under the protection of the Transit dues privilege can dump foreign productions and fleece local productions. It makes superiority of the foreign merchants over the Chinese merchants. This article pointed out that Likin and Transit dues were usually equivalent in Taiwan. So when the local government enforced the systems strictly, it contributed a fair competition to Chinese and foreign merchants. And because the tax rates were different between north and south of Taiwan, the Chinese merchants with junks could choose the port where the tax rate was lower to take trade activities. The emergence of likin made junks have survival opportunities when they met the competition with western ships. Thirdly, from this article’s discussion, it displayed cooperation and competition relations between Chinese and foreign merchants. The Chinese merchants who cooperated with the foreign merchants are the producers of commodity, agents, and compradors. The Chinese merchants who competed against the foreign merchants were the export traders, especially the traders who made the cross-strait trade.