Mencius said: "By changing their fields and reducing their taxes, the people can become rich." [1] In Mencius' view, the ruler can only reduce punishments and collect less taxes so that the people can have enough time. Only by carrying out in-depth cultivation and careful work to allow the people to live a prosperous life can we gain the sincere support of the people, strengthen the national power, and stabilize the world. In order to reduce the burden on the people, Mencius proposed different methods for different objects. For merchants, they should reduce their taxes, for merchants who are responsible for selling goods, they should not be taxed, for urban residents, they should be exempted from residential taxes, and for cultivators, they should only be taxed. They restored the well-field system and raised public fields together, so they no longer had to collect taxes from them. If this is the case, "the people of neighboring countries will look up to him like their parents" and they will be "invincible in the world" [1]. He also emphasized: "There are levies of cloth, levies of millet, and levies of force. A gentleman uses one of them and slows down the other. If he uses the second, the people will die, and if he uses the third, the father and son will be separated." [1] In short, Mencius It is believed that if the heavy taxes on the people are not reduced, people will starve to death, father and son will be separated, and the society will be in chaos, let alone social stability and the prosperity of the country and the people.

Source: Study Theory·中