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Show CHINA'S UNIQUE LIKIN TAX Some Interesting Information re-caidlnp re-caidlnp China's unique llkln tax appears ap-pears In Commerce reports from the pen, of Commercial Attache- A. W. Kerrln, Peking. Mr. Ferrm writes: The llkln (II, one-thousandth; kin,' gold or money) was originally a tax of ono-tenth of 1 per cent of the value of tho goods when It was first Imposed, about 1853, but today its amount is, apparently, determined uibltrarlly by the collector. At the same time "llkln barriers" have grown In number till now they are found at all largo towns and up and down all tho rivers and other tnorj. oughfares. Between Canton and Wu-chow Wu-chow there are no fewer than six of these barriers, each Involving payment pay-ment of duties, delay and worry, vexations, if not ruinous hindrances to the free flow of trade. According to a letter published In the Peking Dally News of December 12, 1917,' tho conktnn( repetition of the tax Is primarily responsible lor the high price of Chinese tea. Starting Start-ing with tho cost of 5 cents per pound at the point of production in the interior, in-terior, when tho seaport Is reached, after passing soveral of those barriers bar-riers It Is worth GO conts n pound. Tho explanation offorod by tho llkln officials Is that tho'rovenuo is noces-sary noces-sary for tho upkeep of tho Chlncso army. It Is usual for both collectors nnd merchants to Ignore tho olllclal tariff and to settle the llkln by a system of bartor. Foreigners have tho advantage over ov-er natives In that by treaty thoy can pay a tnx of 2 1-2 per cont ad valorem val-orem nt tho port of ontry in addition addi-tion to the regular customs duty of 6 per cont and thereby securo for tholn goods exemption from .further taxation in transit to tho interior and If the interior destination Is a. treaty port thoy can send them 'V " " 1l W IWII W 1V - i i i , . . there without paying the additional 2 1-2 per cent. Some native guilds have succeeded In making agreements agree-ments with tho official whereby they pay, say 3 per cent at the point of departuro and 2 per cent more at each barrier, but tho vast majority of traders must make arrangomonts (with each collector. Total llkln pay-1 pay-1 ments on a cargo carried a considerable consider-able distance may easily amount to more than the original valuo. China officially recognteod the evil of tho llkln system In Article VIII of tho Mackay treaty with Great Britain signed in September, 1902, and agreed to abolish the llkln burrlers in return for permission to place a surtax on foreign Imports and exports ex-ports and a consumption tax on Chinese Chi-nese goods not Intended for export; but as the consent of othor foreign powers was necessary to the enforcement enforce-ment of this provision, It has not come into operation. The abolition of tho llkln Is complicated com-plicated by the fact that the llkln revenues of certain provinces are pledged under foregn loans and certain-amounts are remitted to Peking Pek-ing for specific purposes. It is to tho interest of the Chinese as well as of other nations, that some way Tie found to loform, It not to abolish this handicap to Clilneso commerce. Tho llkln waH also the subject or special regulations In tho treaties with tho United States, Japan and Pot tugar that followed the Mackay treaty with Great Britain, but as yet there Is much to bo doslred in connection con-nection with its abolition. |