养廉银无以养廉——以乾嘉时期摊捐官员养廉银为中心的考察

The Nourishing Honesty Silver Couldn’t Nourish Honesty:An Investigation Centering on the Apportionment of Officials’Nourishing Honesty Silver During the Periods of Qianlong and Jiajing

雍正朝耗羡归公及养廉银制度的建立,是国家体制内一次"正其制度"的结构性改革,然其成效是短暂的。改革并没有改变低税收的国家财政,地方经费不足的问题无法从根本上解决。养廉银制度中公私界限的模糊,使制度自建立伊始便充当着"地方财政的储备银两"的角色。从乾隆朝摊捐养廉银之风兴起,到嘉庆初公私三七分割,再到以情急为借口的肆意摊捐,已掏空自督抚到州县各级官员的腰包。而由摊捐养廉银带来的官员低俸甚或无俸的政治风险,又导致官场腐败的加剧和国家钱粮的不断流失。嘉道年间各类名目的加赋、陋规重现于各省,然嘉、道两朝都已无法再复制耗羡归公的财政改革,养廉银无以养廉,是官僚体制内部改革无法解决的难题。

The reform of Haoxianguigong(耗羡归公)and the establishment of the silver honesty system in the Yongzheng period was a structural reform within the state system.The reform didn’t change the low taxation situation of state finance,and couldn’t solve the basic problem of local funds deficiency.Due to the blurring of public and private boundaries,the silver honesty system had played the role of"the reserve silver of local finance"since its establishment.From the reign of Qianlong to the period of Jiaqing,the rise of the apportionment of nourishing honesty silver had emptied the pockets of local officials at all levels,while the political risk of low pay or no pay engendered by apportioning nourishing honesty silver lead to the intensification of official corruption and the constant loss of state money and grain.During the periods of Jiaqing and Daoguang,various additional taxes and customary fees reappeared in many provinces,but the fiscal reform of Haoxianguigong(耗羡归公)could not be replicated.As a result,the nourishing honesty silver could not nourish honesty and it became an unsolvable problem in the reform of national bureaucracy.