Taxation and the Way of Yao and Shun

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English translation

Bai Gui asked, “What if I levy one part in twenty?” Mencius replied, “That is the way of the Mo people. In a state of ten thousand households, would it work to have only one potter?” “No,” Bai Gui said; “there would not be enough vessels.” Mencius said, “Among the Mo, the five grains do not grow; only millet does. They have no walled towns, palaces, ancestral temples, or sacrificial rites; no exchanges of gifts and banquets between lords; and no officials or administrative offices. Thus one part in twenty is enough. But to live in the central states while abandoning human relationships and having no gentlemen—how could that work? Too few potters would already make a state impossible; how much more so without worthy leaders? Those who want taxes lighter than the Way of Yao and Shun are great or small Mo; those who want them heavier are great or small Jie.”

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