Post by g***@gmail.comhttps://books.google.com/books?id=kp6iDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT669&dq=%22Tax+remissions+and+tax+evasion+weakened+an+already+underfunded+government%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXkPfysOXWAhXIz1QKHfVeAyIQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=%22Tax%20remissions%20and%20tax%20evasion%20weakened%20an%20already%20underfunded%20government%22&f=false
The problem was not the tax problem but the change in the world economy.
What happened is that the Ming established a fairly good taxation policy at
the start, but they made few changes to it, as it was working for them.
Overtime this taxation regime became out of date and was firmly intrenched
and as such the tax revenue could not be increased rapidly when they really
needed these funds to face the Manchu.
Now the problem got interesting. The Ming increased the taxes to fight the
Manchu, as the Manchu conquered more they kept the increased taxes in place
which were designed to fight them. The end result is when the Manchu won,
the Chinese were paying for a cost inflated goverment.