"Half and half?"
The emperor chuckled, then shook his head: "Although the land tax is thirty-seven, the commercial tax is half, which is a big sum."
Wang Yingxiong said in a deep voice: "But there are too many people who are eating from the county government, and there are so many officials that there has never been in ancient times. I am afraid that the people's efforts are devoted to supporting officials. This will be a disaster!"
"Hmph!" After hearing this, Zhu Yixi was furious: "Are you trying to say that there are many officials but few people, and nine sheep out of ten are shepherds?"
He has been insisting on increasing the number of officials for many years. Naturally, he felt unhappy when others challenged him.
"Wei Chen doesn't dare!"
Wang Yingxiong apologized repeatedly, but his tone and expression showed lack of sincerity.
"When I was in the Ministry of Personnel, I calculated that now, the officials in the capital, who are considered to be assistant officials, have about six thousand people, and there are nearly 80,000 people in the local area."
"In the early years of Hongwu, the number of people in the country was only 20,000. Now the people are like those in the early years of the dynasty, but the officials are several times that number. Isn't it ridiculous?"
"That's because during the Taizu period, subordinate officials were not included, and there were no three elders."
Zhu Yixi looked unhappy and retorted: "Times have changed, how can we generalize?"
There are always rumors on the Internet about how strong local control was during the Qin and Han Dynasties. In fact, it is all nonsense.
At most, it is just a strong Guanzhong force that has been in business for hundreds of years. But when it spreads across the country, it will immediately pale in comparison.
A small country with few people, coupled with Qin's hundreds of years of governance, is weak. Even Zhao, after being tricked and killed 400,000 people, was able to raise 200,000 troops to fight against Yan. It can be said that it mobilized Not strong in ability?
Taking the Han Dynasty as an example, there were only a few dozen chief officials in a county, including food officials.
The three elders, li and pavilion chiefs were all local gangsters who were appointed and removed by the county magistrate. For example, in the late Qin Dynasty, Liu Bang was the biggest gangster in Pei County and was imprisoned by the imperial edict.
How is this different from the gentry in the Ming and Qing Dynasties?
Therefore, during the Han Dynasty, the ratio of civilians to officials reached an exaggerated 8,000 to one; in the Tang Dynasty, it was 2,927:1; in the Ming Dynasty, it was 2,299:1; and in the Qing Dynasty, it was 911:1.
As time goes by, the central government's control over local areas becomes stronger, and there are naturally more officials.
Even with a mere 300 million people in the United States, there are nearly 20 million civil servants, a ratio of 15 to 1.
"But--"
"Nothing to worry about."
Zhu Yixi interrupted him and said coldly: "You are the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, have you forgotten the rules?"
"Wei Chen, Wei Chen——"
Wang Yingxiong trembled all over. The emperor's words made him feel cold from the bottom of his heart.
"Okay, how much do you know about business tax?"
Zhu Yixi waved her hand, thinking about her sixty-two-year-old age, she felt a little soft-hearted for a moment: "Give me a seat."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Wang Yingxiong wiped his cold sweat and said:
"Nowadays, the commercial tax is 50-50 with the local government. As far as I know, each county receives as much as more than 10,000 yuan a year, and as little as more than 1,000 yuan, and so on."
"For places such as Jiangnan, it is naturally more than enough to cope with these officials today, but in provinces such as Guizhou, Yunnan, Gansu, and Shaanxi, there are fewer merchants and a lack of land tax, so deficits are inevitable."
"What a loss!"
Zhu Yixi sighed.
If the local government ran into a deficit, they would either stop paying salaries or temporarily withhold them from the taxes paid to the court.
This is extremely harmful to finances.
"Although commercial tax is good, it is mostly a thin stream. The prosperity of each place is different, and the merchants are not uniform. For some places, it is not as good as the land tax..."
"I know!"
The emperor was silent.
The prosperity of the commodity economy only has obvious effects on plain areas, but has no effect on those mountainous areas.
"The Ministry of Household Affairs is sorting it out. Prefectures and counties in the world will no longer be divided according to grain payments, but will be divided into silver yuan."
Zhu Yixi waved her hand and started to make amends: "Three-seven in the upper county, four-six in the middle county, and five-five in the lower county. Based on this, the Ministry of Household Affairs must do a good job."
After the Ming Dynasty, the classification of counties was no longer based on household registration, but based on the amount of money and grain paid. Those with grains below 100,000 shi were classified as upper counties, those with grains below 60,000 shi were classified as middle counties, and those with grains below 30,000 shi were classified as lower counties.
Now it is natural to create a new register and sort out the states and counties.
"Yes!" Having achieved his goal, Wang Yingxiong was quite happy: "What about commercial tax?"
"Business tax remains the same, still 55%."
Zhu Yixi hesitated for a moment, but did not change the proportion.
Although the Sanqi taxation in upper counties can increase the central government's revenue, it is not conducive to the prosperity of business and affects the initiative of local governments.
After all, where business flourishes, governance becomes more difficult and more money is needed to maintain it.
"Your Majesty, now that the Commercial Tax Department has been established, why not dismiss the Tax Department?"
Sitting in the position of Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, Wang Yingxiong made a decision and thought about abolishing the officials. He said directly: "It is really a waste to let them receive two salaries."
"No, the taxes are heavy. I asked them to receive two salaries, which is intentional."
The emperor flatly refused.
As early as the early Ming Dynasty, there was a Cang Section under the Thirteen Clearing Officials Division of the Ministry of Household Affairs. Under the Cang Section was a Tax Division responsible for the collection of commercial taxes.
The imperial court established taxation bureaus in counties and taxation departments in governments, which were collectively called taxation departments and bureaus.
But his status is quite low, only from the ninth rank.
During the shogunate period, the Commercial Tax Department was established to take immediate control of the county tax department.
Therefore, this is why the Commercial and Taxation Department has been able to collect taxes so effectively in a short period of time, because people are readily available.
"Well, Your Majesty, banknote customs is a pass tax and a commercial tax. If it is still collected by the General Administration of Customs, it would be inappropriate!"
Hearing this, Zhu Yixi blushed.
"It was just words back then, and there was a ten-year transition period for Chaoguan."
"I didn't expect that the customs would be so prosperous."
Wang Yingxiong shook his head and smiled bitterly. He was really careless at that time.
Commercial taxes are mainly divided into over-tax and residence tax. Over-tax can be called customs tax.
Every ferry crossing and checkpoint must have taxes.
During the shogunate period, taxes were sorted out, checkpoints and ferries were consolidated, and goods were divided into three classes.
The first grade is salt, and a monopoly system is implemented.
The second class is tea, wine, silk and other valuable consumer goods, which are subject to a heavy tax system, that is, ten taxes and three taxes.
The third class is ordinary goods, with a tax of one per fifteen, such as buying and selling cattle, grain, etc.
There are eight main categories of residence tax. Due to the changes in time, such as store tax and house tax, which were abolished, the Commercial Tax Department consolidated them into four categories after sorting them out.
That is, market stall tax, dental tax, deed tax, and miscellaneous taxes such as iron, wine, vinegar, and tea.
Market stall tax is business tax; tooth tax is levied on people; deed tax is a tax on the transfer of land and house.
The residence tax is different from the past tax. Because it is too large and detailed, it is impossible to draw points, so most of them can only choose a fixed amount.
Compared with the other three items, miscellaneous taxes are the mainstream of commercial taxes. The minimum tax is one per ten and the maximum tax is three per ten. Iron, wine, tea, and vinegar are daily consumption, and the consumption is huge.
"The slaves have not been exterminated, and a lot of money has been spent on the army. The Forbidden City is still being rebuilt, and the internal funds are insufficient. Let's wait ten years before saying anything!"
Zhu Yixi spoke righteously and quickly changed the topic.
"By the way, Suiyuan, Ningxia, Gansu and other provinces have been newly established. Henan and Shaanxi have been devastated by war, and there is no place left. I intend to create a new immigration department to be responsible for relocating people."
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