Custom tax is actually a "flower donation", no matter how euphemistic it is. This is a kind of tax that doesn’t sound good, goes against “public order and morality”, and is quite politically incorrect. Therefore, during the Lingao period, some elders advocated the "abolition of prostitution." It's just the serious gender imbalance in the population in Lingao and even Qiongzhou Prefecture that gives sufficient reason to maintain this system.
However, when arriving in Guangzhou, the matter becomes more difficult - not to mention Guangdong, at least in Guangzhou, there is no serious problem of gender imbalance. After the main reason of "ensuring social stability" was lost, the abolitionist faction in the Senate became active again.
There are only a small number of elders who advocate the abolition of prostitution, and their motivations are varied. Some view the issue purely from the perspective of women's liberation and human rights equality, such as Du Wen and Ji Xin. There are also those who view the issue from a health perspective, such as those at the sanitary den - sexually transmitted diseases. This is a problem that has always been a headache for health clinics; and from a public security perspective, brothels have always been full of filth and are an important place for criminals to hide and sell stolen goods.
Although the Senate had different opinions on the issue of prostitution, for Wudaokou, whether to ban prostitution in Guangzhou was mainly an economic issue.
Although "yellow tickets" in the areas controlled by the Senate are currently heavily taxed, the total revenue from the "custom tax" is not high. Firstly, the number of women who voluntarily work as prostitutes is limited, and most of them are prostitutes from other places who have dispersed to Hainan for various reasons. Secondly, the current economy in the area controlled by the Senate is booming, and the male-to-female population ratio is seriously imbalanced, leaving women with minimal employment pressure. In the process of rectifying social order, the national police has also severely cracked down on traditional prostitution, such as personal debt repayment and human trafficking. Source channels, it is clear that those engaged in the custom industry must comply with the principles of "voluntariness" and "autonomy", further reducing the sources of prostitutes. Therefore, in general, the custom industry in Lingao, including Qiongzhou Prefecture, has developed greatly compared with before D-day, but the overall scale is not very large. The market appears to be very hot simply because demand far exceeds supply.
But Guangzhou is different. The prosperity of industry and commerce in this famous city in the south has naturally led to the development of "smoke-free industry". The scale of the prostitution industry is large, with many employees, and the annual consumption is immeasurable. Because the yamen in the Ming Dynasty did not collect flower donations like the National Government did. Therefore, the profits in this industry are extremely considerable. In fact, everyone knows that Ziminglou is essentially a "smoke-free industry" - in terms of the profitability of this enterprise, it is the highest among the state-owned enterprises under the Planning Institute.
Even the ancients knew this secret very well. It is said that after Zeng Guofan conquered Tianjing, he proposed to run a flower boat to the Confucius Temple to prosper the market.
One year before the liberation of Guangzhou, Cheng Dong sent Jin Zhijiao from the Cheka to Guangzhou on the pretext of "auditing the accounts." In fact, her main job was to secretly investigate Guangzhou's "financial resources." In this secret report within the department, there is a special chapter that mentions the prosperity of Guangdong's "flower industry" and the cash flow within this industry as well as the economic scale of surrounding industries. The report believes that the output value of Guangzhou's "flower industry" and its surrounding industries is likely to account for more than a quarter of Guangzhou's tertiary industry. It is an important source of finance and taxation.
This important source of fiscal revenue has not only been noticed by Wudaokou for a long time, but also the elders of the local system, including Liu Xiang, are also eyeing it. Therefore, the proposal to "ban prostitution" was opposed by them.
Ai Zhixin knew that Liu Xiang would never support the abolition of prostitution. There is no other reason for this. This is a ready source of wealth. For local governments that are stretched thin, there is absolutely no reason to destroy it. However, the cruel and vicious exploitation of the prostitution industry is also an important reason for the "abolition of prostitution" - after all, the elders still have to pay attention to some political correctness.
Therefore, Ai Zhixin estimates that Liu Xiang's "rectification case" is still the same as the reformism currently being promoted in Qiongzhou Prefecture and other places. It is roughly to implement the national police's "voluntary employment", "personal ownership", and "personal ownership" in the management of custom industries. The three principles of "freedom of movement" strictly prohibit any form of madam, leader and pimp. Promote "free employment" and "self-employment" and completely prohibit "slavery".
Sure enough, this was the tone at the beginning of the meeting. After Liu Xiang said a few words, Ai Zhixin interrupted him:
"I'm very pressed for time now, can I talk about the custom tax first?"
"I'm afraid not," Liu Xiang was interrupted by him, with a look of hesitation on his face. "The situation of the prostitution industry in Guangzhou is very complicated, and there are many types of businesses. If you don't explain it, I'm afraid you won't be able to formulate a precise of taxes.”
Ai Zhixin made sense when he heard it. After all, his understanding of Guangzhou's customs industry was based on Jin Zhijiao's report.
Next, Lin Baiguang will introduce the specific situation. The prostitution industry in Guangzhou is roughly divided into two systems: public and private. The public one is Lehu. Lehu is a pariah and a serious official. Their household registrations are all registered under the names of lifang at the prefectural and county levels. There is a dedicated director for management.
Although not all Lehu were engaged in prostitution, the jobs they were allowed to engage in, such as musicianship, singing, acting, etc., were all "low-level jobs" in this time and space, and they were both called "prostitutes", so the distinction was not strict. Because they have "official status", they must undertake various official errands for free, from playing music at ceremonies to accompanying officials and gentry in banquets and singing songs.
From this, government-run brothels also emerged. The brothels in the north and the south were very large. There was also such a brothel in Guangzhou, which specialized in receiving officials, gentry, and wealthy merchants. When Guo Yi is in Guangzhou, it can be said that he must go there several times a month - this is an important place to socialize with officials.
Although Lehu belong to the "Leji" and have a monthly salary of five pecks of rice, in fact they have not been paid for many years, and there is no such thing as "assignment of work". They basically make a living on their own, doing the music work that the government allows them to do. , prostitutes, actors and other occupations.
Lin Baiguang said that the composition of Lehu is very complex. Although they are untouchables, subject to social discrimination and an oppressed class, they are not too bad economically. Although there is no reward for accepting official errands, there are quite generous rewards; some Lehus open their own brothels, act as madams, and lead families, and some of them make a fortune.
Private ones are all kinds of brothels and private shops. Among the practitioners, there are those from Lehu and ordinary people.
In addition, there are a large number of Dan family water prostitute boats and flower boats in places such as Baietan. There are a large number of these prostitute boats, ranging from high, middle and low grades, and the situation is even more complicated.
"...The situation of the employees is quite complicated, but most of the brothel madams, leaders, and turtle slaves were born in Lehu. Most of them have been engaged in these industries for generations, but the source of prostitutes is much wider. If they do not settle in Lehu If you have the citizenship, you will be regarded as a good citizen after redeeming yourself."
"This system is really cruel." Mu Min frowned and said, "I remember that the Senate issued a legal order to abolish the untouchable status. Lehu's untouchable status should be abolished as well."
"This is not a problem." Liu Xiang said, "We are talking about rectifying this industry." He stretched his waist and nodded to Lin Baiguang, "There is a lot of black material in Lao Lin's place. In short, it is a dark old society. I There is no need to read the suggestions. If you are interested, you can take a look. Let’s talk about the specific purge plan now.”
Liu Xiang was very careful with what he said to avoid irritating Mu Min: Comrade Mu is of course a loyal and rational veteran comrade. Putting herself in his shoes, as a woman, she probably would not be able to calmly watch women being so cruelly ravaged and exploited. He wanted to make full use of her professional abilities without putting too much pressure on her.
The purge plan was formulated by Lin Baiguang and Mu Min. The first step was to conduct a comprehensive survey of the city's custom industries. This work is almost complete now. Relying on household registration and social surveys, the police station has mastered the basic situation of all brothels and some semi-private brothels in and outside the city except Danjia Prostitutes. The situation of some of the prostitutes on the water who have been moored in Baietan all year round has also been roughly understood.
"...Now we are implementing the license registration system for the entertainment industry. Within one month, all brothels and related practitioners must register their licenses. After registration, they will be issued business licenses and 'yellow tickets'. Those who do not register will be deemed 'illegal' Punishment." Mu Min said, "This step is to force practitioners to come out and register as much as possible. Brothels cannot escape, but a large number of private slaves are small in scale, with a small number of people, and their activities are very secretive. It is difficult for us to grasp them all in a short time. Use this method to suppress it.”
"At this point, you can actually collect taxes." Liu Xiang said to Ai Zhixin, "What do you think?"
Ai Zhixin asked: "I think the current registration system should be short-term, and it does not have a specific policy."
"Yes. Registration is just to have a more comprehensive grasp of the situation."
"Since it is not a long-term plan, we can adopt simple methods." Ai Zhixin said, "Poll tax and license tax"
Ai Zhixin explained that the head tax is very simple and the tax rate can be set lower. Because the duration will not be too long, there is no need to consider the reasonableness of the burden, and there is no need to formulate overly complicated tax brackets and collection rules. Just require each prostitute to pay a certain amount of tax every month. As for the license tax, it is levied on a registered brothel basis. It doesn’t even need to be divided, no matter how big or small, just collect a certain amount of yuan every month.
The advantage of this is that it can adapt to the current low-level collection. There is no need for grading and accounting in advance. There are not many loopholes to exploit in the collection process - you can collect as much as you send. As long as you can read and do basic arithmetic, you can collect it.
"In this case, the burden of taxation will definitely be placed on prostitutes, and their exploitation will be even more serious." Mu Min expressed concern. (To be continued.)
