Hangzhou Prefecture, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, was one of the richest prefectures in the Ming Dynasty.鴴
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, this place was known as the "granary of the world". Although the title of wealthy landowners was soon banned by Huguang, Hangzhou people relied on silk weaving, cotton weaving, printing, paper making, shipbuilding, wine making, tea making and other handicraft industries. It promoted the prosperity of Hangzhou's commerce, and the prosperity of commerce fed back the prosperity of the handicraft industry, and the handicraft industry continued to feed back... In a virtuous circle, the prosperity of Hangzhou Prefecture has become a bright pearl in the Ming Dynasty.
Interest and power are not separated. Behind the prosperity, Sun Yuchun, the prefect of Hangzhou Prefecture, is also making a lot of money. He recently built two new cellars, but the cellars were quickly filled with gold and silver. As a last resort, Sun Yuchun Futai was forced to build two more cellars.
Sun Futai is less than forty years old this year and has a bright future. However, after Sun Futai tasted the benefits of Hangzhou, he was unwilling to move up.
When he first came to Hangzhou to be the prefect, he thought he would earn a lot, but what he didn't expect was that he actually earned so much. Now Sun Futai is unwilling to leave. He is the prefect of Hangzhou Prefecture, and he is not willing to exchange the chief envoy for him.
At this time, Sun Futai was lying in the cellar, lying on the bed made of silver bricks. The surrounding walls were all made of silver bricks, enjoying the beauty brought by gold and silver.
He has more than a dozen such huge silver vaults, and the total adds up...
Sun Futai can no longer remember clearly.鴴
The money he earned in Hangzhou Prefecture could not be spent by his descendants for eighteen generations. Sun Futai didn't know what the use of earning so much money was, but he just liked the taste of money and would not be bored no matter how much money he earned.
Sun Futai is not an official fan. When he reached the position of prefect, he no longer had any desire to climb higher. He just wanted to continue to make money in Hangzhou Prefecture. With his strong backing, Master Sun was able to achieve the position of prefect of Hangzhou. I have been sitting here for ten years, with others watching eagerly, but I can't wait for Sunfu to rise to the top.
"Ding dong dong dong..."
The crisp sound of silver colliding echoed in the cellar, which was particularly clear. Sun Futai thought that the people below were transporting silver to the cellar again, and said lazily: "I told you, there is no more silver in this cellar. , send the shipped silver to the new cellar, do you have calluses in your ears?"
However, no one answered him.
Sun Futai trembled and jumped up from the silver brick bed. Only then did he realize that a group of black-robed sergeants with swords were gesticulating against his silver brick wall, as if they were counting.
"Who are you and how did you get in?"
Sun Futai's mind went blank at the moment.
Someone who looked like an official yelled, "Count them all clearly for me. If you count a missing piece, it's no joke to get ten levels of punishment. You guys will lose your heads!"
The official walked to the side of Sun Futai, holding a small book in his hand and a charcoal pen in the other hand to record. He waved to Sun Futai: "Master Futai, please go to another place to sleep. We are busy here, don't delay. We work."
Sun Futai was a little confused about the people in front of him. He thought these people were Jin Yiwei... If they were Jin Yiwei, Sun Futai's head would have been hanging on the wall of Hangzhou Mansion by now. But if we say these people are ordinary officials, there is nothing about these people that looks like ordinary officials.
….
"May I ask who you are?" Sun Futai asked tentatively.
The official counted the silver bricks seriously and replied casually: "Li Wenyu, the fourth-grade inspector of the Tax Supervision Department. Don't worry, Mr. Futai, we are not here to cause you trouble with corruption. We are here to collect taxes. As long as you don't We won’t do anything to you if you delay our tax collection.”
"Collect... tax?"
Sun Futai was confused, "I am a Jinshi and the prefect of Hangzhou. If you ask me to collect taxes, you must be asking the wrong person!"
"Master Futai was stunned by the money when he saw it, wasn't he? The law has been changed!"
A friendly reminder from the inspector of the Tax Supervision Department, "The new laws of the Ming Dynasty clearly stipulate that everyone must pay taxes, whether they are royalty, relatives, or literati with imperial examination background, they must pay taxes, starting at 10%, and black taxes at 30%. Fan, I did some calculations for Mr. Futai. If your income is just salary, you can charge a tax of 13%. However, in view of the tax you bear
The amount of negative black tax is relatively large, and this tax rate has been raised to 99%. "
"Beast, what the hell are you talking about? A tax rate of 99%, is that human talk?"
When Sun Futai heard the tax rate of 99%, it was too late to care about the nonsense that everyone had to pay taxes.
Is there anything more ridiculous than a tax rate of 99%?
Together, I earn one hundred taels, but I have to hand over ninety-nine taels to the court, so I can end up with one tael of silver?鴴
He felt that these people in front of him were all lunatics!
I am greedy for money based on my ability, why do you make me pay taxes!
The inspector of the Tax Supervision Department stopped what he was doing, touched his chin and said: "To be precise, 99% of the tax rate is an additional tax. With your level of corruption, you still have to pay the imperial court every month. The fixed tax of 20% is fine. It's not much. It's only 129%. Let me do a rough calculation... I raided sixteen of your cellars before, and the black taxes found out, plus the fixed tax, the total is ..."
"Well... I understand, Mr. Futai, I am now officially announcing to you that in addition to confiscating all your personal property to pay taxes, you still owe about 170,000 taels in unpaid taxes. May I ask what your personal property is? How do you plan to pay this tax in the future?”
"If you can't afford it, it's not a big problem. We allow you to use your salary as a mortgage. You are a fourth-grade official, and your monthly salary is equivalent to one hundred and forty-four taels. Hi, congratulations to Mr. Futai. You just need to pay more If you work for the imperial court for free for ninety-eight years, you will be able to pay off your debt to the imperial court!"
Sun Futai felt unable to breathe and fainted on the spot.
Crazy, all crazy!鴴
What kind of bullshit tax inspector is this!
What are they talking about?
After using all my assets to pay taxes to the court, I still owe the court a tax of 170,000 taels, and I need to work for ninety-eight years for free to pay it off?
…
On the carriage sent to Shuntian Mansion, Yao Guangxiao read the memorials sent by the provinces and sighed: "The noise this time is much greater than the previous redistribution of vassal fiefdoms. You are too impatient. Now the officials of the southern provinces, They are all opposing your reform of the tax law."
"Wouldn't it be enough to see the effect?"
Zhu Gaojie took out a document and handed it to Yao Guangxiao, "This is the half-month total southern tax payment table submitted by Lu Chaoyang. The tax collected in this half-month has almost caught up with the income of the Ming Dynasty's treasury in ten years. What is this concept?"鴴
….
The fact that the Ming Dynasty is not short of money now does not mean that it will not be short of money in the future.
The revenue of the treasury is composed of land tax and commercial tax. The land tax cannot be collected, and there are various tax avoidance and tax evasion. The business tax cannot be raised. What is collected is only the tax of some small businessmen. The big businessmen have many ways to evade taxes.
This also led to a problem. Except for Southern Zhili, the Ming Dynasty could not collect taxes at all in other southern provinces. It is clear that the south is richer, but the tax revenue in the north is several times that of the south!
Taxes in the North are higher than in the South. What is the concept?
The south is rich and the north is poor. This has been the truth since ancient times. The development direction of the north is mainly focused on the military. Even if the military garrison system can barely allow the military towns to provide for themselves, it can't provide much in return. There are millions of sergeants on the nine sides who have no time to develop. Business. With the nine borders in the north as a barrier, the south can freely develop its economy, but the annual tax revenue in the south is surprisingly low.
This is not because the South is poor, but because the intertwined interests are so deep-rooted that no one who is really rich pays taxes at all, only the poor.
Harsh taxes are as fierce as tigers. The poorer the country, the more severe the tax collection. The rich still do not pay taxes, while the poor become poorer and poorer. When the poor can no longer survive, the opposite will inevitably happen. The rise and fall of the country depends on this.鴴
Yao Guangxiao said quietly: "The empire is like a temple built on the top of a mountain. How high the temple can be depends on how high the mountain is. What kind of mountain is it? It is nothing more than local gentry and nobles. If the mountain collapses, How can the temple survive?”
Zhu Gaojie asked unhurriedly: "Do you think I am short-sighted and cannot see the long-term destiny of the country and only see immediate interests?"
Yao Guangxiao sighed: "Reforming the tax law has touched the foundation of the country.
It touches local interests, and it can indeed bring huge benefits to the country in the short term. But have you ever thought that the reason why literati passed the imperial examination is because the gentry is tax-free. But if you want everyone to pay taxes now, wouldn't it mean that the lifeline of the dynasty has been destroyed? The foundation is severed? "
This old monk is not short-sighted. If he had been short-sighted, he would not be where he is today.
He was not blinded by the benefits that tax reform brought to Ming Dynasty. On the contrary, he worried about gains and losses and thought about long-term plans. This is not about looking forward and backward, but about thinking long-term.
"I transferred the border troops from the north to the south to serve as tax inspectors in order to prevent the tax inspectorate and the tax inspectorates of the southern provinces from being co-opted by local forces. But this is not enough. The impact of the tax inspectorate is too great. , rebuking changes."
Zhu Gaojie tapped the paperwork with his fingers and said dullly, "So, I asked Lu Chaoyang to come to the Chief Supervisor of the Tax Academy because he was in charge of the North Town Fusi and South Town Fusi of Jinyiwei. The North Town Fusi was in charge of foreign affairs and investigations, and the South Town Fusi was in charge of foreign affairs and investigations. The Zhenfu Department was in charge of internal cleanup, and Lu Chaoyang knew how to deal with the corruption problem of the Tax Supervisory Institute itself. He established an internal tax department and investigated the officials of the Tax Supervisory Institute in central Beijing and the tax officials of the provincial tax superintendents. The tax officials were punished with more crimes. Even the tenth level cannot deter people's greed. In the face of huge interests, people's greed will be infinitely magnified. Only the constant threat of a sword can keep them rational."
"This is an internal strategy. What you are talking about now is external influence, so I will talk to you about external policy."
Zhu Gaojie asked, "In the tax rates of the new policy, there are black tax officials, and the tax rates range from 99% to 120%, and even 150%. Is this high? High. , because the taxes levied by the state have exceeded their personal wealth.
"But have you ever thought about why the tax rate is so high? Because the more black taxes there are, the higher the tax rate. The salary of ordinary officials and the court tax will not exceed 20%. Is 20% of the tax still too much? "
"I still have a way to deal with the problem you just mentioned."
Yao Guangxiao asked: "What method?"
Zhu Gaojie said lightly: "Raise honest silver."
Poor Atu
