“How are taxes going this year?”
In the Xiande Hall, Li Shimin asked without raising his head.
Many people want to be this emperor, but if you are a diligent emperor, it is really no easier than 996.
"Your Majesty, this year's agricultural tax is almost 40% lower than last year. However, this is due to the locust plague, and various places have issued tax reduction policies."
Dai Zhou, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, raised his hands and said that now that Arabic numerals and new calculation methods have been implemented, their Ministry of Household Affairs is at least much faster in statistics.
Li Shimin nodded, and then said: "Yesterday, Xihelou passed the Ministry of Civil Affairs and applied to pay one month's business tax. What do you think?"
"Pay business tax?"
"Xihelou applied for it himself?"
Several of the ministers whispered to each other. You must know that there is no so-called commercial tax in this era, only city tax and customs duty.
Therefore, Xihelou's initiative to apply to pay business tax is undoubtedly very unusual.
"I wonder how Xihelou plans to pay the business tax?" Fang Xuanling asked.
Li Shimin did not answer, but nodded with his pen to Dai Zhou, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, indicating that he would answer, and then continued writing at his desk.
"Prime Minister, my lords, Xihe Lou handed over an account book. It shows that their gross profit last month was more than 1,800 yuan. They proposed that they can pay tax on 30 yuan."
"Hiss...the gross profit of a restaurant is 1,800 yuan a month?"
"Sixty guan per day, which should be about the same based on Xihelou's business and vegetable prices."
"That's right. I had a guest from Luoyang the day before yesterday. They specified that they were going to Xihe Tower. One meal cost a lot."
"What kind of food did you order? Is it so expensive? I usually eat with three or five people, but it's not always the same."
Hearing Xihelou's gross profit, these ministers began to chatter again, and as they talked, they began to twist the building.
"Ahem, cough, cough!" Fang Xuanling coughed a few times, reminding them not to go too far, and then continued: "Thirty tax per yen means that you have to pay a commercial tax of 60 guan. Do you think this tax is too high? Low?"
In the Xiande Hall, almost all the ministers already understood.
Today, the emperor first asked about this year's agricultural tax. You must know that the agricultural tax has been calculated for two days in various places. How could your majesty not know about it now?
Then they discussed the business tax that Xihelou had to pay. When did the matter of a restaurant in Chang'an City come to the Xiande Hall for discussion?
Are you still asking to pay business tax?
I am afraid that all of this was discussed long ago by His Majesty, the Minister of Civil Affairs and the Prime Minister, and the purpose is to start collecting this business tax.
If you think about it, you can understand that although Xihe Restaurant is the most popular restaurant in Chang'an, other restaurants, even if they are not as good as Xihe Restaurant, are still half, one-third, one-fifth, one-tenth of his level. Yes?
Assuming that a restaurant can pay six guan on average, hundreds of large and small restaurants in Chang'an can pay several thousand guan.
What about all the restaurants in Datang?
What about shops other than restaurants? Garment shops, grain shops, blacksmith shops, etc. If each of these shops pays commercial tax, then it will naturally be an extremely huge tax revenue.
Your Majesty is tempted by this matter.
"I object!"
"I am also opposed to this. This move is absolutely unacceptable!"
Some were silent, and of course some were opposed.
When Li Shimin heard the objections below, he still did not raise his head and was dealing with his own affairs. He just said in a nonchalant manner: "Tell me the reasons for your objections."
The officials below could no longer hear his joy and anger. The few who objected looked at each other, and then a member of the Ministry of Civil Affairs stood up and said: "Your Majesty, this is not in line with the ancestral system. Since the Sui Dynasty..."
Before he could speak, he saw Li Shimin raise his head for the first time, looking at him with a pair of eyes that seemed to be smiling but not smiling, causing his words to come to an abrupt end.
"Haha, Wang Yuanwailang is seventy this year, right? It's rare that he still remembers the laws of the Sui Dynasty..."
Li Shimin paused for a moment, and then asked slowly: "So according to the ancestral system of the Sui Dynasty, does it mean that it is not my turn to be the emperor?"
The Wang Yuanwai Lang was so frightened that his legs weakened and he knelt down directly: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty, I... I don't mean this!"
"Get up!" Li Shimin shook his head, stopped looking at him, and continued to criticize things with his head down: "Wang Yuanwailang is so old, sometimes there will inevitably be some oversights in what he thinks and does, so why not go home and take care of yourself? How is the year going?"
The Wang Yuanwai Lang stood up tremblingly, lowered his head and said, "Wei Chen accepts the order."
"Okay, who else objects? Tell me why?" Li Shimin's majestic voice echoed in the Xiande Hall.
"Wei Chen...Wei Chen feels that this move will inevitably increase the burden on the people. They all say that a family that receives a salary is just a living wage, and does not compete with the people for industry. Then the benefits can be distributed evenly, and the people can have enough. This is the principle of heaven, And it’s also the ancient way.”
"Well, that makes sense!" Li Shimin raised his head and looked at the speaker: "Zheng Shilang of the Ministry of Rites, the Zheng family of Xingyang has the most people who passed the imperial examination. He really memorized this book well."
"If I remember correctly, Xingyang should be rich in persimmons, right?"
"Your Majesty, there is a saying that persimmon frost cake is unique to Xingyang."
"Yeah, but I also heard that as long as in Xingyang, Zheng's shop can sell persimmon cakes, but the common people can't do it. I wonder if this is the case? I wonder if this counts as competing for profits with the people?"
The Minister of Rites, Zheng Shilang, was sweating. He hesitated and said: "Then... that..."
After hesitating for a long time, I couldn't think of an explanation. After all, His Majesty said so, and he probably had evidence in his hand.
The people who stood up this time were from the Wang family in Taiyuan in the front, and from the Zheng family in Xingyang behind.
The reason why they stopped Li Shimin was also very simple. Could it be that this wealthy family accumulated money by relying on the farmers to dig food in the fields?
On the one hand, they looked down on businessmen and divided the social classes into scholars, farmers, industry and merchants, with businessmen at the bottom.
But on the other hand, they relied on extremely low tariffs and city taxes to engage in commercial activities to make money.
Now that the imperial court wants to collect taxes, it is the same as shaving meat from them. How can this be agreed?
"Your Majesty, they say that wool comes from the sheep. This will impose taxes on businesses and raise prices for businesses. These will inevitably be passed on to ordinary people, and won't they increase the burden on the people invisibly?"
Li Shimin looked at Dr. Zuo Jianyi who was speaking. If he remembered correctly, this person should be Fan Yanglu.
However, he had long been prepared for these aristocratic families to jump out. He smiled and said, "Finally someone said something useful."
"You are right. This world has always belonged to the people. Wei Xuancheng told me: A king is a boat; a person is water. Water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it."
“So we really can’t increase the burden on the people!”
Dr. Zuo Jianyi smiled slightly, he had to do this by himself.
