Liu Haojia was eating at home when he received the news in Tianjin. After reading the secret letter sent, he sneered a few times and then threw the letter on the table. Zhang Peijia took the letter and read it with Tan Cuiying and said, "Brother, if the officials in the court are so hostile to me, it will not be good if it continues for a long time!"
But Liu Haojia said nonchalantly: "So what? I think the excitement is too light! My sister has lent me a group of accountants these days, and I want to plan the tax collection in Tianjin and the canal!"
Liu Haojia's words shocked both Zhang Peijia and Zhang Peijia! Tan Cuiying said: "Master Hou, the matter of Magistrate Sun has just settled down in the court, and you have brought up a second matter. Why are you going against those officials?"
Liu Haojia said: "I think it just doesn't stimulate them enough! Once they get used to it, they won't say anything anymore!"
Zhang Peijia and Zhang Peijia were not worried at all when they heard this, because they were both used to being married to each other. It was Liu Haojia who killed people and they were looking for clues, so the two of them directly discussed the deployment of personnel.
Soon after, Liu Haojia's memorial was sent to the court, causing an uproar again! Because the memorial openly stated that he would increase commercial taxes in Tianjin! The reason is that after the opening of the sea, Tianjin attracted many merchants. The merchants in Tianjin made a lot of money through their fiefdoms, but they refused to pay a penny in taxes. This is wrong and must be changed!
The second is that the canal is maintained by the police to open up water transportation. But now, the cargo is being carried away by officials and merchants at all levels. Not only are these commercial taxes being evaded, they also affect canal water transportation, so taxes must be collected!
Moreover, the tax rate set by Taizu was too low and is no longer suitable for today, so it must be charged according to thirty taxes per one!
Liu Haojia's memorial aroused opposition from all civil and military officials. The most violent opposition was from the civil officials. As for the nobles, they just followed the crowd and shouted twice! Because their most profitable business is with Liu Haojia, and they have already paid taxes when doing business!
In addition, although they still have a lot of business in other places, their profits are much lower than those of shops in Tianjin. Compared with the taxes paid in Tianjin, it is even more ridiculous, so it doesn't matter! Of course, it would also be a joy to succeed!
And the civil servants are like poking a hornet's nest here, with objections rising one after another! You know, this is not a question of how much tax to pay, but whether to pay tax!
Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, gentry and scholars have never paid taxes. If this hole was opened, wouldn't all gentry in the world have to pay taxes? So this hole must not be opened!
However, they were opposed to it, but it was difficult to stop Liu Haojia for a while, because he wrote it clearly in the memorial, and it would be officially implemented two months later, and all the tax revenue would be handed over to the court without collecting a penny for himself. Moreover, the collection of business taxes has been around since ancient times. Even when Zhu Yuanzhang founded the country, there was a tax rate. Although it was a little lower, it was clearly recorded in the law books. So what the gentry is doing now is actually taking advantage of the power and power in their hands. There is public opinion about tax evasion, but if Liu Haojia is determined to collect business taxes, they may not be able to stop him!
So on the day when the memorial was received, almost all the civil servants who could attend appeared in the morning court. Everyone unanimously asked the emperor to refute Wu Ninghou's memorial and issued an order!
The reason why the officials were so angry was not that Liu Haojia had made any mistakes, but that they were afraid that their mistakes would be exposed and the emperor would find out about them, which would lead to bad consequences!
During the reign of Taizu, the world had just been peaceful. It can be said that all industries were in ruins and poverty was extreme! Since Zhu Yuanzhang came from a low background, he naturally knew the hardships of the common people, so he lowered the tax rate in the hope of making a living with the people and allowing the country to recover as soon as possible.
Objectively speaking, this approach did promote the restoration of national strength at the time, but it also had drawbacks. For example, Zhu Yuanzhang's arbitrary temperament was taken advantage of by civil servants!
In his later years, Zhu Yuanzhang became more violent and demanding on officials! One year, a county magistrate reported that this year's commercial taxes were overfulfilled. He originally thought he would be rewarded, but unexpectedly, he ended up losing his family!
After Zhu Yuanzhang saw his memorial, he thought that the county magistrate was extorting money from the people, so he confiscated a large number of merchants.
Tax, so this official was directly sent to the border!
But he didn't want to think that it might be normal for sailors to overfulfill their quota in the local area. Because the world has been recovering for a long time, commerce is naturally prosperous. As long as officials from various places work hard, it is very easy to collect all the business taxes, or even exceed the quota!
But most officials don't seek merit, but they can't get enough, so they stop collecting taxes once the tax amount is full, allowing some people to evade taxes in vain, and those who evade taxes are often the local wealthy gentry!
Some officials even deliberately collect less or no taxes. Instead, they write letters saying how poor the local area is and requesting tax exemptions and exemptions. But if the court really approves tax reductions and exemptions, I'm afraid it will let the big gentry go and exploit the common people, and then the money will go into private pockets!
As for the county magistrate being so unlucky, it is very possible that there were officials in the court who were secretly behind the scenes and treated him as a first-timer! Therefore, with the help of this matter, various places can collect commercial taxes more freely! He even deliberately lowered taxes to show his image of loving the people!
Therefore, officials from various places have many tricks to fool the emperor! Even if Zhu Yuanzhang set up a special Jinyiwei department to inquire about information, he might not be able to listen to all the information at the same time! And with this incident as the foundation, Ming Dynasty's business tax has completely collapsed!
By the time of the Hongzhi Year, the Ming Dynasty's industrial and commercial prosperity had reached a certain level, but the officials still refused to collect business taxes! At that time, a Hangzhou county magistrate placed a table in front of the county government office with a cash box and an account book, requiring business people to register and pay taxes on their own! In the end, it took more than three months to collect only a few hundred cents!
And this kind of idiotic practice of harming the public and enriching private interests was actually praised by the scholars at that time. This person was also said to have the style of the Wei and Jin Dynasties! It is simply the most ridiculous thing in the world! .
The reason why officials are reluctant to collect business taxes is because they can line their own pockets. The main reason is that they are from the gentry themselves. The gentry is the leading force in the Ming Dynasty's business. If they collect taxes, wouldn't it mean that they are taxing themselves? How can they be willing to pay taxes!
