"Tax system?" Lao Zhu frowned.
"Fifth brother, I'm afraid you forgot." Zhu Biao reminded. "Last year, after discussing the issue of land annexation, my father had already issued a decree in public in the court to change the tax system, requiring that from now on in the Ming Dynasty, the gentry must pay the grain as one."
"This year we can barely cope with the war on both sides, precisely because of the extra food tax. Otherwise, even if Yunnan is captured, the remaining army will probably not have enough food to survive."
"Although a lot of things were wasted in order to collect more tax grains. Fortunately, with this part of tax grains, our Ming Dynasty failed to fulfill Yuan Ting's wishes and successfully swallowed Yunnan." Lao Zhu also explained. When the idea that the gentry and the gentry should pay grain as one body was proposed in the court, it was opposed by Wang Guangyang, who was the prime minister at the time.
Even though Lao Zhu used the emperor's iron fist to forcefully implement this policy, there were still some officials and gentry who delayed the deal out of luck.
However, Lao Zhu will not tolerate your bad habits. At that time, the Jinyi Guards directly went out to arrest those who refused to pay taxes. Once the person is caught, he will be thrown directly into prison and charged with being a member of Hu Weiyong's party.
You must know that Hu Weiyong was convicted of treason. For those big families who call themselves "farming and reading heirs", it is the lesser of two evils, and they will not lose their heads for a little tax and grain. Although I was dissatisfied, I finally gave in.
Only a founding emperor like Lao Zhu could do this kind of thing. If the emperors of later generations were to accept the food as a whole, they would probably have to deal with it like a grand ceremony for several years without making any progress. Thanks to these extra taxes and grains, Ming Dynasty successfully took over Yunnan, and the Northern Yuan Dynasty's plan to contain Ming Dynasty and make it unable to go south was completely ruined.
"We have just begun to look at the integrated grain payment system. If we change the tax system at this time, I'm afraid it won't work." Lao Zhu said, touching his chin. "Besides, where else can we squeeze out money and food? Are we going to raise taxes? No way."
"When I say start with the tax system, I don't mean agricultural taxes." Zhu Su said. "Since the state is facing difficulties, why not increase commercial taxes?"
"Commercial tax?" Lao Zhu's pupils shrank slightly and he touched his chin and thought for a while.
"When we first founded the country, we also thought about whether to re-levy commercial taxes." He said.
"It's just that after thinking about it for a while, I gave up. The Beiyuan plundered for a hundred years, and the world was in ruins. The people finally had some food and clothing, and it would be unkind to do a small business and then charge heavy taxes. There are people who argue with the people. Suspicion of profit."
"Besides, it is easiest to levy commercial taxes with clever names. If the court imposes heavy taxes, the tax collectors below will inevitably impose excessive taxes." Zhu Biao also added.
"For example, in the Song and Yuan dynasties, there were so many names of tax collectors that are rare in ancient and modern times. When buying and selling melons and fruits, you need to collect melon and fruit tax, persimmons need to be charged persimmon tax, dates need to be charged date tax... Even eating and drinking, there is also a food tax."
"Instead of doing this, it is better to do less corvee and less tax, and leave benefits to the people. This is the good governance of our Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Su nodded, he could understand. The commercial tax in the Ming Dynasty was about thirty taxes per one, in addition to city gate tax, gate tax, tooth tax, deed tax, etc. These zero and total miscellaneous taxes are already the limit that ordinary people who do small business can bear. After all, everything is in ruins now, and almost every family has little leftover food. Occasionally, ordinary people manage to save some money to start a small business. If the tax is too heavy, they will indeed be careless about cleaning up.
It's just... things in business are not as simple as they seem. Zhu Su said: "It is naturally good not to compete with the people for profit. It's just that you just said that because the world is in decline, heavy taxes cannot be imposed... I don't think you agree with this."
"If the world is in decline, does commerce have to be in decline as well? This time I went to Suzhou to cure the floods in Taihu Lake. Suzhou's wealthy businessmen went so far as to stock up on tens of thousands of dan of food every household. The total is enough to support the people of the city for more than a year!"
"You must have experienced it with your own eyes, parents. In times of disaster, rich people buy land at low prices and then sell grain at high prices."
"It's not just food. In years of disaster or turmoil, when everything is in short supply, there will always be someone who can make a big profit. This is called 'the country is in dire financial straits'. When the country is in dire straits of wealth, the profits gained are often dozens of times greater than in ordinary days."
"Dad, you think that by not imposing heavy taxes, you are not competing with the people for profit. But in fact, the richer the family, the more they can accumulate wealth in this lean year."
"After all, the number of ordinary people doing business is only a minority. Those who really occupy the majority of business will not be affected by the world at all!"
"The national treasure is in jeopardy..." Lao Zhu was stunned. He once again realized that his thinking had fallen into a misunderstanding. Not to compete with the people for profit... This is indeed my original intention, but Lao Wu is right, no matter how depressed the world is, it will not affect the fortunes of those big families!
By levying light business taxes, are you protecting the people, or are you enriching the big families?
"...We were deceived." Lao Zhu suddenly gritted his teeth and his face became angry. He recalled the comments made by officials when this policy was formulated.
At that time, Korean Gong Li Shanchang, who was the prime minister, was the first to say: "I thought that the business tax should be lightened. After all, the people are already in a difficult situation. If miscellaneous taxes are heavy, it may be suspected of competing with the people for profit."
Behind him, all the officials responded, quoting scriptures, and all of them spoke eloquently.
"That bastard who is not a son of man..." What else does Lao Zhu not understand at this moment? The so-called light levy of business taxes, isn't it just the pockets of officials like them?
If you can serve as an official in the court, which family does not have dozens of shops and hundreds of acres of fertile land?
Those high officials are the spokespersons of those big landlords!
This thirty-one tax, but I thought it was good governance with light corvee and low tax...another bad governance left to future generations!
"Chongba, don't be angry. Now that we know about the mistakes, let's fix them one by one." Queen Ma advised from the side. There was also a coldness in her eyes. I didn't think about it at first, but now that Lao Wu said this, there is nothing I don't understand.
Those officials in the imperial court were bullying them, the old Zhu family, because they were born in a poor family and did not understand economics. They used some big words to trap their family.
Fortunately, my husband thought he was showing pity for the common people, but he didn't expect that he was actually enriching the pockets of wealthy families. When those officials are counting money at home on weekdays, they don’t know how to be complacent!
"If it hadn't been for Lao Wu's reminder, I'm afraid we would never have thought of this level in this life!" Lao Zhu was still angry with himself. "Unfortunately, we originally thought we had beaten Ming Dynasty to the level of an iron bucket, but now we see that the air is leaking everywhere..."
"Our descendants all borrowed money from the officials for a little money and food. Now that I think about it, it is really our fault... Change it! It must be changed! We must levy heavy commercial taxes and rip off all the big households!" "
"It's not necessary to re-conquer them all." Zhu Su added in due course. "A stepped tax collection method can be adopted. For example, those who earn ten taels of silver per year will not be taxed. Those who earn one hundred taels of silver per year will be levied at the rate of one tax per ten. Those who earn one thousand taels per year will have a higher tax rate. The specific details need to be carefully considered. , in short, the targets of heavy taxation should be targeted at large households with high incomes. In this way, we can avoid competing with the people for profit."
Zhu Su proposed the method of collecting personal income tax in later generations.
"Okay, this is a good idea!" Lao Zhu was overjoyed. "Then those bastards have banded together to plot against us and make us lighten the commercial tax... This is taking money from our treasury!"
"We are worried about money and lose our hair, but they are all making money...it's all our money!"
Lao Zhu's eyes were red.
(End of chapter)
