Even though Emperor Liu spoke calmly, the ministers immediately cheered up and realized that financial and taxation issues might be the real purpose of Emperor Liu summoning them.
But at the same time, everyone couldn't help but feel worried. Emperor Liu had expressed his dissatisfaction with the current fiscal and taxation system more than once or twice, but he never made any big moves. At most, he put forward some improvement suggestions that could be accepted by the superiors and subordinates.
At this time, Fang resigned from his post as Prime Minister and brought up the issue of finance and taxation again. It is very likely that he was thinking about finance and taxation again, which had to make all the ministers present be more vigilant.
Like the administration of officials, the tax system is also a widely involved issue. From the perspective of a country, it cannot be touched easily. Anti-corruption and evil only deal with corrupt officials, local tyrants and evil gentry, which can be regarded as the self-regulation and purification of the empire.
This finance and taxation is different. It involves almost all aspects, not just nobles, bureaucrats, landlords and merchants, powerful squires, but also all the heads of Guizhou who provide taxes for the Han Dynasty. This is something that cannot be touched without authorization. of.
Of course, it's not that it can't be changed, which makes people hesitate, but it's just that they don't know how Emperor Liu plans to go through it. This is the most worrying thing. Even if Emperor Liu hadn't made any plans yet, the ministers present had already prepared plans to dissuade him.
"I respectfully listen to His Majesty's instructions!" Prince Liu Yang opened his mouth and said to Emperor Liu.
Emperor Liu raised his eyelids and asked instead of answering, "Prince, tell me, what are the principles of the Han Dynasty's two-tax system?"
After hearing the question, Liu Yang thought for a moment and said in a cautious tone: "A household has no owner and guests, and it is based on seeing and living; people have no family, and it is the difference between rich and poor; it is based on assets, not family. Money is paid according to households, and corn is paid according to acres of land."
Obviously, Liu Yang still had some research in this area, and he spoke familiarly of several core elements of the Han Dynasty's two-tax tax system. The tax system of the Han Dynasty basically followed the two tax laws that had been implemented since the mid-Tang Dynasty. Although some details were deleted and improved in the Han Dynasty, the gist did not change much.
As far as the tax system is concerned, the Two Taxes Law is a major progress that has accompanied social development. It has developed from a tax system based on people since the Warring States Period to a tax system based on people and land.
When it came to the Han Dynasty, it also followed its system and adopted its advanced features. However, as time goes by, the core principles of the two tax laws are gradually diluted, and their binding ability is also constantly weakened.
In the final analysis, the degree of social and economic development is limited and is not enough to support the perfect implementation of the two tax laws. Once the development of things exceeds the objective conditions, problems will often arise.
More importantly, under the two-tax system, land sales are free, and land annexation is inevitable and will even spread at an extraordinary speed. Emperor Liu has always followed the government's policy of controlling land annexation and private ownership since ancient times.
The high land transaction tax enacted that year was one of the measures. The effect is certainly there, but how big it will be is not optimistic. From what has happened or is currently happening, the cost of land mergers is presented to land sellers. You can get a glimpse of the tilting trend.
On the one hand, the legal system established the nature of free land sales, but on the other hand, they wanted to intervene in land sales and control land annexation. This self-contradictory phenomenon was not uncommon in the Han Dynasty. This is one of the reasons why Emperor Liu always wanted to change and innovate. From a personal perspective, he always felt uncomfortable with this contradiction.
After listening to Liu Yang's answer, Emperor Liu continued to ask: "You are right, but how far have these principles been implemented? Dahan's annual finance and taxation is increasing year by year, but in the specific tax implementation process, the tax calculation basis , have the tax regulations been implemented?”
"This" Liu Yang was silent about this.
Although he has not had an in-depth understanding of it before, judging from his many years of experience in government and his conversations with officials and relevant bureaucrats, it is obvious that there are great deficiencies in this regard.
In particular, as time goes by, officials in various places are becoming more and more eager for quick success and quick gains in tax work and tend to complete their tasks. As for the tax system, most of them only keep it simple and save convenience. As for complying with the principle of equality between the rich and the poor and taking into account fairness, most of them only pay lip service to it, and have even been forgotten long ago.
There are very few officials in various places who can study tax laws carefully and carefully, and they can be considered conscientious. Of course, given the current political environment of the Han Dynasty, the central authority of the imperial court was at its peak, and local governments did not dare to act too wantonly. At least, there were very few cases of cleverly creating names and exploiting people outside the regular tax quotas.
It’s not that it doesn’t happen, it’s just that once it appears, it will be dealt with severely and severely. But it is conceivable that once the court's supervision is lax or other situations arise, the greedy nature of meat-eaters will lead to excessive levies and exorbitant taxes.
There is a problem, not to mention Emperor Liu, these ministers who have been running the country for many years are also aware of it. But no one has ever commented on this, and the reason is very simple. Conservatism is very important. In order to ensure the stability of taxes and the "stable" people's livelihood, we have to be conservative. Of course, what is more subtle is that under the current tax system, it is very friendly to nobles, bureaucrats, landlords, and merchants.
Interest orientation often leads to action. Even those who see problems are either humble and have no say, or they are outright conservatives. What's more, the current tax system has been operating stably for decades, and the court's annual fiscal and taxation is also stable, with a lot of room for change. It is far from the point where it needs to be changed, so why bother?
"Seeing that you are so hesitant, I guess you have seen a lot of disadvantages!" Seeing Liu Yang deep in thought, Emperor Liu said something, and then looked at Li Fang, Zhao Kuangyi and other ministers, and said: "All the ministers here are from The state and ministry promotion centers all have sufficient experience in local governance, and they all also talk about the problems and drawbacks that have arisen during the implementation of Dahan's current tax system."
Faced with Emperor Liu's question, all the officials were silent in unison. Emperor Liu was not angry at their silence and looked at Wang You naturally: "Wang Qing, the northwest is a very representative place. You have served in the northwest for many years. From prefectures and counties to Taoist officials, you have seen a lot. You are knowledgeable, please tell me!"
When Emperor Liu called him by name, Wang You naturally could no longer pretend to be mute. After thinking about it, he responded: "Household tax is paid in coins. In the early years, in order to pay taxes, a large number of farmers had to sell silk and grain at low prices. In exchange for copper coins. This resulted in the heavy burden on the people due to the heavy weight of money and the heavy burden on the people. However, this situation has been alleviated as the imperial court cast more tongbao and circulated it all over the world."
Wang You's remarks raised a problematic phenomenon, but he also pointed out that the problem had been alleviated, as if to remind Emperor Liu that the problem was not big, so don't worry about it.
However, Emperor Liu did not accept this trick and asked Lu Duan again: "Lu Qing, please tell me!"
Lu Duan looked as if he was motionless. After hearing the question, he stood up calmly and answered with cupped hands: "The imperial court sets the tax amount every year. One of the points is based on the gap between the rich and the poor in each province in the world. Each province is also graded according to the development of each state. The same goes for the government, in order to ensure fairness, the rich pay more and the poor pay less.
However, at the county level, the situation changes dramatically. In the process of tax collection, government officials often make generalizations and ignore the principle of equal taxation for rich and poor. They only seek to complete the taxation tasks assigned by their superiors, regardless of the person, land, and property of the people under their control. The actual situation.
As a result, the rich and the poor are equal, and those who live in large cities and those who work as small farmers pay the same taxes. At the same time, many governments only apportioned taxes based on geographical areas. The tax amounts in wealthy areas and poor rural areas were equal, which resulted in the rich paying less and the poor paying more.
Over time, the poor will become poorer and the rich will become richer. The poor cannot make ends meet, so in order to avoid regular taxes, the poor would rather abandon their farm and property and go to a wealthy country."
With Lu Duan's words, it can be said that a major obvious problem in the implementation of the two-tax system was exposed. Not to mention Emperor Liu, even everyone else looked solemn and frowned.
"Zhao Qing, what did you find?" Emperor Liu's tone seemed a bit stern as he stared at Zhao Kuangyi.
Zhao Kuangyi felt awe in his heart, but without any hesitation, he opened his mouth and said: "In recent years, many people across the country have lost their land. However, their land has been deducted from tax deposits, and the tax amount has not been reduced, and the burden has increased. For this reason, some people evade taxes, escape, or live in poverty. As tenants and hired laborers.”
After Zhao Kuangyi finished speaking, Emperor Liu turned his attention to Li Fang again. Now, there was no need for Emperor Liu to ask. Li Fang took the initiative and sighed: "The royal tax is paid in equal parts by the rich and the poor. However, every household, It is difficult to clarify the amount of property and land, and at the same time, there are many cases of concealing property and underreporting land, etc., which all affect the official tax revenue of the court every year!"
After Li Fang finished speaking, Emperor Liu finally stopped asking any more questions. He was silent for a while, and finally let out a burst of breathtaking laughter: "Haha."
