"If this is the case in Chuzhou, what is the situation in other places?" Zhao Pu was silent for a moment and couldn't help but sigh. His tone inadvertently showed a little heaviness. As he walked, he ordered: "Later, you can tell us about the political situation and the people's situation in Chuzhou." , tell me everything in detail!"
Zhao Pu's steps were a little more urgent, and Zhao Chengzong hurriedly followed up and responded: "Yes!"
Yunlou is the largest restaurant in Shanyang Port. It integrates food and accommodation and is of high quality. It is also the tallest building in the port. In the guest room, the windows are wide open, and if you sit by the window, you can have a panoramic view of the dim view of the harbor.
Zhao Pu looked calm, enjoying the scenery, drinking tea, and listening carefully to Zhao Chengzong's report on various affairs in Chuzhou. Of course, Zhao Chengzong was also smart and aware, and he felt what Zhao Pu was most concerned about, so he spoke particularly clearly about Chuzhou's land, finance and taxation issues.
On paper, the land annexation situation in Chuzhou is relatively serious. The land hidden by large households is almost equal to or even more than the registered land. This is far beyond the national average.
However, the class and economic contradictions in Chuzhou's land are not acute. This is due to Chuzhou's good basic conditions. Even in terms of the number of registered acres, the per capita cultivated land is nearly seven acres. Although this data is of little significance, it always has certain reference value.
A canal, a Huai River, and a flood brought great benefits to the people of Chuzhou. Even if the big landlords took the majority, the remaining water would be enough for the farmers to survive.
Of course, due to diseases and natural disasters in the Huaihe River from time to time, and there are always people who do not manage well, the trend of land annexation in Chuzhou is still obvious. There are direct sales, mergers, and even seizures, but those hidden lands have more sources. But it was the landowners who took the initiative to open up wasteland.
But even if all the unfavorable factors are taken into account, the public sentiment in Chuzhou is still relatively stable. Farmers without land can become tenants, work, or even go out to sea to make a living. There is always a way to survive.
In terms of taxation, the pressure on Chuzhou is not great. Not to mention the output of the land, a Huaiyang Canal is enough to make the whole state live comfortably. Therefore, the pressure passed on to ordinary farmers is also It's relatively easy.
Regarding the issue of land annexation, it is naturally impossible for the Chuzhou government to be unaware of it, but it rarely intervenes. The unwillingness to touch interest groups is partly because there are no major problems with Chuzhou's political situation and people's livelihood. It is also partly that under normal circumstances, Being able to live in peace and harmony, no one is willing to take the initiative to cause trouble. This is also one of the characteristics of bureaucrats. Maintaining stability is one of their responsibilities in governing the local area.
As long as the social conflicts caused by land annexation can be suppressed and do not cause major chaos, that is stability, and stability means peace and quiet. What's more, there is also the two-tax system law that can be explained. Land can be bought and sold freely, which means that land annexation is legal.
From the perspective of Han law alone, the only thing that can be blamed is the large-scale concealment of land, which often means tax evasion and tax evasion, which is infringing on the interests of the imperial government.
But this problem is not a big problem for Chuzhou, because in recent years, Chuzhou has often paid in full the tax tasks assigned by the Taoist Secretary, unless there are special circumstances such as natural disasters, and it has never been short.
We have to mention the shortcomings of the imperial tax system. Under the Two Taxes Law, taxes are apportioned from the central government to local governments, which in fact has a certain tax package nature. Although the imperial court formulated a series of tax calculation basis, in the actual implementation process, it was impossible to completely follow the imperial regulations.
The amount of land and property and the gap between rich and poor are visible to the naked eye, but in fact it is difficult to quantify them specifically, and their reference attributes are naturally greatly reduced. The tax collection by bureaucrats in various places eventually resulted in layers of apportionment and exploitation, and the main targets were naturally those common people who were easy to bully and exploit, such as farmers, herders, fishermen, and small craftsmen.
As for the tax calculation basis formulated by the imperial court, it gradually became useless during the implementation in various places. In the early days, under the harsh punishment and laws of the imperial court, there may have been some restraint, but the rate of degradation of the bureaucrats was beyond people's imagination. With the passage of time, the courage has gradually increased, and the governance power held by local officials is not small. Some local officials even put aside the two taxes and set up another one of their own.
This situation has become very common in the 24th year of Kaibao. It is like this all over the country. It's not that the imperial court didn't understand this chaos, nor did it care about it.
However, in the past, the most important thing for the imperial court was finance and taxation, and the most worrying thing was that local finances and taxes could not be raised. Emperor Liu's centralization reforms in those years focused on financial power.
Nowadays, local governments collect and hand over taxes in good quality and quantity according to the tax amount set by the imperial court every year. What else can they be dissatisfied with? This is what local officials think and do. Many central court officials also hold this view. As long as they don't go too far, arouse public resentment and cause trouble.
Chuzhou is not exempt from vulgarity. In the 23rd year of Kaibao's reign, it was formulated by the Financial Secretary and assigned by Huaidong Road. The tax amount in Chuzhou was 310,000 yuan, which was a heavy tax for ordinary counties.
But Chuzhou is not an ordinary state or county. It has a lot of cultivated land, good terrain, developed water conservancy, huge output, and at the same time enjoys the benefits brought by the canal, and has sufficient commercial taxes. Because it is close to the sea, the benefits of fishing and salt have also been developed to a certain extent. In the past few years, Champa rice and cotton cultivation have been promoted in Chuzhou. These are all things that bring in money.
Therefore, a mere 310,000 yuan is nothing to Chuzhou. Even if there are difficulties, the local "sages" can just squeeze in and it will be enough for the state capital to complete the task.
Since the situation in Chuzhou is so good, Daosi is naturally satisfied and will not make other demands. As for the land issue, they don't even care. One of the very important questions is that the tax amount of 310,000 yuan allocated by Daosi is, how can the bureaucrats in Chuzhou only charge this much? It's obviously impossible.
According to the latest fiscal and tax distribution principles of the Han Dynasty, the center accounts for half, leaving 20% for the roads, and the remaining 30% goes to the administrative expenses of the subordinate states and counties. But how can local officials follow this quota as they should?
In fact, in the entire tax chain, except for the 50% that is turned over to the central government, everyone from the Daosi level down has a mentality of taking more and taking more. The Taosi felt that 20% was not enough and wanted more. The state government could not withstand the pressure from the Taosi, so it naturally put pressure on the subordinate counties and townships, suppressing them layer by layer. The grassroots taxation would naturally be as high as possible.
As for Chuzhou, the actual tax collected last year was a full 400,000 yuan. Excluding the fixed portion that should be turned over to the central and Taoist authorities, the rest was enough to make the state prosperous. As for the counties and townships, The actual tax collected is obviously far more than 400,000 yuan.
Bureaucrats are often like this. The court sets a tax amount, and in the process of actual tax collection, through layers of exploitation and oppression, he can collect three, five or even ten times the amount.
Zhao Chengzong seemed to have a certain degree of integrity and was relatively restrained in his administration, but he did not completely follow the regulations of the imperial system. Even if he wanted to, he could not stop the will of the bureaucrats and powerful people in the state. He could only maintain it as much as possible to avoid excessive exploitation. People, avoid civil unrest.
Chuzhou can survive under such circumstances, but the same cannot be said for other states. After all, there are not many state capitals in the world that can have such favorable conditions as Chuzhou, let alone those poor states in Huaixi. County, where the situation is serious.
Moreover, the poorer the place, the more ruthless it will be when the land is scrapped. Especially those bureaucrats who only care about catering to their superiors, completing tasks, and at the same time satisfying the greed of the bureaucrats and landlords. What they do is even more sensational.
The surveillance system of the Han Dynasty was supplemented by two spy organizations, and its surveillance capabilities far exceeded those of previous dynasties. However, even so, it was difficult to achieve comprehensive surveillance of local areas.
Even if the imperial court dealt with some people who went too far in the past, it only touched the surface and the general environment was not affected. The vigorous official administration movement dealt with so many officials, but the new ones still followed the past model of governing the people, controlling the people, and collecting taxes, and there was no essential change.
Under such circumstances, the more information we receive, the more we learn. If those shocking and horrifying current situations can allow Emperor Liu to sleep peacefully, how can he not make up his mind to attack the financial and taxation system? Promote tax reform.
No matter how many benefits the new tax system will bring or what disadvantages it will cause, it cannot even fundamentally change the current situation of the government squeezing local governments, but at least through such a reform, the disadvantages that have been exposed can be properly cleaned up. Ichiban.
(End of chapter)
