Liu Hanmo explained in detail.
"The annual tax approved by Suzhou Prefecture is 2.8 million shi, while the annual tax in the entire Ming Dynasty is only 30 million shi."
"Suzhou's proportion is almost one-tenth of the world's total."
“However, Suzhou’s cultivated land area is only 1.1% of the world’s.”
"For a long time, the taxes borne by Suzhou have been nearly nine times higher than the world average."
"If it is compared with some areas with lighter taxes, the difference is even more than ten times."
Zhu Yunzhen was silent.
Although I knew that taxes in Suzhou were relatively heavy, I didn't expect them to be so heavy.
However, the imperial court must have its own intentions when setting taxes. It made a decision after repeatedly weighing the pros and cons.
Lao Zhu is not a willful person.
It is best not to express your opinion easily without a deep understanding of this kind of thing.
Therefore, he listened quietly.
"In this dynasty's tax system, the tax on official land is five liters, three in five scoops per mu, farmland is reduced by two liters, re-rented land is eight liters, five in five scoops, and unofficial land is one dou and two liters."
(Note: Unofficial land refers to official land confiscated due to criminal seizures and other reasons)
"When Suzhou was in the Yuan Dynasty, one-third of the land was official land of the Yuan Dynasty. Later, Zhang Shicheng rebelled and occupied Suzhou, and confiscated all the official land of the Yuan Dynasty. Some bureaucrats and nobles who had been attached to the Yuan Dynasty, rich Jiahao merchants were also punished, their property was confiscated, and their fields were confiscated."
"In this way, under Zhang Shicheng's rebellion, Suzhou's official land was expanded, reaching almost half."
"When this dynasty destroyed Zhang Shicheng and restored his official land to the government, and confiscated the property and fields of the wealthy merchants and landlords who had worked for him, seven to eighty percent of Suzhou's land had become official property."
“And among them, almost all of them are unofficial land with the heaviest taxes.”
"According to the tax system, how can there be any reason why Suzhou does not pay heavy taxes?"
Zhu Yunxuan suddenly realized.
Suzhou has the heaviest taxes, which is actually an overall concept.
If it is farmland owned by ordinary people, the taxes will still be the same as elsewhere, and will not be treated differently and will be taxed heavily.
The problem is that after successive changes in the Yuan Dynasty, Zhang Shicheng, Ming Dynasty, etc., most of the fields in Suzhou have become unofficial fields with the heaviest taxes.
Suzhou's overall taxes have become ridiculously high.
"Some people think that most people don't have much land. They just rent the land from rich families and big landowners. What's the difference between paying rent to them and paying taxes to the court?"
"That's not unreasonable."
"But the situation in Suzhou is different from elsewhere."
"People who have no land in other places rent ordinary official land and pay a tax of five liters, three and five spoons per acre to the court."
"Most of the land in Suzhou is unofficial land. The tax is one dou or two liters per acre, which is much heavier than in other places."
"The most miserable people are the poor people."
When Zhu Yunzhen heard this, he couldn't help but open his mouth and didn't know what to say.
The Ming Dynasty had a strict household registration system, and people could not go to other places at will.
But they have to survive and rent farmland.
If you can't rent official land with lighter taxes, you can only rent official land with heavier taxes. The burden can be imagined.
The imperial court cracked down on powerful landowners, but in the end it was the landless people who borne the cost.
This result is really a bit dumbfounding.
But throughout history, isn’t it true that most policies from ancient times to the present have been like this?
The people are prosperous and suffer.
If they die, the people will suffer.
Crack down on tyrants and curb mergers.
It has been done throughout the ages.
After all, any ruler knows that when the people have no food to eat and are desperate, they will rebel.
But it works.
No one dynasty has controlled the problem of land annexation.
"With the heavy land tax, the people have no choice but to make a living elsewhere."
Liu Hanmo said with a smile: "Suzhou has been a commercial and trade center since ancient times. If the land does not produce enough, trade will make up for it."
"Poor farmers without land can also work for wealthy merchants to supplement their livelihoods."
"In this way, Suzhou City will not only not be depressed, but will also be extremely prosperous."
Zhu Yunzhen was stunned again.
This is an unexpected effect.
Is this considered an alternative “enclosure movement”?
Farmers who were landless and could not afford heavy taxes were forced to work in the cities, providing a large amount of cheap labor and thus promoting the development of budding capitalism in Suzhou?
Liu Hanmo sighed and added: "But this dynasty is different from the previous dynasty. The previous dynasty did not impose restrictions on trade, or even encouraged it. However, this dynasty emphasizes agriculture and suppresses commerce, and prohibits sea trade. It is far more severe than the previous dynasty. Suzhou's Trade is gradually failing."
"Before this, we were just trying to support ourselves."
Zhu Yunzhen smiled and said: "What Mr. Liu said has nothing to do with Gu Xi?"
He was confused.
My own proposal to impose a sea ban will only benefit Suzhou.
As for the imposition of commercial tax, although it will temporarily increase the expenses of merchants, it will not bankrupt them.
And in the name of tax certificates, liberalizing business qualifications will only promote the prosperity of business.
Liu Hanmo saluted and said: "His Royal Highness Taisun is a talented person with great talent in the world. His writings and poems can be passed down through the ages. Wu Zetong is invincible with thousands of troops. The few suggestions he gave in the court are also to the point."
"Although the additional commercial tax will not reduce the income of merchants, if we take a longer-term view, we will know that this policy can make business more stable."
"Besides, His Highness Taisun has also formulated an invoice system and a tax certificate system."
"On the one hand, it opens up the door for ordinary people to do business and breaks the monopoly of merchants."
"On the other hand, it also eliminates the problem of duplicate tax collection by local governments."
"To be honest, the actual taxes paid by merchants have not necessarily increased, and may have decreased."
Prior to this, although the taxes in the Ming Dynasty were very low, their collection was very chaotic.
Local governments set up cards everywhere to collect taxes.
Every time you go to a place, you may be confiscated.
A seemingly light tax turns out to be heavy.
In fact, most of the "passer-by tax" collected by these local governments did not enter the Ming Dynasty treasury.
If we say it’s all corruption, that’s not true.
Lao Zhu was strict against corruption, and officials during the Hongwu period were not so bold.
Just collecting the traffic tax itself requires hiring a lot of manpower.
After collecting the money, the local government will use the money to hire more people to do this and that.
Never mind whether it's useful or not.
Any government tends to continuously expand its yamen and institutions.
If you have nothing to do, find something to do.
Various documents, meetings, clicking...
What's more, it is also common practice for people to be overwhelmed by things.
Even in the era of scientific and technological civilization in later generations, the tendency of local government expansion is difficult to restrain.
The imperial court must forcefully limit establishment quotas and pass administrative orders one after another, ordering local governments to continuously lay off employees and reduce staff...
It's still just barely keeping the bureaucracy from expanding.
If the court did not impose strict control and opened its doors, many local governments could quickly expand their staff several times or dozens of times.
It is no joke that every household eats public food.
As for how to raise them, and whether they can afford to raise them... Yin Chi Mao Liang, let's mix it up first.
If you really have to wipe your butt, that is the business of the next official in charge.
The establishment of the Ming Dynasty was not as strict as that of later generations.
Officials take up their posts and lead their own people.
As for the appointment of county and government officials, the administrative officials basically have the final say alone.
As a result, after receiving the money, the number of people in the Yamen doing various chores increased accordingly.
All the money was spent, but the court did not receive a penny.
The establishment of an invoice system to collect taxes based on invoices and prevent repeated collection by local governments has actually reduced the burden on many small and medium-sized merchants.
Those who really add to the burden are those wealthy businessmen.
Because they often collude with the powerful, or are simply their family servants.
Before this, local officials did not dare to tax them twice.
Therefore, the powerful officials in the imperial court were so dissatisfied with Zhu Yunxuan's proposal to reform the tax system and increase commercial taxes.
After all, his own vital interests are involved.
Liu Hanmo said: "Except for a few wealthy businessmen, the small and medium-sized merchants and ordinary people in Suzhou are all full of praise for His Highness Taisun's suggestions."
"The opening of the sea ban makes everyone even more happy."
Zhu Yunzhen said puzzledly: "According to your words, Suzhou should be prosperous because of its isolation, but why is it depressed because of its isolation?"
Liu Hanmo looked gloomy, took a deep breath, and said, "Your Highness Taisun must still remember Wu Wanggeng's incident?"
(End of chapter)
