Chapter 305 Local Current Situation under the Old Tax System
"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 rooms, the windows are wide open, and if you sit by the window, you can have an overview of the beautiful scenery in the port.
Zhao Pu had a calm face, admiring 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 cared about most, so he paid attention to Chuzhou.
The state's land and fiscal and taxation issues are particularly clear.
On paper alone, the land annexation situation in Chuzhou is quite 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 too acute, which 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,
But it always has certain reference value.
A canal, a Huai River, and a flood brought so much benefit to the people of Chuzhou that 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, as well as the fact that there are always poor managers, the land annexation trend in Chuzhou is still obvious. There are direct sales, mergers and even plundering, 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 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 the political situation and people's livelihood in Chuzhou, but also partly because under normal circumstances,
They can live in peace and harmony, and 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 brought about by land annexation can be suppressed and do not cause major chaos, it is stable. Stability means peace and quiet. What's more, there is also the two-tax system to explain it, and land can be bought and sold freely, then
This 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. In fact, it has the nature of a certain tax package. Although the imperial court has formulated a series of tax calculation basis, in the actual implementation process,
It is impossible to completely follow the rules and regulations of the imperial court.
Although the amount of land, property, and the gap between rich and poor can be seen with the naked eye, in fact it is difficult to quantify it specifically, and its reference attributes are naturally greatly reduced. And the tax collection by bureaucrats in various places has ultimately formed a situation of layer upon layer apportionment and layer upon layer exploitation.
The main targets are naturally those common people who are 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, peace has gradually increased, and local officials have become more and more courageous. The governance power held by local officials is not small. Some local officials even put aside the two taxes and established another one of their own.
This kind of situation has become very common in the 24th year of Kaibao. It is like this all over the country. It is not that the imperial court does not understand this kind of chaos, nor does 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 the 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, and many central court officials also hold this view.
My opinion, as long as you don’t go too far, arouse public dissatisfaction, and cause trouble...
Chuzhou is not "exempt from vulgarity". In the 23rd year of the founding of the country, it was formulated by the Financial Secretary and distributed by Huaidong Road. Chuzhou's tax amount was 310,000 yuan, which was a huge sum for ordinary counties.
Heavy taxes.
But Chuzhou is not an ordinary state or county. It has a lot of cultivated land, good terrain, developed water conservancy, and huge output. At the same time, it 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,
In recent years, Champa rice and cotton cultivation have been promoted in Chuzhou. These are things that bring 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.
The situation in Chuzhou is so good. Daosi is naturally satisfied and will not make any other demands. As for the land issue, it does not pay attention to it. One of the very important issues is that Daosi is divided into three
How could the Chuzhou bureaucrats only charge 110,000 yuan in taxes? It is obviously impossible.
According to the latest fiscal and tax distribution principles of the Han Dynasty, the central government 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 the local officials follow this quota?
In fact, in the entire tax chain, except for the 50% that is turned over to the central government, everyone from Daosi on down has a mentality of taking more and taking more. Daosi feels that 20% is not enough, and if they want to take more, the state government cannot bear it.
The pressure from the Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Affairs will naturally exert pressure on subordinate counties and townships, and the pressure will be imposed layer by layer. Taxes at the grassroots level will naturally be raised 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, they exploit and squeeze it out at all levels, and they 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 throughout the state. He could only maintain it as much as possible to avoid excessive exploitation.
People, avoid civil strife.
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 is to take advantage of the land. 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 shocking.
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 scratched the surface and the general environment was not affected. The vigorous administrative movement dealt with so many officials, but the new successors still governed and controlled the people according to the past model.
There is also no essential change in tax collection.
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 produce, 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.
