"What's going on this year? Why are so many people unable to pay taxes? We have tried our best to exempt some exorbitant taxes."
Tax collector Howson frowned, looking at the statistical list in front of him, with an obvious look of worry on his face.
The original nobles of this land have lost their families to the invasion of orcs, so now this land is under the direct jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Stormwind, so taxes are directly responsible to the Royal Family of Stormwind.
Therefore, these people are relatively gentle and less corrupt than those terrible tax collectors.
After all, in this world, it is not a big deal to rub your hands with oil. Even if you take something a little bit, as long as it is not too excessive, no one will say anything.
But the problem now is that even if he doesn't have oily hands, many people still can't pay enough taxes.
Thinking of this, Howson touched the gold coins in his pocket. They were given to him by some businessmen. They were twice as many as last year. They were so rich that he felt incredible and made him want to give them to his wife.
I bought some jewelry that I never thought of before.
However, another thing made him worried.
Fully 30% of the people in these towns and villages cannot pay taxes.
This is a very serious issue. The local taxes have been investigated to ensure that the people here can afford to pay the taxes even if they are sick. This scale and proportion is either a natural disaster or a man-made disaster, or someone is going to be a
Bandits.
Although most bandits would not think of robbing tax collectors like them, this is the land managed by King Varian of Stormwind City. If something like this happens——
It’s too much!
However, although the past two years cannot be called smooth weather, it can be said that there have not been too many storms, and they can barely be regarded as years of good harvest.
So what’s going on with these farmers?
Howson looked at the accounts in front of him and couldn't help but ask.
But at this moment, the wife, who was using a brand new roll of woolen cloth to make clothes for them, spoke.
"I think it might be because of the newly shipped cloth?"
His wife's words immediately alerted Hauersen.
"cloth?"
He quickly flipped through the files and found something that impressed him deeply.
‘Fine woolen cloth’.
This land tax is almost three times that of last year. It can be said that this is the largest project during this period except food and iron ore land tax.
But Mr. Howson was even more confused.
This is the tax paid by several small traders. Generally speaking, small traders go to farmers' homes to purchase woven woolen cloth and then sell it. There should be no problem with this value increasing, and it will not prevent farmers from being unable to pay the tax.
.
Then, the person who solved his doubts again was still the wife he married, the daughter of a former garrison officer, a woman who was not very beautiful, but very gentle and skillful.
She took over a piece of fine-looking woolen cloth that she had purchased and placed it in front of Howson.
"Look, this is obviously not woven by local people. They are not so good at craftsmanship. You see, there are embroideries on it. And it is surprising that these embroideries are exactly the same. It can be said to be a work of art."
Hao Ersen took a look and found the embroidery of redbud flowers on it, but it was exactly the same as what his wife said. The pattern and distribution of these flowers were exactly the same, which was so ingenious!
Moreover, it feels extremely smooth to touch, and the weave is very good, with basically no flaws visible!
This is at least three gold coins per yard of fine cloth, right?
He couldn't help but glance at his wife, wondering why she bought such expensive woolen cloth, because three gold coins were enough to buy silk and brocade.
And her wife smiled slightly and told her the price she paid for the piece of cloth.
"Twenty-three silver coins, but because I am a tax collector's wife, they gave me the price of 20 silver coins."
Mr. Howson stood up directly. He looked at the cloth in front of him in shock. He immediately understood why.
No wonder those farmers can't sell it! The cloth they weave can't be compared with this fine cloth, and it's not as cheap as these cloths!
He immediately felt his hands numb, because this meant that countless farmers would lose part of their income!
The price of wool is very different from the price of woolen cloth! Many farmers will not be able to pay the tax!
If these things are allowed to gradually erode the entire Stormwind Kingdom, there will be countless families in the Stormwind Kingdom who cannot afford to pay taxes!
This must be reported to His Majesty the King!
But his wife held his hand again.
"I know what you're thinking, but are you going to leave our children fatherless?"
His wife's voice was unusually calm, which made Howlson stand in shock.
"Although it is true that some farmers must change their means of livelihood, correspondingly, the taxes they have to pay will naturally be reduced. My dear, you asked them to pay taxes based on their income in previous years, so you
Only then will we find that many people cannot pay taxes, but if you calculate it based on their actual income, they will not be unable to pay taxes. And the most important thing is that the taxes on these woolen cloths are comparable to those paid by farmers.
It’s a lot more, do you think your superiors will care about farmers paying less taxes?”
This is a matter of convention. After all, it is impossible for tax officials to calculate too many things every year, especially for items with stable prices such as woolen cloth.
"So relax, dear, although this is indeed not a good thing, but everyone's interests have not been harmed, and they have even gained more, right? So don't do some unnecessary things, you are just a tax collector, and you only have
With twenty people, what can you solve? And what can you influence?"
His wife's words made Howlson calm down. He thought for a moment, touched the bag of gold coins in his arms, and then sighed dejectedly.
Things were exactly as my wife said.
Although he still felt that there was something fishy about this matter, but...
But it's true as his wife said, he can't affect anything.
His superiors are now worried about the lack of money in Stormwind City every month, and so is His Majesty the King, so although he feels that something is not quite right, there is no doubt that the total taxes have increased.
Except for those farmers who hold woolen cloth and cannot sell it...
Furthermore, if a product is completely controlled by a merchant, problems will arise.
He didn't know what would go wrong, but he knew that no one could put all their eggs in one basket. He always felt that something would happen in the future, but he didn't know how.
"Your biggest job is to recalculate the taxes of those farmers. Tax the woolen cloth of those farmers as wool. My dear, I think they increased your remuneration because of this. We don't want things to change.
very ugly."
His wife sighed again.
"OK, dear."
Howson also sighed, and then spoke with a smile.
"Let's go to the goldsmith's place another day. I plan to make an accessory for my sword."
Actually not, he wanted to buy his wife the tiara they saw last time.
As for the accessories on the sword, he didn't care.
"You guy... you spend money randomly when you have it... That's right."
