In the second year of Tianyou (759), on the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, Liangcheng court hall.
Among the hundreds of officials in the court, Du Fu, the Minister of Rites, first came out and then said: "In seven days, when all the provinces come to Beijing to participate in the Spring Festival, they will gather in the palace to participate in the audience ceremony held by the Ministry of Rites."
Zhou Jun asked: "Do you have the list?"
Du Fu presented the list of candidates with both hands, and said: "This year, according to the wishes of the Prime Minister, Enke will be added to Zhengke. Zhengke and Enke will be held together, and it will be regarded as Enzheng and Enke."
Zhou Jun listened and took the roster from the chamberlain. He opened it and flipped through it roughly. After reading it, he said to Du Fu: "There has never been an example of Enke in the Tang Dynasty. However, over the years, wars have been continuous and talents have withered. Your Majesty."
That’s why I specially set up the Enke and Etiquette Departments outside the main departments to take charge of this matter. We should be careful and avoid making any mistakes.”
When Du Fu heard this, he bowed and said hello.
Gao Shi, who was then Zhongshuling, said to Zhou Jun: "Prime Minister, in Hexi, Shuofang, Hebei and other places, the war has stopped for a while and the people are recuperating. The refugees who were originally scattered have gradually returned to their hometowns and begun to engage in farming..."
Seeing that Gao Shi didn't stop talking, Zhou Jun knew that the latter probably had something more to say.
Sure enough, Gao Shi said again: "However, some local tycoons and prominent families saw that the war was no longer fierce, so they took their property with them, borrowed money to collect profits, and supported the government and businessmen through loans, and began to annex land and recruit tenants. Some
Many farmers who had just acquired land had their land taken away from them because they could not pay the loan, and they became homeless again."
Zhou Jun frowned and asked: "The imperial court sent field officials, checked household registrations, and distributed farm tools and seeds. Why did the people go to the powerful for loans?"
Gao Shi: "The Prime Minister doesn't know that even if the people have farm tools and seeds, they will not be able to harvest for more than half a year. During this period, the people not only have to pay the Ding tax, but also have to complete grains, cloth and other physical goods.
Because the people lacked the grain and cloth in the rent plan, they could only borrow in kind from the powerful to pay to the government. When the powerful lent, they arbitrarily withheld the grain and cloth in the name of being expensive, but when they returned it, they paid it to the government.
Based on the low price, the people were exploited countless times because of the real price difference, and in the end they had no choice but to go bankrupt."
Zhou Jun fell silent when he heard this, and finally nodded, signaling Gao Shi to step back.
Afterwards, the ministers in the court finished talking about their respective government affairs.
Zhou Jun announced several personnel changes in public.
1. Uncle Shen led the deputy envoy of Longyou Jiedu and reorganized the Longyou army.
Second, Chang Qing was granted the title of Hexi Jiedu envoy and concurrently served as the general of the Yulin Army in Liangcheng.
Third, Li Siye led Shuofang's military envoy, and Sun Aying led Shuofang's deputy military envoy.
When the officials in the court heard these arrangements, some began to speculate that after the Northern Tang Dynasty had rested for a year, it was beginning to plan to send troops abroad.
After the court meeting, Zhou Jun summoned Gao Shi, Feng Changqing, Wu Qi, and all ministers from the Ministry of Household Affairs to the meeting hall, and said to everyone: "I plan to abolish the renting of grain, cloth and other physical goods.
Tune.”
All the ministers were stunned when they heard this.
Gao Shi advised: "Prime Minister, renting mediocrity is the key to establishing branches in the Tang Dynasty. If you abolish it hastily, I'm afraid it will not be conducive to the government."
Zhou Jun: "The abolition I am talking about is to replace the rent tax with Ding tax and land tax, and change the original collection of physical goods to the collection of gold, silver and copper coins."
"Let's talk about the Ding tax first. From now on, all citizens of the Tang Dynasty will be included in the household registration of the prefecture and county where they currently live, regardless of their registered residence. The amount of tax will be determined according to the size of the Ding family and their property."
"Let's talk about land tax. The land in each state is measured, and the tax is levied on the basis of acres. But for the land of tenants, the owner's family is the tax owner, and the tax is calculated based on the rich and poor."
"The two taxes are collected twice in summer and autumn. The summer tax must be paid in June, and the autumn tax must be paid in November."
"In addition to these two taxes, all miscellaneous taxes must be reconciled with rent. All miscellaneous taxes have been cancelled. All prefectures and counties are not allowed to set up new taxes with random names. If any official disobeys the order, his or her home will be confiscated and he will be made a slave."
When Gao Shi heard this, he slowly came back to his senses.
The original policy of the Tang Dynasty was that if you have land, you will have rent, if you have a body, you will have mediocrity, and if you have a household, you will have a tune.
At one time, based on the mediocrity of taxation, there were no less than twenty kinds of taxation in the Tang Dynasty, and there were many differences among various states and counties.
Nowadays, the prime minister has abolished the rent tax and only retained the Ding tax and the field tax. Naturally, this is to regulate the tax items and reduce the burden on the people.
Not only that, when the Ding tax is levied, the tax amount is determined according to the size of the family and the property, regardless of the owner's client status; when the land tax is levied, the tax is levied on the basis of the land area. As long as the land of the tenants is taxed, the owner's family is the tax owner, and the rich and the poor are taxed.
And the calculation.
These two items are equivalent to completely blocking the way for wealthy powerful people to use tenants and hidden households to evade taxes.
From now on, the two taxes will be levied differentially according to the rich and poor levels, and will no longer be paid equally per capita.
However, as a result, Zhou Jun, as the person who proposed the new tax law, would probably be resented by the world's rich and powerful.
However, Gao Shi then thought about it. At this time, the Prime Minister was already on the same level as all the people in the world. Proposing the two-tax law would only add another layer of resentment.
Fifth Qi, as an important minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, raised another question about Zhou Jun's two-tax law: "Prime Minister, if you don't collect silk and rice, you can use gold, silver and copper coins instead, but gold and silver are rarely used among the people.
I'm afraid it won't be easy to accept money on behalf of others in the short term."
Zhou Jun looked at Feng Changqing, who smiled and explained to Wu Qi: "Anxi and Beiting trade with the Western Kingdom. Many countries on the trade route use gold and silver currencies, but copper coins are less valuable.
, it is not easy to carry and is not used in other countries. Therefore, the people in Anxi and Beiting have already started to use gold and silver."
After Feng Changqing said this, many Anxi officials in the Ministry of Household Affairs also said that in the past, when local firms did business with foreign businessmen in the Anxi market, gold and silver transactions were common, while copper coins were relatively rare.
Zhou Jun: "Gold and silver are commonly used currencies in other countries, but in the Tang Dynasty, most of them were regarded as luxury goods and their functions were buried."
When Gao Shi heard this, he suddenly remembered something and asked Zhou Jun: "Prime Minister, if there is a businessman who has no fixed address and cannot determine his household registration according to his permanent residence, how should he collect taxes?"
Zhou Jun: "If you are a businessman, then the income will be determined according to the mutual market records, and then the tax will be collected based on the income."
Gao Shi asked again: "At the beginning of the implementation of the Two Tax Law, the government no longer collected taxes in kind, but gold, silver, and copper coins. Then there would be a money shortage in the market. In order to pay taxes, people would use rice, millet, and silk.
If we pay high prices to buy money, will it hurt the people?"
Zhou Jun: "There is no need to worry about this. There is a large amount of gold and silver in Fanyang's treasury and the Anxi Protectorate. At the beginning of the implementation of the Two Taxes Law, the government would use gold and silver in exchange for the people's goods in kind according to a certain ratio.
, to be recorded as taxes.”
Seeing that everyone had no more problems, Zhou Jun said: "There are several key issues in the implementation of the two tax laws."
"First, when calculating land taxes, the owner's family is the tax owner of the land owned by tenants, and the tax is calculated based on wealth and poverty. The government must carefully check the land deed. If the land changes hands, the land tax must be calculated on the landlord. If
Otherwise, it may lead to more serious land annexation."
"Second, in the early stages of the implementation of the law, there will definitely be wealthy businessmen who want to profit from speculation. They will buy up gold and silver and raise the price of gold and silver to make profits. On the one hand, the government must prepare sufficient gold and silver stocks to deal with those
On the other hand, those who hoard goods and disrupt the market must protect the interests of ordinary people and guide them to learn to protect their property."
"Thirdly, after the abolition of rent regulations, state and county officials in various places obeyed the imperial court on the surface, but secretly set up various tax items secretly. The Ministry of Household Affairs, Dali Temple, and Yushitai worked together to dispatch officials widely, conduct overt and covert inspections, and conduct thorough inspections.
Put an end to this phenomenon.”
When all the officials heard this, they all said "Hey" together.
This chapter has been completed!