Even though Emperor Liu spoke so calmly, the ministers immediately cheered up and realized that financial and taxation issues might be the real purpose of Emperor Liu summoning them.
But at the same time, everyone couldn't help but feel worried. Emperor Liu had expressed his dissatisfaction with the current fiscal and taxation system more than once or twice, but he never made any big moves. At most, he put forward some improvement suggestions that could be accepted by the superiors and subordinates.
At this time, Fang resigned from his post as Prime Minister and brought up the issue of finance and taxation again. It is very likely that he was thinking about finance and taxation again, which had to make all the ministers present be more vigilant.
Like the administration of officials, the tax system is also a widely involved issue. From the perspective of becoming a country, it cannot be touched easily. Anti-corruption and evil only deal with corrupt officials, local tyrants and evil gentry, which can be regarded as the self-regulation of the empire.
Purify.
This finance and taxation is different. It involves almost all aspects, not just the nobles, bureaucrats, landlords and merchants, powerful country squires, but also the heads of Guizhou all over the world who provide taxes for the Han Dynasty. This is something that cannot be tampered with.
of.
Of course, it's not that it can't be changed, which makes people hesitate, but it's just that we don't know how Emperor Liu plans to go through it, which is the most worrying thing. Even if Emperor Liu hasn't made any plans, the ministers present have already prepared to dissuade him.
Abdomen...
"I respectfully listen to His Majesty's instructions!" Prince Liu Yang opened his mouth and said to Emperor Liu.
Emperor Liu lowered his eyelids and asked instead, "Prince, tell me, what are the principles of the Han Dynasty's two-tax system?"
After hearing the question, Liu Yang thought for a moment and said in a cautious tone: "A household has no owner and guests, so it is based on seeing and living; people have no family, so they are rich and poor; they are based on assets, not family.
Money is paid per household, and corn is paid per acre..."
Obviously, Liu Yang still has some research in this regard, and he familiarly mentioned a few core elements of the two-tax tax system of the Han Dynasty. The tax system of the Han Dynasty basically followed the two-tax law that had been implemented since the mid-Tang Dynasty, although there were some details in the Han Dynasty.
The deletions and improvements have been made, but the gist has not changed much.
As far as the tax system is concerned, the Two Taxes Law is a major progress that has accompanied social development. It has developed from a tax system based on people since the Warring States Period to a tax system based on people and land.
When the Han Dynasty arrived, they also followed its system and adopted its advanced features. However, as time went by, the core principles of the Two Tax Laws were gradually weakened, and their binding ability was also constantly weakened.
In the final analysis, the degree of social and economic development is limited and is not enough to support the perfect implementation of the two tax laws. Once the development of things exceeds the objective conditions, problems will often arise.
More importantly, under the two-tax system, land can be bought and sold freely, and land annexation is inevitable and will even spread at an unusual speed. And all this time, Emperor Liu has followed the government's policy of controlling land annexation and private ownership since ancient times.
The high land transaction tax enacted that year was one of the measures. The effect is certainly there, but how big it will be is not optimistic. The costs of land mergers that have occurred or are currently occurring are presented to land sellers.
You can get a glimpse of the tilt trend.
On the one hand, the legal system has established the nature of free buying and selling of land, but on the other hand, he wants to intervene in land buying and selling and control land annexation. This self-contradictory phenomenon is not uncommon in the Han Dynasty. This is why Emperor Liu always wanted to change
One of the reasons for innovation is that from a personal perspective, I sometimes feel uncomfortable with this contradiction.
After listening to Liu Yang's answer, Emperor Liu continued to ask: "That's right, but how far have these principles been implemented? Dahan's annual finance and taxation is increasing year by year, but in the specific tax implementation process, the tax calculation basis
,Have the tax regulations been implemented?”
"This..." Liu Yang was silent about this.
Although he has not had an in-depth understanding of it before, based on his many years of experience in government and his conversations with officials and relevant bureaucrats, it is obvious that there are great deficiencies in this aspect.
In particular, as time goes by, officials in various places are becoming more and more eager for quick success and quick gains in tax work and tend to complete tasks. As for the tax system, most of them only keep it simple and save convenience. As for following the principle of equality between the rich and the poor, taking into account both
Fairness, for the most part, only remains in words, and has even been forgotten long ago.
There are very few officials in various places who can study the tax laws carefully, and they can be considered conscientious. Of course, given the current political environment of the Han Dynasty, the central authority of the imperial court is at its peak, and the officials in various places do not dare to act too wantonly, at least in the area of taxation.
There are very few cases where people are exploited by making clever excuses outside of the quota.
It’s not that it doesn’t happen, it’s just that once it appears, it will be dealt with severely and severely. But it is conceivable that once the government’s supervision is lax, or other situations arise, the greedy nature of meat-eaters will lead to excessive levies, exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes.
The problem exists. Not to mention Emperor Liu, these ministers who have been governing the country for many years are also aware of it. But no one has ever commented on this. The reason is very simple. Conservatism is very important. In order to ensure the stability of taxation,
To achieve "stable" people's livelihood, we have to stick to the old rules. Of course, what is more subtle is that under the current tax system, it is very friendly to nobles, bureaucrats, landlords, and merchants.
Profit orientation often leads to action. Even those who see problems are either humble and have no say, or they are outright conservatives. What's more, the current tax system has been running stably for decades, and the court's annual finance and taxation are also stable.
There is a lot of room for change, and it is far from the point where changes are needed, so why bother?
"Seeing that you are so hesitant, I guess you have seen a lot of disadvantages!" Seeing Liu Yang deep in thought, Emperor Liu said something, and then looked at Li Fang, Zhao Kuangyi and other ministers, and said: "All the ministers here are all from
The state and ministry promotion centers all have sufficient experience in local governance, and they all talk about the problems and drawbacks that have arisen during the implementation of Dahan's current tax system."
Faced with Emperor Liu's question, all the ministers were silent in unison. Emperor Liu was not angry at their silence and looked at Wang You naturally: "Wang Qing, the northwest is a very representative place. You are here
I have served in the northwest for many years, from prefectures and counties to Taoist officials, and I have seen a lot. Please tell me!"
When Emperor Liu called him by name, Wang You naturally could no longer pretend to be mute. After thinking for a while, he responded: "Household tax is paid in coins. In the early years, in order to pay taxes, a large number of farmers had to sell silk and grain at low prices."
In exchange for copper coins. This resulted in a heavy burden on the people and a heavy burden on the people. However, as the imperial court cast more Tongbao and circulated it all over the world, this situation has been alleviated..."
Wang You's words raised a problematic phenomenon, but he also pointed out that the problem had been alleviated, as if to remind Emperor Liu that the problem was not big, so don't worry about it.
However, Emperor Liu did not accept this trick and asked Lu Duan again: "Lu Qing, please tell me!"
Lu Duan looked as calm as a mountain. After hearing the question, he stood up calmly and answered with cupped hands: "The imperial court sets the tax amount every year. One of the points is based on the gap between the rich and the poor in the world. Each taxation is also divided according to the development of each state.
The same is true for the government, in order to ensure fairness, the rich pay more and the poor pay less.
However, at the county level, the situation changes dramatically. In the process of tax collection, government officials often make generalizations and ignore the principle of equal taxation for rich and poor. They only want to complete the taxation tasks assigned by their superiors, regardless of the person, land and property of the people under their control.
The actual situation.
As a result, the rich and the poor are equal, and those who live in big cities and those who work as small farmers pay the same amount of taxes. At the same time, many governments only apportion the taxes based on geographical areas. The amount of taxes is the same in rich areas and poor rural areas. On the contrary, the rich pay less and the poor pay less.
Dona.
As time goes on, the poor will become poorer and the rich will become richer. The poor cannot make ends meet. In order to avoid taxes, the poor would rather abandon their farming and live in a wealthy country..."
With Lu Duan's words, it can be said that a major obvious problem in the implementation of the two-tax system was exposed. Not to mention Emperor Liu, everyone else looked solemn and frowned.
"Zhao Qing, what did you find?" Emperor Liu's tone seemed a bit stern as he stared at Zhao Kuangyi.
Zhao Kuangyi felt awe-struck in his heart, but without hesitation, he opened his mouth and said: "In recent years, many people across the country have lost their land. However, the tax deposits have been lost, the tax amount has not been reduced, and the burden has increased. For this reason, some people evade taxes, or escape, or become trapped.
For tenants, hired laborers..."
After Zhao Kuangyi finished speaking, Emperor Liu turned his attention to Li Fang again. This time, there was no need for Emperor Liu to ask. Li Fang took the initiative and sighed: "The official taxes of the imperial court are paid in equal parts by the rich and the poor. However, each household,
It is difficult to clarify the amount of property and land. At the same time, there are many cases of concealing property and concealing land reports, etc., which all affect the official tax revenue of the court every year!"
After Li Fang finished speaking, Emperor Liu finally stopped asking any more questions. He was silent for a while, and finally let out a burst of breathtaking laughter: "Haha..."