Chapter 427 Exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes
"Sir, it's not that we don't pay taxes, it's that the taxes are too much and too harsh. We fishermen depend on the weather for a living. It's common for several people to die on a trip to sea. It can be said that we earn money with our heads in our belts."
Eat some food, but when we get off the boat and go to sea, the government will collect a boat tax. When we return from fishing, no matter what the harvest is, we will collect a 30% fishing tax. When we return home, we have to pay a monthly fee and a head tax every year."
"Even so, we grit our teeth and can barely support it, but this year's annual vacation has not even ended yet, and these officials came to collect some kind of tax. A few days ago, my eighty-year-old mother fell ill, and I left the only one in the family.
If you kill a chicken and let me recuperate, all these officials will come and take away half of the chicken. How can the people live with such exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the group of fishermen became furious, and everyone pointed at the officials and started yelling.
Su Jinpa, who came out behind, heard what Zhenzhen said, and his pretty face suddenly turned cold, and he looked at the officer's eyes in a bad way.
Sambo next to him immediately scolded: "What are you making noisy about? Be quiet!"
Exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes are as fierce as tigers. Before the beginning of most troubled times, natural disasters followed closely behind local exorbitant levies and miscellaneous taxes.
On the one hand, the people have no harvest and cannot eat enough, and on the other hand, they have to be levied heavy taxes by the government. This is the basic logic of the government forcing the people to rebel.
Most of the time, the imperial court was well aware of this, so every time there was a disaster, taxes would be reduced or exempted. Even if the imperial court ordered tax exemptions, whether or not the local government would implement it, and how to implement it, was another matter.
Li Chen was not surprised by this.
But since this happened under his nose, he had to deal with it.
"Is it just you like this, or is the whole Weihaiwei like this?" Li Chen asked.
The leading man replied: "We Weihaiwei are all like this. Laizhou Prefecture next door and Dengzhou Prefecture do not have so many miscellaneous taxes and heavy taxes. All those who have the ability have gone to the next door. Only us who have seniors and juniors are left."
Only those who are young and reluctant to leave their ancestral land and have no place to settle down when they go to the state capital next door stay here."
"good."
Li Chen nodded and said: "I will intervene in Weihaiwei's excessive taxes and miscellaneous taxes, and the results will be announced to the people of the city in the next few days."
"But today you are fighting, and the ones you are fighting are officials, but the matter cannot be left alone. There is a reason for everything, but the empire has laws, and we must deal with the matter."
"Every one of you here will be detained for three days as a warning to others. Otherwise, you will not be punished or fined. Are you convinced?"
The man was stunned for a moment and said hurriedly: "This is already a huge tolerance. We are not unruly people, so we are naturally convinced and willing. But do you really mean what I said about solving the exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes? This is the order of the prefect of Weihaiwei."
Li Chen put his hands behind his back and said, "I came from the capital. Who is the senior official in the capital, or is it the magistrate of Weihaiwei?"
Such a simple and crude comparison gave these people a very clear understanding.
The man grinned, and immediately led everyone to kowtow to Li Chen, and said: "If the master can really solve this matter for us, Weihaiwei City has 320,000 people in the counties, towns, and villages under its jurisdiction.
Kowtow to the great master and burn incense every day!"
Even Li Chen was happy when he heard this.
"Okay, go and serve your sentence, but don't make any more trouble, otherwise you will be severely punished."
