In the twenty-ninth year of Tianfa, in order to change the situation of financial difficulties, the imperial court not only tried every means to increase revenue, but also carried out reforms in the financial system.
Li Laiheng took Zhou Peigong as his prime minister and established the Taxation Institute. In order to smooth the financial cleanup and rectification work, he later established the Cleanup and Finance Department affiliated with the household government, made a series of adjustments to the financial administrative organization, and strengthened the centralization of financial power.
Soon, the Salt Administration Yuan and the Monopoly Yuan were established to carry out unified reform of the salt affairs system and the reform of the operating system of state-owned enterprises.
Of course, the most important means of fiscal reform is undoubtedly based on the development of the modern banking and financial services industry.
A bank is a product of the highly developed modern capitalist commodity economy. It is a special enterprise that operates deposits, loans, exchanges, savings and other businesses, and acts as a credit intermediary.
Under the modern capitalist system, banks mainly rely on the operation of monetary capital and earn profits through the interest difference between deposits and loans.
Dashun's financial institutions were originally administrative management, money and material storage, and expenditures. For example, household governments and provincial observation envoys were originally financial management institutions, but they also had the power to keep money and materials themselves.
The central household government has three treasury, namely the silver treasury, the silk treasury and the Qingqiu treasury (overseas gold treasury). The three treasury keeps money and goods sent from all over the country.
Local provinces, prefectures, and counties also have special money and material treasury, which are managed by the observation envoys, prefecture envoys, defense envoys, and county magistrates.
This approach of combining administration and property custody has many disadvantages.
In the reform of the central fiscal system presided over by Zhou Peigong, he first requested to continue to pilot banks on the basis of household government ticket numbers.
The original memorial said: "I have made an announcement to set up a factory in Tianjin to manufacture new banknotes and build a factory building. As soon as the machines arrive, the printing will be started. This is a way to rectify the finances. The purpose is to rectify the currency system, promote it widely, and take back the money used."
The key to the production of silver coins and privately issued banknotes is gradually based on the cashiers of the treasury, and in particular, banks must be established to control and maintain them, so that they can flow unimpeded. The banknote numbers set up by provincial officials and merchants are generally similar to those of banks.
, If the special government does not set up a bank, the overall situation of national shortage and shortage will not be able to provide support. It is proposed that the government first try to raise capital, adopt the charter of a private bank, consider the profits and losses, and start it on a trial basis immediately, so as to serve as a centralized place for the circulation of money."
It can be seen that the establishment of the Dashun Central Bank was directly based on the rectification of the currency system.
After a period of preparation, the imperial court established a government-owned bank with a capital of 11 million yuan in addition to the household government bank account. It was mainly engaged in deposits, buying and selling gold and silver, exchange, transferring public and private funds, and collecting and depositing important items on behalf of others.
In case of national emergencies, it can also request funds from the household government to support the market. In addition to the right to issue banknotes, it basically has the main functions of a modern national bank.
During the Xiaozong Dynasty, the household government bank and the government bank were merged into the household government bank, which was soon renamed Dashun Bank.
For this purpose, the government has formulated the "Banking Regulations", which states that "managing the incoming and outgoing official funds" is the "obligation" of the National Bank, "it manages the affairs of the treasury and all public funds, and manages public bonds and various securities on behalf of the public."
The capital is 26 million yuan. It is mainly engaged in deposits, short-term interest rates, the sale and discount of various promissory notes, the purchase and sale of cash and silver, the exchange and transfer of public and private funds and the bill of goods, the collection of various bills, the deposit of important objects, and the issuance of goods.
Various bills and issued currency, etc.
In the reform of the central fiscal and taxation system presided over by Zhou Peigong, the "Unified National Treasury Charter" established by the Political Affairs Hall in conjunction with household governments, household government bills, and government banks also stipulates that the treasury is divided into three types: general treasury, branch treasury, and branch treasury.
It is located in Kaifeng, the capital, with branch treasury located in various provinces and branch treasury located in local areas. The treasury is managed by the minister of treasury branch, and its custody and cashier are handled by Dashun Bank. All national revenue and expenditure must be summarized in the treasury.
In order to implement this public treasury system, Dashun Bank and its predecessors have also established banks in more than 20 places (mainly commercial metropolises) including Tianjin, Shanghai, Jinling, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Nagasaki, Zhaonan, Jinshan, and Ganzhou.
There are more than fifty branches or semicolons.
During the reform of the public treasury system, the imperial court established a postal bank, which managed all ship and postal deposits.
The public treasury belonging to the special fiscal accounting was initially established. The changes in the public treasury system during this period reflected the transformation from tradition to modern times: first, the physical inventory continued to shrink; secondly, currency, especially bank credit currency, played an important role in the public treasury revenue and expenditure.
Its status has grown significantly.
The establishment of the unified public treasury system had positive significance for China's finance and economy at that time. The wealth represented by currency symbols replaced the wealth in physical form, thus changing the sluggish and clumsy backward way of transporting precious metals and allocating fiscal funds. It not only saved
Transportation costs and losses also facilitate the dispatch and use of financial funds. It also helps the government to overdraft and use deposits for investment when financial needs are tight.
Through this method, local officials in various provinces can no longer legally embezzle state property through fire and other methods, and the loss of grassroots administrative officials has been completely eliminated.
From then on, the way each province and each governorate's territory submitted finance and taxes to the court was no longer to clumsily transport gold, silver, rice and wheat in carts or sea ships, but simply to add or subtract currency symbols from the public treasury account.
Dashun's financial system has thus achieved a major breakthrough at the technical level and entered a true digital management level.
Tax reform is implemented by the Taxation Court, and changes in the tax system are mainly reflected in the establishment of goods tax and stamp duty.
Goods tax is generally collected at the place of production or sales site, and targets bulk goods. After the tax is paid, inspections are strengthened along the way and no re-levy is required. This is its characteristic of unified taxation.
Stamp duty originated in the Netherlands in the 17th century, and was later imitated by European countries. It is a tax levied on all contracts, books and other documents of property and rights relations. It was introduced to Dashun by Dutch businessmen.
In addition, tax system reforms include: improving old taxes and unifying land taxes; returning old taxes, such as dividing land, tax, grain, tax, and consumption into unified ones; expanding old taxes, such as tobacco tax, alcohol tax, and stamp duty.
Nationwide; Add new taxes, such as income tax (including business tax, property tax, household tax), income tax (including special tax, income tax, general income tax, military service tax), consumption tax (including beverage tax, article tax, use tax)
Zhou Peigong also proposed that the court should carefully manage the income from official property and government-run industries as well as non-tax income such as administrative fees and fines, and advocated the issuance of public bonds to raise funds for the rectification of the currency system.
This is a complete tax system reform plan of a capitalist nature, and the tax system after the Xiaozong Dynasty basically evolved along this line.