Wei Zheng groaned and murmured: "I don't know about these situations."
"Ha!" Li Mu interrupted Wei Zheng and said, "I don't know? Why don't you know? Because you don't care, so you don't know! The kingly way and the benevolent way in the eyes of the public are the ways in the books of sages, not in reality.
Dao. I don’t know about these things, but I care about them. I can investigate. I dare not deceive you. These things were all done by Changsun Chong and several of his classmates, who personally visited the villages near Chang’an City and learned from the people.
You asked from your mouth! If you want to know, you can ask at any time, but you don’t have the time. You are all people who do big things, so I have to let my students do this little thing!"
"Looking at the old rules, the way the poll tax is established is: new students are added and dead people are expelled. However, every time when it comes to compilation and review, some officials, in order to gain the reputation of increasing the household registration, regardless of the suffering of the people, will overflow the forehead, and those who should be deleted will not be deleted.
Delete and add those who should not be added, or even refuse to expel people after they are dead, and make them register for registration at birth. The extra head tax will be shared equally among the people. There are also cunning people who bribe officials and conceal the truth.
Registration of household registration also falls on poor farmers. All kinds of bad habits are too numerous to describe!"
"It is better for the people to cultivate the land than not to cultivate it, because the land they cultivate is not enough to pay taxes and make a living. In good years, rich people will get more, but the poor will get very little. In bad years, they will have nothing.
As a result of the land and property, the strong are scattered everywhere, and the old and weak die in the ravines! If the people and herders can love the good and take less from it, the people will gradually become more prosperous. If the demands are endless, how can the small people make a living?"
Wei Zheng was speechless. Although he did not investigate in depth what Li Mu said, he also knew that since Li Mu could tell it, there must be detailed evidence and it was definitely not groundless. Thinking of these things, he was completely clueless.
Knowing this, Wei Zheng felt ashamed and no longer wanted to argue with Li Mu.
Li Shimin sighed and said: "What Li Mu said is very reasonable and enlightening. I must reflect on it. The current situation in the Tang Dynasty has reached a time when it has to be changed. Li Mu, since you said there is a way, tell me the way.
Come out, let’s brainstorm ideas, check for deficiencies and make up for them, so that people’s lives must be improved.”
"Your Majesty, I listed the various disadvantages of the poll tax to express one thing. Your Majesty, the poll tax is troublesome for statistics and has countless disadvantages. It should be abolished!"
"Take it, cancel it?" Li Shimin's eyes widened, and he thought to himself that I, a flattering person, could shoot someone in the foot! Before he could speak, Tang Jian, the minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Li Mu's cheap stepfather, stood up and shouted:
"Can't cancel, never cancel!"
Li Mu looked at Tang Jian, who did not shy away and said: "Li Mu, do you know that the poll tax is an important tax for the imperial court, accounting for at least 30% to 40%, millions of dollars, such a large amount of money, if it is exempted
, the imperial court will be unsustainable, this is no joke!"
Li Mu said seriously: "The abolition of the poll tax will not reduce the total number of taxes, but will increase it because of the accuracy of statistics!"
Li Shimin wondered: "What does this mean?"
"Your Majesty, there are many difficulties in the statistics of poll tax, but there are no such worries in the statistics of fields. Because the fields are there, they do not move. How many fields there are in a certain place can be accurately counted. The heads just mentioned
The disadvantages of taxation seem to be unsolvable, but if you change your thinking and change the tax from people to the tax from land, all the problems will be solved easily!"
"Dividing a small family into an acre?" Everyone was chewing on these four words. Wei Zheng seemed to have some understanding, but he was still not clear. He asked: "What does it mean specifically?"
"To put it simply, the poll tax is apportioned to the fields. Suppose there are 100 people and 100 acres of land. Each acre of land bears the poll tax of one person. If the 100 acres of land are cultivated by one person,
Then he will have to bear a tax of one hundred heads. The one who bears more taxes will have more fields to cultivate, and the one who has less fields will have less taxes. This is fair!"
"Wait a minute!" Wei Zheng suddenly thought of a link and interrupted Li Mu: "There are loopholes in this policy. It seems reasonable to divide the people into acres, but the population increases and decreases year by year. How to determine the tax?"
"I've thought of this too." Li Mu faced Li Shimin and said, "So in order to ensure that this rule can be implemented and to allow the people to take corvee lightly and receive less tax, I would like to ask your majesty to set up another rule. Based on the population in the fifth year of Zhenguan,
After the population grows, taxes will never be increased! Even if the population is large, taxes will not be increased to reduce the burden on the people!"
"Never give more gifts!" Li Shimin was shocked. What will happen every year is unpredictable. No one can determine how much money will be spent every year. This promise of never giving more gifts,
It is a double-edged sword. It can gain fame, but it is also a shackle. If you fail to do what you say, your reputation will be destroyed in one day!
Li Shimin is not an indecisive person, but when faced with such a big matter, he must think twice and act cautiously. He murmured: "I have to think about it, I have to think about it."
"Is Your Majesty worried that if you never increase taxes, the imperial tax revenue will not be enough?"
"Exactly, I don't want to burden the people, but no one can be sure about the future. If there is a war, how can the imperial court continue without increasing taxes?"
"Your Majesty, please rest assured. I promise that your Majesty will never increase taxes, and the taxes you receive will definitely be more!"
Changsun Wuji listened for a long time, but he really couldn't understand, and said: "Li Mu, if you don't add gifts, where will the money come from?"
"Commercial tax!" Li Mu said with a smile: "Did you forget that there is another tax? Commercial tax is the only tax that can be superimposed in quantity but has no burden on the people. Because the commercial tax is generated by transactions.
One transaction requires one tax, and the more transactions that occur, the more taxes there will be.”
Tang Jian asked in confusion: "What does it have to do with this root never being endowed?"
"How come it doesn't matter!" Li Mu struggled to speak: "Think of it, gentlemen, if the court asks less for taxes, the people will have more money. If the people have more money, what will they do? Of course they will spend it!
When they have no money, they wear linen. When they have money, they want to wear silk. What should they do if they want silk? Of course they buy it! Buy! The court can collect taxes!"
"As for traders, they are actually willing to pay taxes. Why? Because if they produce goods and no one buys them, they are worthless. Only by selling them can they make money. The more taxes they pay,
, the more they earn, the more the court will collect!"
Everyone looked at each other and saw confusion in each other's eyes.
Li Mu sighed and said: "So do you understand now why you guys can make money without me? Money can't be saved, it has to be spent. It's money! I bought a sheep with a hundred dollars, and the sheep dealer made money.
, the sheep dealer buys sheep from the sheepherder, and the sheepherder also makes money. The sheepherder gets money to buy rice, and the rice dealer makes money... The same one hundred strings, how many people have been fed! But if this money is piled in the warehouse
, Sheep traders, sheepherders, and rice sellers all have nothing to gain. Why don’t you understand such a simple truth?"