Chapter 1676 Fiscal and Taxation Reform Part Three
"Silang, you are here." In the Guanfeng Hall, Shao Shude, who was reading the memorial, stood up, grabbed his son's hand, looked up and down several times, and said with a smile: "The eyebrows and eyes are very similar to your mother's, but she is too handsome.
Now, it’s time to go out more often.”
Shao Guancheng was greatly embarrassed: "Master, I often practice martial arts now and no longer go to Goulan to listen to music."
Shao Shude nodded with satisfaction, sat back at the imperial desk, and said, "Sit down first."
The biological mother of the fourth child is the concubine Zhuge.
When he was still under Zhuge Shuang's tent, he had a good relationship with Zhuge Zhongbao, the father of the Zhuge family, and they called him brothers.
During the Hanzhong Rebellion, he led his troops to quell the rebellion, captured Zhuge Zhongbao, and brought back his daughter who was about to get married.
Shao Shude was once very fond of this niece who he watched grow up.
After middle age, I gradually lost interest, but every time I thought about how Zhuge, who was still a little girl, saluted him solemnly when they first met, and when he returned the greeting gift, I felt a little impulsive and couldn't help but want to gallop.
Now that I am old, I have to take a break from playing for half a month or a month at a time, and I am full of energy but not enough.
Fortunately, I have had rich experiences and have good memories from the past that I can always look back on.
"I heard that you moved to Guangling last month?" Shao Shude looked at his son and asked.
"Yes." Shao Guancheng replied: "Dashi, Persia, Brahmin merchants only like to go to Guangzhou and Yangzhou. Haizhou is relatively rare, so I plan to sit in Guangling and take care of all places."
Are these the only reasons? Of course not. At least, the prosperity of Guangling is a very important factor, but there is no need to mention it. Anyway, he is the envoy of three cities in Hebei, Huaihai and Huainan, so it is not unreasonable to stay in Guangling for office.
Shao Shude nodded. He knew his son's temperament well. He just loved fun and enjoyment and loved prosperity.
Among so many sons, if we look purely at IQ, the fourth child is probably ranked first. Alas, among the Shao family's litter of muscular men, it's rare to have a man with a high IQ. He's also unmotivated and likes to lie flat. Every time he thinks about it,
He was a little sad about this.
However, he has given up trying to correct the temper of the fourth child. Everyone has his own aspirations. He wants to live a rich and worry-free life, so let him go.
"How is the matter you were asked to do?" Shao Shude calmed down and asked.
"Master, please take a look." Shao Guancheng took out a memorial and handed it over.
Shao Shude watched carefully.
Shao Guancheng quietly looked at the decorations and furnishings in the palace. When he saw several pieces of gold that were obviously exotic, he became interested and seemed to be carefully studying the artistic style and origin of these gold items.
"Doo!" Shao Shude tapped the imperial case a few times.
Shao Guancheng immediately sat up straight and looked solemn.
"The children are running all over the floor, and you are still so lazy." Shao Shude said while reading the memorial: "You have always been dedicated to financial planning. The imperial court plans to reform the proportion of land tax contributions. What do you think?"
"It's hard to change it now, but it's hard to change it later," Shao Guancheng said.
Shao Shude raised his head and asked: "Tell me the reason."
"Do you know that wealthy businessmen in Huainan and Jiangnan like to buy land?" Shao Guancheng asked.
Shao Shude hummed and said: "In recent years, Jiangnan tea merchants have significantly increased their applications for land purchase, and the government has approved a lot. Some transactions are quite small, often covering hundreds of acres."
China's land ownership system entered a strange state during the Northern Dynasties.
Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty granted land to the people of the world - women could also grant land, and men and women had equal status in this matter.
The people who were granted land were required to bear taxes, one was paid in grain, called "rent", and the other was paid in cloth, called "tiao".
After the death of the people, the fields were recovered and distributed to other people. This kind of fields was called "exposed fields" and in the Tang Dynasty it was called "koufentian".
Gradually, people were able to retain part of their own land, mainly homesteads. As the name suggests, homesteads were privately owned, and homesteads were usually accompanied by orchards and mulberry gardens, which were used to produce cash crops, such as fruits, wood, silk, etc.
, which are also privately owned and collectively referred to as "Zhaiyuan".
Institutionally speaking, it is very similar to China in later generations.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, cultivated land (open fields) belonged to the government, and in later generations it belonged to the village collective.
During the Northern Wei Dynasty, residences and gardens were privately owned, and in later generations homesteads and private plots were also privately owned.
It has to be said that China’s history is too long, and the answers to many systems can be found in the pile of old papers.
This system was also used in the beginning of the Tang Dynasty. For example, there were koufentian and yongyetian. The majority of the koufentian was state-owned, while the Yongye field was the smaller part and was privately owned. The residences and gardens were also privately owned.
The transaction of Yongye Field requires the approval of the imperial court, but people in the garden can trade by themselves without approval.
However, this land system basically tended to disintegrate during the period of Wu Zetian, and was replaced by the recognition of private rights to land. In order to curb mergers, Wu Zhou issued a decree stipulating that land sales must be registered and approved by the government.
After the difficulties, with the introduction of the Two Taxes Law, the imperial court basically gave up its restraint on land annexation.
However, the Tang Dynasty did not die due to land annexation, and even the subsequent Song Dynasty did not die due to land annexation.
The introduction of the Two Taxes Law, which levied taxes on the amount of land held by a household, enabled the court's finances to be maintained.
Those with more land paid more taxes, while those with less land paid less taxes. This suppressed the enthusiasm for land annexation to a certain extent. In fact, until the end of the Tang Dynasty, there were no super landowners.
The Xia Dynasty inherited the previous system in land policy, but emphasized that land sales required official approval, otherwise it would not be counted. Moreover, due to factors such as wars and the 150 years of separatist feudal towns, the land was relatively average, and the number of large landowners was compared to that of the Tang Dynasty.
In the end, there was even a lot less.
Not many people are interested in investing in land these days because there are not enough people to farm it.
But Jiangnan may be an exception.
"What do you think?" Shao Shude asked.
"The fields are divided into three categories: upper, middle and lower. The tax rates for upper fields, middle fields and lower fields are different. I think we can follow this example in terms of land quantity and implement different tax rates?" Shao Guancheng asked.
Shao Shude was silent for a while and said: "I asked you to go to Goulan less to listen to music and go to the countryside more for walks, but you didn't listen. You can think of progressive taxes. You think the world is too stable. This is not a good policy.
Don't mess around."
Shao Guancheng choked.
Shao Shude put down the memorial and patiently explained to him: "The power of an emperor lies in gathering the people. Once the people betray their relatives, it is no different from being alone. I have enough prestige. Sometimes I can bully the people and generals, but there is a limit to everything. Oppression
It doesn't matter once, twice, three times or even five times, ten times, maybe it's fine, but the eleventh time, there may be a problem. My vigorous immigration has made many people dissatisfied, and we can't do it again and again.
This is a serious matter."
His words are very clear.
He was a founding monarch with outstanding prestige, and his willful ability was stronger than most emperors, and much stronger. But after all, there was a limit, and he didn't know where it was, but it was best not to try it.
"The land tax is just like this." He said: "But the information you provided is also helpful. In recent years, the number of applications for land purchase in Jiangnan has indeed increased. I will issue an order to Huainan, Jiangdong, and Jiangxi to tighten it.
Some, approval is suspended."
"Let's go back to your old business." Shao Shude said: "How was the implementation of tariffs in the past year? Is there anything that needs improvement?"
"Since the imperial court ordered the merging of shipping, offering, closing, etc. into tariffs, the shipping companies in the northern and southern cities collected a total of 2.11 million yuan in tariffs in the four years of Tongguang." Shao Guancheng said.
This more than two million yuan is the total tariff revenue of shipping companies in various cities across the country, which has increased several times compared to the previous more than 300,000 yuan. The reason is that Shao Shude took the initiative to cut off the meat.
He set an example by taking out the "contributions" made by maritime merchants to the emperor's personal use and merging them into customs duties. That is to say, maritime merchants no longer need to pay tribute, and can just pay more taxes.
The market closing system was also abolished. The imperial court no longer forced the purchase of goods from maritime merchants at low prices. Instead, it estimated the income from this area in previous years, converted it into tariffs, and raised the tax rate a little to supplement this income.
This is a formalized management, which is much better than the previous demands for "finance" and forced buying and selling, and all the money goes into the national treasury.
The maritime merchants did not lose, the interests of Shao Shude and the officials of the Shipping Department were harmed, and the court benefited - the officials of the City Shipping Department did not receive any gifts on the surface, but in fact, Shao Shude suspected that the gifts they received from the maritime merchants were very serious.
There may be more than me, so I simply abolished it, although officials would probably ask for it privately.
"Where's the money for getting rid of strangers?" Shao Shude asked again.
"One million silver dollars." Shao Guancheng replied.
“New money or old money?”
"One dollar of new money is worth two coins."
"That's two million." Shao Shude said.
Zhu Mo Qian is similar to transaction tax, an old tax from the Tang Dynasty. Different tax rates are implemented according to different categories of goods, ranging from 2%, 3% to 30%.
The municipalities under the jurisdiction of the Shibo Division have money to eliminate foreigners, and of course local municipalities also have money to eliminate foreigners.
This area is still relatively large. At present, about a hundred centralized trading markets have been established across the country, which can collect more than 1.6 million silver dollars every year. When converted into copper coins, it is 3.23 million. Plus Shanghai
Guan Na, excluding Mo money, is already the second largest source of commercial taxes, totaling more than 5 million.
This income of more than 5 million yuan was used to purchase various materials on the spot in Fangshi to support the various expenses of the court and the army, and it only existed in the books.
But the money on the books is also money. In addition to foreign money, customs duties and taxes, the total of these three categories has exceeded 18 million, which is quite a lot.
After the reign of Emperor Xianzong of the Tang Dynasty and the Zhongxing Dynasty, the fiscal revenue of the Tang court was only 30 to 40 million guan shi per year - including grain, so the "guan shi" statistics were used - of which nearly half was at the peak of commercial taxation.
In fact, after the Anshi Rebellion, under the huge pressure of military spending, the Tang court really put a lot of thought into business taxes. Many tax types were the first of their kind in history - it is easier to target businessmen than directly target officials and nobles. After all,
We turned a corner and separated one floor.
At this time, Shao Shude also missed Wu Qi, Liu Yan and Yang Yan, the three financial experts.
They really know how to make money, but of course they have made many detours. Wu Qi was criticized for introducing the "tithe tax", and Emperor Daizong of the Tang Dynasty had to grant amnesty to the world and announce its abolition.
Liu Yan and Yang Yan both died violent deaths...
Tang Dezong was forced to run away for a while, and then issued an edict to accuse himself, which made him very embarrassed.
But after he handed over the Shence Army to the eunuchs, the officials had nothing to do with him, and they were able to grit their teeth and defend the results of the financial reform. It has been one hundred and forty years now, and the two tax laws have been difficult to shake - of course, the eunuchs
After mastering the Shence Army, although the court officials were just a piece of cake, the emperor also became a piece of cake, but this is another story.
"The total customs duties of the national shipping department, the amount of money spent on customs clearance by each city, totaled more than 7 million, and the stamp duty was more than 600,000..." Shao Shude read softly.
Stamp tax is also levied in the city. The tax rate is very low and it is not mandatory. Only when the other party's credibility is not assured and government endorsement is required, the two parties to the transaction may pay stamp tax.
"Here -" Shao Shude looked behind him, pointed to the item "over-tax", and said, "What is the reason for your suggestion to cancel over-tax?"
"My lord, paying taxes is actually a matter of the old lunar calendar. In the former Tang Dynasty, there were 26 customs in total, upper, middle and lower, and you had to pay taxes to pass the customs. After the vassal towns were separated, Jiedu envoys set up tax cards privately to collect taxes. My lord was in Lingxia when I was here.
, canceled internal taxes, and made it clear that only those who enter and leave the town need to pay taxes. Well, it seemed to be called tariffs at that time." Shao Guancheng said: "After the founding of Daxia, there were many tax cards between old feudal towns, but they were not abolished and were still collected.
The merchants complained about the excessive tax and hoped to abolish it."
Shao Shude pondered for a while.
The nature of overtax is similar to that of a well-known tax in later generations, called "lijin".
Of course, Lijin is even more outrageous. It is not only collected at the place of origin, but also collected when it leaves the house. It is also collected when it leaves the mountain. When it is transported on the road, I collect it again. When it is sold at the destination, I continue to collect it...
In fact, it is equivalent to the combination of over-tax and residence tax in the Tang Dynasty, but it is more "harsh" - the so-called residence tax refers to the tax paid by merchants on the ground, which is somewhat similar to business tax, while over-tax is more like "tolls".
"It is possible to abolish old checkpoints, but not all of them." Shao Shude said: "The tax is of great use, and it can be used to build first-class national highways."
Well, this is actually self-deception.
The Xia Dynasty collected millions in taxes a year, but not a penny was used to build roads. All of it was misappropriated. As for the construction of first-class national roads, Shao Thief was completely prostituted from the people.
"There are indeed too many checkpoints that have collected taxes, but according to the standards of the 26 levels in the former Tang Dynasty, they are too few." Shao Shude added: "You can discuss it again and determine which water and land checkpoints need to collect taxes and which ones do not.
If necessary, report it at the end. As for the residence tax exemption you mentioned, the tax rate can be reduced appropriately, but not too much. I will give you a rough number. If you add the residence tax and residence tax together, you will receive at least
Four million. You can decide how to adjust it specifically."
Fiscal reform is not just about reforming the system, but also about reducing the tax burden, even if it means nothing.
When discussing taxes, Shao Shude abolished many types of taxes and reduced taxes by more than 300,000 yuan per year.
On the tax and housing tax side, some concessions should be made appropriately, and some reductions and exemptions should be made. Anyway, the government's expenditures are now reduced, which can indeed make the people breathe a sigh of relief.
"I understand." Shao Guancheng responded.
"The rest are small taxes and miscellaneous taxes. I won't have to worry about it anymore. You guys can do whatever you want." Shao Shude closed the memorial and said: "Besides the two major categories of land tax and commercial tax, there are only money supervisors.