“Hide the wealth among the people?”
Zhao Xu couldn't help but smile bitterly: "It's just a nice way of saying it."
He really doesn't believe this now.
He even believes that the current situation is caused by the idea of sharing wealth with the people.
As a result, the imperial court and the people were left with no money.
He still completely leans towards Wang Anshi's idea of enriching the country and strengthening the military.
Wealth should be controlled by the state.
Zhang Fei explained: "My intention is not to promote Sima Xueshi's idea, but to borrow this idea to provide them with a legal channel for tax avoidance."
Zhao Xu asked in confusion: "What do you mean?"
Zhang Fei did not answer but asked: "Your Majesty, do you know that many wealthy merchants and scholars use Xiangguo Temple to avoid taxes?"
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Zhao Xu nodded: "Of course I know."
Zhang Fei asked again: "Your Majesty, do you know that many people choose to become monks in Xiangguo Temple to avoid labor and taxes?"
Zhao Xu sighed, "There are thousands of people cultivating the vegetable garden of Xiangguo Temple. How could I not know about this?"
Zhang Fei asked again: "Most of these people are unable to afford the taxes and labor service of the court, which leads to bankruptcy and homelessness. If Xiangguo Temple had not taken them in, they would probably have starved to death on the streets."
Zhao Xu nodded slightly.
Zhang Fei said: "If Xiangguo Temple can play a greater role and use the profits it gains to benefit the people, and these profits come from those big landlords and wealthy businessmen, isn't this what Sima Xueshi and his people are doing to share their wealth with the people?"
Zhao Xu laughed and said, "You are too naive. How much of the profits earned by Xiangguo Temple is used to benefit the people?"
Xiangguo Temple was already an open secret, but Zhao Xu had no way to deal with it. For example, Empress Dowager Cao was a devout Buddhist, and many royal relatives and literati were loyal believers of Buddhism. The political cost of moving Xiangguo Temple would definitely be higher than levying taxes on landlords.
"Your Majesty is absolutely right."
Zhang Fei said: "I never thought that relying on Confucianism's benevolence and Buddhism's compassion would make those people willing to spend money to benefit the people. This is a fantasy. Therefore, this requires the rule of law to force them to do so.
But if the court directly legislates to collect taxes from them, I am afraid they will not easily agree, so the court must find an appropriate reason to leave them speechless. "
"What's the reason?"
"charitable."
"charitable?"
"Yes."
Zhang Fei said: "Your Majesty can combine charity and law and use the law to force them to do charity. In this way, I believe no one will dare to oppose Your Majesty."
Zhao Xu seemed to not understand what he said. "Use the law to force them to do charity? How can this be done? Charity should start with good intentions. If you use the law to force them, can it still be called charity? Can they not object?"
Zhang Fei said: "Of course the court cannot say this explicitly, but they can guide them to do so."
Zhao Xu hurriedly asked: "How to guide?"
Zhang Fei asked: "May I ask Your Majesty, do I need to pay taxes for charity?"
Zhao Xu said: "Of course not."
Zhang Fei asked again: "If those big landowners donate their land for charity, do they need to pay taxes?"
Zhao Xu said: "Of course they don't need it, but they won't be willing to donate it!"
Zhang Fei asked: "If they were allowed to donate from their left hand to their right hand, would they still be unwilling?"
The more Zhao Xu listened, the more confused he became. "What's the point?"
Zhang Fei said: "As long as the law is added, it can all become meaningful. For example, once property and land are donated for charity, they definitely do not belong to you. Then who do they belong to?"
Zhao Xu was stunned for a moment, "Yes! Who did you donate it to?"
Zhang Fei said: "So before that, they must set up a charity organization to store their donations, so that they can donate from their left hand to their right hand."
Zhao Xu wondered, "By doing this, aren't you still condoning them to evade taxes?"
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Your Majesty, who allowed this charity to be tax-exempt? This requires the court to legislate to give its approval, and the court can take the opportunity to intervene with the law. For example, it can stipulate that the donated money belongs to public property, not private property, and cannot be misappropriated without authorization."
Zhao Xu shook his head and said, "How could they agree to this?"
Zhang Fei said: "But so much wealth needs to be managed and farmed. Generally speaking, the donor is the helmsman of the charity. He can arrange all his descendants to work in the charity and pay them wages every month."
Zhao Xu was confused again, "This is equivalent to condoning their tax evasion!"
Zhang Fei said: "The court cannot force anyone to do charity. This is purely a personal wish, and the law cannot intervene. But charitable organizations are different. The significance of establishing charitable organizations is to do charity. It uses this obligation in exchange for tax exemption privileges. If it does not do so, it is considered deception and is illegal.
The court can stipulate that this charity must donate a certain amount of profit to charity every year. Even if this profit is equivalent to the taxes they have to bear, they will be willing to do so. "
Zhao Xu shook his head and said, "If that's the case, then why don't they just pay the taxes?"
Zhang Fei explained tactfully: "Donating to charity is more about following one's own wishes. How to donate and who to donate to are all free choices. Paying taxes is forced. Even if they donate the same amount of money, they will definitely prefer to donate to charity.
Secondly, what they fear most is not paying such a small amount of tax. Your Majesty should know this better than I do."
Zhao Xu glanced at Zhang Fei and said, "I know it very well, but I didn't expect that you also know it very well!"
Zhang Fei said awkwardly: "This is human nature."
Those people are so opposed to this case, are they really reluctant to part with that little bit of money?
Not necessarily.
If they just spend this little money to avoid disaster, they will definitely be willing to do so.
What they really cared about was the court's power to levy taxes.
If we pay the taxes so easily today, and your court wants to increase taxes tomorrow, then we have to pay it too. If you increase taxes again, we have to pay again, then sooner or later we will all be finished.
The common people are the best example. They have no way to resist, and the imperial court specifically targets them.
The scholars and officials have all read history books and know how the rules work. It is impossible for the imperial court to always levy taxes according to the law.
Therefore, the political cost of the court imposing taxes on them must be increased.
That's why it's so difficult to ask them for even a penny more.
Because they are safer.
This is actually a power game.
The law is not at all in it.
Zhang Fei added: "This charity organization can avoid this. The money is still in their hands, but the court loses the power to levy taxes on them.
At the same time, the court also stood on the moral high ground. The court had exempted them from taxes and encouraged them to do charity. If they did not fulfill their obligations and the court wanted to punish them, whether it was Duke Wen or Sima Xueshi, they would never complain. "
Wen Yanbo and Sima Guang's idea of sharing wealth with the people embodies a very important idea, that is, the rise and fall of the country lies with the scholars and officials, not just ordinary people.
Because they believed that the emperor ruled the world together with the literati, not with the common people.
Civilians naturally do not need to bear this responsibility, they just need to fulfill their obligations.
These civilians have never been to school and are only trying to survive. They have no idea of the responsibilities of the world. If something happens and you don't catch them, they will definitely run away.
The scholar-officials were deeply influenced by Confucian education and understood what it meant to be loyal to the emperor and to serve the country. They also understood the principle that if the skin is gone, the hair will fall off. The wealth was controlled by the scholar-officials, and they were able to shoulder this responsibility.
Of course, at present this is just their philosophy and the goal they strive for.
Having said that, this group of civil servants in the Northern Song Dynasty can actually be said to be the last bright spot of Confucianism. After that, everything was a mess. Confucianism completely became a tool of rule and lost its ideals.
But it must be said that even so, reality is still far from the ultimate goal of Confucianism.
In the end, it was no match for human nature.
Human nature still needs laws to restrict it.
Therefore, Zhang Fei introduced the concept of charitable organizations in order to constrain the Confucian idea of sharing wealth with the people within the law.
You say every day that you want to rule the world together. Okay, the court will first grant you tax exemptions, and then it depends on your performance.
If you don't take responsibility, it will be illegal.
But this is slightly different from Zhao Xu's idea.
What about imperial power?
What about the rich countries?
Zhao Xu said very tactfully: "If they all donate their money into this, the court will not be able to collect taxes. Now the court's finances have reached a point where it is unsustainable!"
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Didn't I just say that this charity organization also needs to be run? This is a business. Since it is a business, it needs to trade with others, and the business taxes that should be paid still need to be paid."
Zhao Xu's eyes lit up when he heard this. That's right! We can collect the money from other places.
Zhang Fei added: "This is actually in line with the court's policy of shifting its focus to commerce, so we should not make the mistake of raising agricultural taxes again.
In addition, if all prefectures and counties set up such charitable organizations, they could also provide great help to the court in disaster relief. If everything had to be coordinated by the court, the loss would be unimaginable."
On this point, Zhang Fei and Wang Anshi have very different ideas.
Wang Anshi hoped that the central government would control all wealth and then allocate it in a unified manner. However, Zhang Fei believed that given the current transportation environment, it would be almost impossible for the central government to achieve unified allocation. It would be better to cultivate the self-help capabilities of each state and county, with the assistance of the court.
Zhao Xu agreed with Zhang Fei's policy of prioritizing commerce over agriculture. In terms of agricultural taxes, the power that the court could exert was very limited. This chess game was too complicated and it was too confusing to sort out. It would be better to find another way. He asked again: "Then how do you make them willing to donate money to charity organizations?"
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Didn't I just say that we will win this lawsuit and force them to seek safer legal tax avoidance?"
After thinking for a while, Zhao Xu nodded and said, "Okay! I am willing to give it a try to see if they are really willing to spend the same amount of money as taxes on charity as you said."
This conversation with Zhang Fei also prompted Zhao Xu to make up his mind to fight this lawsuit.
But when he returned to the palace, Lan Yuanzhen said to Zhao Xu, "Your Majesty, the Empress Dowager asked the maidservant beside you today how long it had been since Your Majesty had accompanied her for dinner."
It seems that they are serious this time, and they have even gone to the Empress Dowager. Zhao Xu asked, "Where is the Empress Dowager now?"
"Peach Pavilion."
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