"This shop has only been open for a short time, right?"
"Yes, the county government has records of this. We registered before opening the business."
When the officials from the county government came in, one of them was holding a book and two stern-looking ones were leading the way. When they arrived at the shop, Xu He hurriedly walked around the counter. It was not the first time that he had been taxed, so seeing this familiar scene, Xu He was much more familiar with it than before.
However, even so, he was not particularly clear about the way to collect business taxes.
After checking, the chief clerk said, "Your shop has not been in business for half a year. Wait until the next tax payment."
After the chief clerk spoke, the other yamen runners said nothing, turned around and followed him out without collecting any money from their shops. When Zhang Fangyuan came back, the yamen runner had just gone to the restaurant next door.
"Don't be afraid of them. Just give them the money honestly and nothing will happen." Zhang Fangyuan came back with his lunch and saw the young man still standing at the door, staring at the yamen runners who had gone to another shop. He couldn't help but want to tease him, so he reached out and pinched his face.
After holding the hot meal for so long, her body also warmed up. Her warm fingertips rubbed his cheek. Xu He came back to his senses: "But they didn't collect the tax from us. They said we can pay it in half a year."
Zhang Fangyuan nodded as expected. He knew everything about taxes, but seeing that Xu He was not very clear about it, he set the table and took the opportunity to talk to him in detail while they were eating.
The collection of commercial taxes and capitation taxes are different, but the two do not conflict with each other. Even if you pay commercial taxes, you still have to pay capitation and corvée taxes. It just means that if the business owner does not farm at home, then he does not have to pay rent for the crops.
The current business tax for a monthly income of less than 10,000 coins is 50 coins per month, collected every six months, 300 coins for six months, and 600 coins per year; for a monthly income of 100,000 coins, 500 coins per month; for a monthly income of 500,000 coins, 5,000 coins per month...
Commercial taxes have been relatively light in recent years, and the imperial court has been open-minded. For example, if you set up a small stall in the city without renting a stall or if you don't set up the stall for a full month, you won't be charged commercial taxes. Therefore, when Xu He set up a stall to sell vegetables and braised food before, he did not pay any business taxes, and therefore did not come into contact with this level of taxation.
Their family has three businesses, but now only the pork stall has to pay taxes every six months, three hundred coins per half year. However, it has now been transferred to Chen Si, so naturally they have to bear the business tax.
Xu He whispered, "But how does the government know how much profit people's shops make? If we report the lowest amount, won't we pay less?"
Zhang Fangyuan laughed: "How can the court not be careful about collecting money? How can they allow merchants to conceal their profits? For example, in places like meat markets and vegetable markets, the county government has already estimated the prices of those merchants and roughly calculated their profits. Except for those with unusually hot businesses, they all collect the lowest level of commercial tax."
"Shops outside are also divided into different levels. Some pay according to the income of 100,000 coins, and some pay according to the income of 500,000 coins. If a merchant says that his income does not reach the level set by the court, he can take out his account books for verification."
Xu He chewed the food, swallowed it, and asked, "Then how much does our shop pay?"
"Our shop is small, so we pay 500 per month. The chief clerk told us that when we went to the government office to register. The tea stall is not in the city, so we pay the lowest rate. Unless business is booming, the rate will not increase."
Xu He breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he didn't have to pay several thousand dollars in taxes every month. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to pay it even if he sold everything he had.
But he was puzzled: "You said that the government collects business taxes every six months. If those shops are only open for three to five months and then close down, and the government has not had time to collect taxes, how should they be dealt with?"
Zhang Fangyuan said, "If the business tax is collected every month, the government office will be overwhelmed. There was a time when they collected it quarterly, but it was still too busy, so they chose to pay it every six months, so that the county government can take a breather and merchants will not find it so troublesome. If you see the government office suddenly collecting business taxes every month, it means that the government office or the court's treasury is empty and there is no money, or they are going to build something for war."
"As for the handling you mentioned, when you open a shop, you have to go to the county government to register. There are records of the shop's name, business, and when it opened. You can find them by looking through the files in the county government. Merchants who go bankrupt before opening for half a year must go to the county government to pay the business tax and make a record. Otherwise, they will be kept at the government office forever, and the government will not approve them if they want to open a shop again in the future."
"Also, if future generations want to take the imperial examinations and find that there are unpaid commercial taxes in the files, it will affect their official careers. Files will be checked from the time of birth, and only those without bad records will be given official titles."
Xu He clicked his tongue, he always knew that the status of merchants was not high, but it had improved in recent years of peace and prosperity. The emperor issued an edict allowing the descendants of merchants to take the imperial examinations, but the management of merchants was still very strict. He had only heard about it before, but now he deeply realized it.
"The court's laws are very strict, but there are still many people who break the law, and many things are hard to explain." Zhang Fangyuan put some food into Xu He's bowl: "But if our descendants are promising and can study for the imperial examinations, we still must not take advantage of loopholes and pay taxes honestly."
Xu He agreed very much. He started this business for the sake of his children, but he couldn't put the cart before the horse and ruin his children's future, making them lose their livelihood before they were even born.
Although he had principles in his heart, their business taxes were not small, and they had to pay 6,000 coins a year. His heart ached. Xu He suddenly said with melancholy, "If I had a son, I would send him to school early and he would pass the imperial examination in the future, and I wouldn't have to worry about the high taxes."
Zhang Fangyuan laughed: "Didn't you scold me for not making progress and pinning my hopes on my children? Have you changed your mind today?"
Xu He pursed his lips. At that time, he didn't know that doing business could be so difficult. He only saw the rich people living in luxury, but he had no idea that they were actually being stripped of their wealth behind the scenes.
"Forget it. I'd better make more money and save it before the baby is born."
After saying this, he gathered his morale and prepared to finish his meal quickly and go to the door to shout and attract customers.
The shop owners on this side of Tianjie were too embarrassed to greet customers at their doorsteps, so they had to hire only their hired assistants. Since they had no assistants in their small shops, they had to act as both the owner and the assistant.
The autumn rain lasted for nearly half a month. During this period, the county government was busy collecting land taxes and business taxes, and the weather was bad. The people were cursing and the county runners were also complaining.
There was a heavy rain in the summer of that year. It was okay because the corn was harvested early, but the rice suffered. The rain destroyed and rotted a lot of rice. It was the time when rice was blooming and producing pollen, and because of the rain, the grown rice grains were not as full and big as in previous years, and most of them were empty husks.
Only 10% of the production had to be handed over, and the total output was already small. Even if only 10% of the grain was handed over to the government, the remaining grain was only enough for their own consumption. If they wanted to rely on selling grain to earn some money for living expenses, I am afraid that few families could do it, and they would almost have worked for nothing all year.
Farmers also worry from the beginning to the end of the year. They are busy sowing in the spring, but are afraid that their seeds are not good, so they have to look for them everywhere. After the spring plowing was finally over, the government sent people to urge people to pay the head tax. Those who had no money borrowed money to pay the tax and prepare for the autumn harvest. If it was a good year, they could pay off the debt owed in the spring, but if it was a bad year, they would only owe more and more money.
Many times I feel that there is no hope in life, but I still complain and live day after day and year after year. After all, everyone has sufferings.
Zhang Fangyuan and Xu He went back from the city to visit the tea stall. On their way back, they met Fei Lian in the village.
It's not surprising to see each other since they are from the same village, but they have been running into each other often when they return to the village recently. It has been quite a while. Even if the academy is on holiday, it won't be for so long, not to mention it's not a holiday.
Academies in the city usually gave five to eight days off during the spring ploughing and autumn harvest seasons so that scholars from village families could come back to help their families. However, now that grain production had to be paid, the busy farming season was long over.
"Don't you two know? Fei Lian no longer goes to the academy to study."
Seeing that the couple was surprised to see Fei Lian many times, some villagers who had gone to the fields enthusiastically pulled them aside to chat.
Zhang Fangyuan was more surprised than seeing Fei Lian: "Why don't you go to the academy?"
The provincial examination is held every three years, and it is still a long time before the examination. How could a scholar like Fei Lian, who could not stay in the village, come back before the examination when he does not have to prepare to take it?
The folks said, "The Fei family was awarded a few acres of good land by the court. They thought they could have a good harvest from the good land, but they suffered a heavy rain. The land was acquired late after the formalities were completed, and the crops were planted late. The growth was not good, and they could not survive the heavy rain. Now there is more land, and the grain production is more, but the harvest is not good, so life is hard."
Zhang Fangyuan said directly: "You mean the Fei family can't afford to send him to school anymore, so they called him back to work?"
"I think that's the case. Anyway, the Fei family said they won't go to the academy to study." The villager said, "Mrs. Fei is very proud. She thinks Fei Lian has good literary talent and it won't affect the provincial examination even if he doesn't spend time in the academy."
Zhang Fangyuan shook his head. Although Fei Lian passed the imperial examination and could receive two thousand coins a month, this money might not be enough to cover his tuition expenses.
In fact, for poor scholars, reading does not cost much except for pens, ink, paper, inkstone and books. Moreover, these scholars can find some work in the city, which greatly reduces the burden on their families. At most, the family will lose a healthy man to help the family earn money by doing farm work.
But Fei Lian was different. Mrs. Fei was strong and aggressive. She had raised Fei Lian well since he was a child. Not only did she give him as much money as possible, she also prevented him from doing farm work.
Zhang Fangyuan already knew all this, and he probably learned about what happened later from his mother-in-law. Liu Xianglan loved to come to see Xu He, and whenever she came to talk about the Fei family, he would always listen with both ears.
I heard that Fei Lian spent more money than before after he passed the imperial examination. Maybe he felt that he had a monthly salary, or maybe he started to act like a scholar and started to eat and dress well. If it were just an ordinary farmer, that monthly salary would be enough for the family to live a good life, but for a scholar to spend in the city, it would be too much.
The couple had seen in the shop how lavishly scholars spent money, and if Fei Lian was like that, his family would surely be in debt.
However, Xu He felt that since he was born into a peasant family and knew that life was not easy since childhood, he should not be so crazy. But influenced by other people from wealthy families in the academy, he thought that he would change.
After saying goodbye to their fellow villagers, the two drove the carriage back home. On the way, Zhang Fangyuan said again: "You don't know that when a poor person suddenly becomes rich, he spends money very quickly. If you hadn't been in charge of the family and kept the money, I would have spent the money from selling the perfume dew recklessly, and would never have thought of doing business to earn more money."
"I'm not as good as you say."
Zhang Fangyuan raised his hand and touched the back of Xu He's hand: "I'm serious."
"You're just trying to say that I took all your money."
"How could that be? I paid it voluntarily. It was much more proactive than paying taxes."
The two were playing around in the carriage. Before they reached the yard, they saw from a distance a man standing at the gate of the yard with a basket on his shoulder, rubbing his fingers. His willow-like curved eyebrows were furrowed, as if he was in some difficulty.
Xu He frowned: "Why is Second Sister here?"
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