Chapter 88: Rich Merchant
Liu Lin quickly asked the Left Assistant Minister to present the prepared booklet.
"The tax has been drafted and only minor changes are needed."
The proposed plan is based on the tax law of the Sheng Dynasty, reducing the land tax to 17%, adjusting the adult tax back to the age of four, and not reducing it much overall, thus ensuring the basic income of the national treasury.
Liu Lin knew that the tax law would definitely not satisfy the emperor. In the past three years, he had also figured out some tricks. His Majesty valued people's livelihood the most and would definitely not do anything to compete with the people for profits.
However, the annual tax revenue of the previous dynasty was approximately between 3.8 million and 4.5 million taels of silver. The Ministry of Revenue must ensure that next year's tax revenue will be above 3.5 million taels of silver in order to meet the normal operation of the country.
This money includes military expenses, official salaries, sacrifices, bridge and road construction, etc., not to mention the expenses in the palace, which are paid from the emperor's private treasury. Tax money is a dime a dozen, and if you spend a little more, you will be a little stretched.
The previous dynasty was ruined by Emperor Longwu, who was so corrupt that he could not even afford the war. In the end, the country was destroyed, but the noble families became rich. So how to get rid of this situation became a difficult problem.
In the past two years, Song Yuzhu has spent a lot of money on building roads, cars and ships. Although he has collected a lot of silver from the aristocratic families of the previous dynasty, it will all be spent sooner or later.
If he cannot ensure that the national treasury is full, his position as Minister of Revenue will probably be over.
Sure enough, after Song Yuzhu finished reading the booklet, he tapped his fingers on the table and said, "I am not very satisfied with the tax plan."
"There has been no change in the Ding tax, and a three percentage point reduction in the land tax has not benefited the people. The poor remain poorer, and the rich get richer. The problem has not been solved at the source."
When the other officials of the Ministry of Revenue heard this, they immediately lowered their heads and shrank their necks to act like quails. They had no say in such matters, so they simply decided not to be the first to take action.
Liu Lin said: "I have another plan, but it is not yet complete. Your Majesty, would you like to take a look?"
"good."
Liu Lin took out another booklet from his sleeve and presented it.
Song Yuzhu's eyes lit up when he opened the second booklet. Isn't this the "equalization of land tax" of later generations?
The second plan was drafted by Liu Lin and several of his confidants over a period of nearly a year.
The main content is to reduce or exempt the Ding tax, combine the Ding tax with the land tax, and levy taxes according to the area of the land. The more land you have, the higher the tax will be. On the contrary, civilians with little or no land will only need to pay very little or no tax.
This can greatly narrow the gap between the rich and the poor and allow the poor people to actually benefit. Of course, the court's tax revenue will only increase, and the money will be collected from the rich businessmen.
Song Yuzhu read page by page carefully, his face becoming more and more satisfied. After finishing reading, he couldn't help but let out a long sigh. No matter what era, there are always people walking in the front, and Liu Lin is this person.
"Jingjie, do you know what this tax law means?"
Liu Lin cupped his hands and said, "The previous dynasty and even the previous dynasties mainly relied on the Ding tax. In order to avoid paying taxes, the people not only abandoned their children, but also many people did not register their households. It is very difficult to count the Ding tax."
"I think that paying taxes by acreage is relatively simple and clear. The more land, the more enslaved people; the less land, the fewer enslaved people. By calculating taxes by acreage, there is no way to cheat."
In the past, collecting taxes was a hassle. The regulations of the previous dynasty were that county magistrates would collect taxes starting from October of each year and submit them to the various state capitals.
The prefecture government would then report the tax to the state treasury, but there were often many trivial matters involved. For example, the land tax in a certain county was 100,000 coins last year, but it was suddenly reduced to 60,000 coins the next year. Where did the money go? The prefecture government would also send envoys to investigate, and if a disaster occurred, they would have to write an investigation report and submit it.
Another problem is that the Ding tax does not conform to the local household registration. It is not acceptable to have too many people and too little money or too many people and too little money.
After all this back and forth, it is often still unclear by the end of the year. Officials from the Ministry of Revenue have to work overtime until three in the morning every day, complaining that they are so busy that they hope the tax law reform can save at least half of the time.
Song Yuzhu nodded and said, "That's right, keep going!"
Seeing that the emperor approved of this new tax law, Liu Lin's eyes were filled with confidence: "The Ding tax limits population growth. After paying taxes based on mu, the population will definitely grow faster, and the number of people who conceal their population will also decrease a lot, which will greatly benefit the development of the country."
This coincides with Song Yuzhu's previous thoughts!
He just wanted the country to increase its population. He was worried about how to do it before, but now the problem has been solved!
Song Yuzhu stood up and grabbed his arm and said, "Jingjie, it is my honor to have a wise minister like you!"
Liu Lin's eyes were red with emotion. He felt lucky to have met a wise ruler who valued him.
The mutual respect between the emperor and his minister gave the officials beside them goose bumps, but some of them also looked very ugly.
Ding Min, the right assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue, listened to the conversation between the two, his eyes twitched slightly, and his heart was like a strong wind passing through, stirring up huge waves.
The emperor wants to change the tax law? Although he didn't know what was written in the booklet that Liu Lin handed in, he could hear some clues from their conversation. Taxing by acre, this butcher Liu was really bold...
There has never been such a tax law in history. I believe that the rich families would not be willing to see the court do this.
Liu Lin wiped the tears from his eyes and said, "But this method still has drawbacks. I can't think of a solution for the moment."
"Tell me about it?"
"Rich merchants with a lot of land will definitely oppose this tax law, and it will probably be difficult to implement."
Song Yuzhu knew that this was something that would offend people. Those who stood at the top of the pyramid controlled the most resources in society. Once their interests were touched, I'm afraid everything would be turned upside down.
But he was not afraid. He held the military power and had the newly invented hot weapons. Even if they dared to rebel, he could beat them into submission.
"Secondly, taxation has always been in the hands of local officials. If they collude with businessmen, they might seize the land of the wealthy and force the common people to pay taxes. Wouldn't that make them suffer even more?"
Song Yuzhu pondered for a moment and said, "The new tax law benefits the country and the people, and must be implemented thoroughly."
Any change has its pros and cons, but as long as the pros outweigh the cons, it can be implemented.
As for other obstacles, those wealthy businessmen from Liangjiang who are as rich as a country, they hold the lifeline of Daqi in their hands. How can they allow others to sleep soundly beside their bed?
*
Soon the tax law plan of "distributing the land tax according to the amount of land" came into effect. Since tax collection would begin next year, it was imperative to confirm land ownership this year.
The first version of the plan currently proposed is to collect 30 coins per mu of land per year (including land tax and population tax). The Qi Dynasty has 700 million mu of cultivated land, so the annual tax revenue is 21 million taels of silver, which is seven times the tax revenue! And most of the money is harvested from the rich.
For example, there are still five people in a family with five acres of arable land. In the past, they had to pay a certain amount of tax and land tax every year.
Now after the reform, they only need to pay 150 coins in taxes every year, and the rest of the money and food are at their disposal!
Once the new tax law was announced, it caused an uproar throughout the Daqi Dynasty.
The ministers thought to themselves: The new emperor has done nothing since he ascended the throne, and has been indulging in strange and tricky things all day long. They didn't expect that there is a big thing waiting for them here!
How can the tax law that has been in place for hundreds of years be changed at will?
The next day, when the emperor went to court, many ministers submitted memorials asking the emperor to reconsider. Taxes can be increased or decreased, but the tax on capitation and the tax on land cannot be mixed up. Isn't this nonsense?
However, Song Yuzhu was determined to carry out reforms, and no one could stop him. Not only did he have to promulgate the new tax law immediately, but he also had to measure the cultivated land in various places before the end of the year.
After the court session, Ding Min and several colleagues gathered together to discuss the new tax law.
"What kind of stupid idea is this from your Ministry of Revenue? Paying taxes based on acreage is nonsense!" The speaker was Sun Zizhen.
Ding Min waved his hand and said, "This has nothing to do with me. It was Liu the Butcher who came up with the idea and submitted it to the Emperor himself without even discussing it with us."
Wang Mingyi, the official in the Ministry of Personnel, said: "He has a green onion stuck in his nose, just pretending to be a strategist. Who among the civil and military officials in the court doesn't have some land? The taxes alone will be enough to make him suffer next year!"
"Yeah..." The chief priest also sighed, tucked his hands into his sleeves.
Some of their land was granted by the previous dynasty, and some was bought by themselves. Officials in the court could not avoid exchanges of gifts, and officials with little wealth relied on the money from the land for expenses. Now that the tax law has been changed, they are suddenly asked to pay out so much money, which naturally makes them feel uncomfortable.
Ding Min sneered, "If you ask me, don't be so anxious. It's still unknown whether the tax law can be implemented. You have to know that all the wealthy businessmen in the south hold thousands of acres of fertile land. Asking them to pay is like taking away their hearts."
*
The Jiangnan Lin family is a wealthy merchant family. They began to accumulate wealth during the Wu Dynasty and now it is the seventeenth generation in the hands of their descendants.
Wealth cannot last for more than three generations. That means it is not rich enough. For a century-old merchant family like the Lin family, being rich enough to rival a country is not just a metaphor.
Lin Yi is sixty years old this year, but he looks no more than forty years old. Rich businessmen like him live a comfortable life and have some maintenance methods, so they look naturally young.
After experiencing changes in dynasties, the Lin family still sits firmly on the throne of the richest family in Jiangnan, which is inseparable from this person.
In the Lin family mansion, Lin Yi sat at the top, wearing a sandalwood-colored brocade robe. An inch of brocade was worth an inch of gold. This piece of clothing alone could buy an entire street in Jiangnan.
"Mr. Lin, have you heard about the new tax law promulgated by the court?" The speaker was a fat middle-aged man with a black mole on the corner of his mouth. His name was Shao Chunqiu, and he was also one of the wealthy businessmen in Jiangnan.
Another older man slammed the table angrily and said, "Isn't this coming for us?"
"If it were you, I'd say we just won't hand it over and see what they can do to us!"
A group of people were arguing and spitting, saying all the slang in the business world. You can imagine how angry they were.
Lin Yi put down the teacup in his hand, and the room instantly became quiet.
"Yes."
Shao Chunqiu asked cautiously: "Then, what do you think we should do?"
Lin Yi said slowly: "Just do as everyone said, and don't hand it over."
Shao Chunqiu said: "The government is here to collect money, can we still force them not to give it?"
As the saying goes, the people should not fight against the officials. When the government sends troops to deal with them, no one will be able to help them. They will have to take what they deserve.
Everyone looked at Lin Yi eagerly, hoping that he could come up with a solution for them.
Lin Yi turned the jade ring on his thumb and said, "Da Qi was founded only three years ago, and its foundation is not stable. If he wants to keep his throne, he will not send troops easily."
"Businessmen believe that harmony brings wealth, but there is also a saying that taking away someone's wealth is like killing their parents. We can't just let them slaughter us."
After Lin Yi finished speaking, the others picked up their teacups with different expressions, and they had more thoughts in their minds. These old foxes understood what he meant, and they were planning to make Li Mingjun...
(End of this chapter)
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