Chastity Layman 2

Chapter 1383 Luzon tax package
"Another thing is that the imperial court allowed the discounted money to pay taxes, but each locality has to levy additional fire consumption. There is no unified statement on the amount of fire consumption increase. It depends on how much each locality wants to add.

In fact, such things as fire consumption have existed in all dynasties. For example, in the Han Dynasty, the rice grains collected in Yunjing were called Queshu consumption in the name of being eaten and wasted by sparrows.According to the regulations of the Han Dynasty, for every stone of grain paid, two buckets of consumption would be added. During the reign of Emperor Yin of the Later Han Dynasty, even one stone of grain would cost four buckets of extra consumption.

However, the increased consumption of food did not actually go into the national treasury, but into the small treasury of the local government. It was generally used as office expenses for the local government and the private benefits of the officials.

Before Datang started to pay taxes with discounted money, instead of collecting tax in kind, the money was collected uniformly, but no matter whether you pay copper coins, silver coins or gold coins, they have to collect fire money, the reason is that the money has to be melted and cast, etc., there is loss, This is bullshit.

After all, Datang's money is not the kind of silver with different fineness and weighing, but all kinds of coins, which are all used in standard denominations, so there is no loss, and you don't need to melt them.

So in the final analysis, it is just a name set up to get more money and spend more money.

Ever since, the imperial court didn't get any benefits, but the people added a lot of burdens, and in the end it was all cheap, especially because most of the money became the income of officials' corruption.

"Your Majesty, in the early days of Zhenguan, the imperial court set up the Transshipment Department, established Changping Divisions in various places, and built Changping warehouses and transshipment warehouses. , there will be no trouble at all, and the common people will be less exploited by merchants, and the government will directly collect these land taxes and grains, which can also enrich the national reserves and ensure national food security."

"The grand master's intention is to restore the tax collection method in Zhenguan, land tax and mining tax are all collected in kind? Then cancel the fire consumption?"

"The fire consumption does not mean that it is completely cancelled. After all, if there is a tax in kind, there will indeed be a certain amount of consumption, but the amount of consumption must be determined by the court. It cannot be collected as much as the local government wants. Some people dare to collect [-]%. Some people dare to levy [-]%, some people dare to levy [-]%, some people dare to levy twice, so it must be a court regulation, and it must be stipulated that the fire consumption must also be returned to the public, and then the court will adjust the cost of the money."

"For example, for the fire consumption of taxes collected in various places, if it is in kind, it will add [-]% to the consumption, and if it is paid coins, it will add [-]% to the consumption. This money must be included in a special account and earmarked for its own use."

The fire consumption belongs to the public.

In addition, the newly established General Taxation Administration is responsible for collecting taxes, so in the future, taxation will be vertically led by the General Taxation Administration of the Tang Dynasty, and at the same time accept the supervision and coordination of local governments.

Taxes are collected directly by the tax department, with the cooperation of local governments.

The taxes, money and food collected are all directly entered into the warehouse and account books of the taxation department, including the fire consumption.

Huohua sets up a separate account book, and finally collects the central government, and then pulls it back to the local area, and makes specific distributions, such as how much is used for the office funds of the local government, and how much is used for the welfare subsidies of the local officials.

This money is earmarked for special purposes, and it must be open and transparent. It cannot become a messy account, let alone a hotbed of corruption for officials.

"Taxes are collected from the local government?"

"That's right, the imperial court is now at the Dao level. It has set up appeasement envoys, transfer envoys, observation envoys, and punishment envoys. Finance and food transportation and storage, price stabilization, and disaster relief. The Observation Commissioner is in charge of administration, and the Criminal Commissioner is in charge of judicial punishment and supervision."

"The four divisions are not under each other's control, and are directly responsible to the central government, while at the same time supervising each other."

The transshipment envoys of various provinces are in charge of taxation and finance. They are in charge of taxation, food storage and transportation, price stabilization, disaster relief, etc. At the same time, business and industry are also under their control. It can be said that they are in charge of everything related to the economy and taxes, plus transportation and warehousing.

But below the Dao, the state and county two-level administration is basically a unitary system. The state governor and county magistrate are in charge of one state and one county, whether it is civil affairs, taxation, or justice.

Qin Lang now wants to continue to divide the taxation. Each state should set up a tax office, each county should set up a tax bureau, and even the township should set up a tax department. In short, it is to vertically control the taxation. The county government is only assisting the association to collect taxes, and they are not qualified to touch the money and food collected from the taxes.

Many dynasties eventually collapsed because of tax problems. If taxes cannot be collected, there will be no finances.

Qin Lang still hopes that the Tang Dynasty can enjoy long-term peace and stability, and that the country can prosper.

The Tang Dynasty was prosperous and prosperous, so Luzon could also enjoy its prosperity and develop steadily.

"What do the Bureau of Statistics and the Bureau of Investigation do?" asked the emperor.The General Administration of Municipal Shipbuilding can be known by just hearing the name, which is related to the municipal shipbuilding departments of various places.

The Bureau of Statistics naturally has big data, such as the population of the world, the number of slaves, the number of horses, the number of acres, and the annual production of grain, minerals, and salt tea.

In short, they are statistics, updated regularly.

Just as the country conducts a population census every ten years, accurate policy adjustments can only be made with accurate figures such as household registration population and acres of land.

Even according to the tax and fiscal revenue of the imperial court, the fiscal expenditure budget can be prepared.

Of course, the General Administration of Statistics has a more important task, which is to use these figures to supervise the central and local governments, as well as the newly established General Administration of Taxation and the General Administration of Municipal Shipbuilding.

All the numbers are right on.

The General Administration of Taxation is responsible for collecting taxes, but the imperial court cannot just trust them. How much tax should be collected and how much tax has been collected must be verified by the General Statistics Administration.

Similarly, there must be detailed and accurate figures on how much customs duties on city ships are collected by the General Administration of Municipal Shipbuilding every year, how much goods are taken through extraction and purchase, and how much money is resold.

How much food and goods the transshipment company usually closes and buys, and how much food and goods it sells at a par price, must be verified by numbers.

The figures in hand not only monitor the reality of various departments, but also provide strong data support for the imperial court's policies and guidelines.

"What about the General Bureau of Investigation?"

"Your Majesty, the General Investigation Department is a judiciary, and it cooperates with the General Statistics Department."

The emperor suddenly understood that if the figures calculated by the Statistics Office did not match the figures reported by other departments, then it would be handed over to the Investigation Office to investigate and verify, and dig deeper.

One for statistics and one for surveys.

This General Administration of Investigation even has the feeling of a township department, but it is more focused on cooperating with the data investigation of the General Statistics Administration, such as the internal investigation and supervision of the economic departments under the leadership of the taxation, municipal ships, salt and iron, and Duzhi.

"The Grand Master is really thoughtful. When it comes to taxes, I just have something to tell the Grand Master."

"It's about Luzon."

The emperor picked up an edict and handed it to Qin Lang.

Qin Lang scanned it and found that it was an imperial edict that had been drawn up but not yet issued. The content was that the emperor's tax on Luzon would be turned over to the state treasury at a rate of one-third of Luzon's tax. Wanguan money.

Buying is also a tax-inclusive system. This system originated in the Liang Qi period of the Southern Dynasty, but it was also implemented in the Tang Dynasty.

Generally, it is for the tax collection of some small markets scattered in the countryside. In this way, the government decides to levy taxes, and then recruits businessmen to pay for the contract.

It is generally a small market with a tax of less than [-] guan, usually a rural grass market, or a mountainous area where barbarians gather in the border area, and directly implements the tax package system, which is called Maipu.

The government calculates the approximate total amount of tax payable in the market, and then asks the big merchants to pay for the contract, and then the big merchants collect from the vendors, and the income profit and loss are the responsibility of the taxpayers themselves.

Doing this is actually a more cost-effective method of taxation. After all, it is very inconvenient to collect taxes in that kind of rural market, or in the barbarian mountainous areas of the border area. It also takes a lot of manpower, so the tax is paid directly and handed over to the local tyrants or barbarian leaders in the mountainous areas.

The imperial court no longer needs to set up a special tax collection agency, and does not need to send special tax collectors, which saves costs and guarantees tax revenue.Of course, those tycoons who pay taxes are not stupid. After they get the right to collect taxes, they will not strictly follow the tax rate of the imperial court. They will inevitably increase the tax rate and even increase the tax rate. After all, he must also want to make money. of.

Even sometimes it is unavoidable that officials and businessmen will collude. It is obviously a big city, but it is a tax package, so only a small amount of tax package is paid, and the rest of the tax revenue is all in the pockets of myself and corrupt officials.

It's not that the imperial court doesn't understand this, but if it really collects taxes by itself, the cost will be too high, and even those powerful and merchants will resist the tax, but the local powerful will pay taxes, which is profitable, and their influence and control in the local area is very high , it is no problem for them to collect taxes.

Another reason is this tax package system, that is, it is impossible to engage in tax packages in small rural markets or in remote mountainous areas. In real cities and other places, it is impossible to engage in tax packages.

But now the emperor actually wants to pay taxes to Luzon, and it only costs 100 million yuan a year.

Is it too much?

not much.

Because Luzon has developed to the present, although it has only been in the past 600 years, Luzon has a population of [-] million, and more importantly, Luzon's maritime trade is prosperous, and the mining and metallurgy industry is also very prosperous, so don't look at it as an overseas place, but Its tax revenue is really not low.

Datang now earns over [-] million yuan a year, truly wealthy.

Among them, there is only one salt tax, which is nearly 3000 million yuan a year. The imperial court has extremely strong control over salt. When the salt monopoly was launched at the beginning of Zhenguan, the tax of ten yuan per catty was directly increased by one hundred, and it was sold for 110 yuan per bucket. Ten times the tax rate.

Over the past few decades, the imperial court has had a strong control over salt, basically monopolizing the salt trade and realizing the control of the salt monopoly.

The price of salt has increased a lot.

From the initial Douyan ten dollars, to Douyan 110 after the monopoly, and now Douyan is about [-] yuan.

Now the government buys salt from salt households for about five renminbi a catty, and then sells it to salt merchants at a price of forty or fifty renminbi. , although it seems that the salt tax has been reduced, the price of salt has increased.

The salt tax alone is about 3000 million yuan a year, which is amazing.

Other wine, tea and sugar are monopolized, and various industrial and commercial, municipal and ship taxes also generate a lot of income, even vehicle and boat tax, inter-frame house tax, transaction deed tax, etc., there are many taxes.

In particular, officials and gentry pay taxes together.

This has not included the non-tax income of the royal and imperial government, mainly the income from the palace handicraft workshops, Huangzhuang, official handicraft workshops, Guanzhuang, etc., as well as the mines they operate, and official trade.

Just through buying from Bo Bo, buying low and buying high, and cross-regional trade, the annual income is huge.

And Qin Lang was the first ancestor to play these things. Lu Song didn't count the income from the Qin family's family business and government-run business, but just the tax part, which was already very impressive.

There is also no tax-free privileged class in Greater Luzon. Even if it is Qin Lang's own property, he also requires taxation according to the regulations. The tax items that the court has are also available in Luzon.

Anyway, last year, in the 15th year of Kaiyuan, the tax paid by Luzon to the court was more than 500 million guan, which was only one-third of the tax paid by Luzon.

What's more, everyone knows that because Luzon is under the self-government of the Qin family, the court is not very clear about how much tax has been collected. The Qin family handed over 500 million. law audit.

But just for this 500 million, it is still very impressive.

After all, there are more than 20 roads in Datang, and the annual tax is only more than 1 million.

But now the emperor took the initiative to change Qin Lang's purchase package tax to a one-year tax amount of 100 million.

"Your Majesty, last year Luzon received more than 500 million yuan in taxes, and paid more than 500 million yuan to the court." Qin Lang reminded the emperor.

"I know that Taishi deserves to be praised by the people as the God of Wealth. His economics and financial management are really amazing. Luzon was an overseas desert island more than 20 years ago, and now there are such taxes. It's amazing."

The emperor first praised Qin Lang a few words, and then said, "However, Lu Song belongs to an external fief after all, and the imperial court did not send any officials to help manage the civil affairs, nor did it send anyone to help collect taxes, let alone send troops. Guarding Luzon, deterring the natives, but taking so much tax every year, which is too much."

"Your Majesty, this is the system established by the Holy Patriarch."

"I know it, but I always feel it's a little unfair to the Grand Master, so I am changing it now. In fact, the tax amount of 100 million purchases is also determined by me after careful consideration."

What the emperor meant was that in the past, one-third of Luzon’s tax revenue was handed over to the treasury. Now the emperor plans to change it to one-tenth of the tax revenue. 100 million per year.

In this way, it is also convenient and concise, to save trouble in the future, and directly hand over 100 million yuan a year.

As for whether taxes in Luzon will continue to increase in the future, the court doesn't care.

(End of this chapter)