Daming 1805

Chapter 469 The target of public criticism
Emperor Zhu Jianyan of the Ming Dynasty was psychologically prepared for what his father, the Supreme Emperor Zhu Zhongliang, would do.

When Zhu Zhongliang's request was sent to Zhu Jianyan, Zhu Jianyan was in the Wenhua Hall of the Forbidden City in the capital, hosting a meeting to discuss the promotion plan of the ticket system in the whole Ming Dynasty.

Seeing the news from Zhu Zhongliang, Zhu Jianyan immediately became furious.

Zhu Jingyuan was originally sitting at the front of the conference table, but he stood up immediately after reading the telegram.

The officials around didn't know what happened, but the emperor stood up, and the others didn't dare to sit still.

As soon as the officials stood up, they heard the emperor curse directly:
"These greedy moths!"

Zhu Jianyan is 56 years old this year, not much different from the oldest official in the imperial court.

Now that he has been emperor for 11 years, his majesty has been fully established.

A group of officials almost fell to their knees on the spot when they heard the curse.

Everyone was wondering in their hearts what was written in that telegram.

Now in the whole of Daming... in the whole world, what else could make the Emperor of Ming so angry?

Is there a major graft, corruption or tax evasion happening somewhere?

It has to be said that the ministers guessed basically correctly.

Now in this world, there are only a few things left that can make Emperor Ming so angry.

Then they watched the emperor holding the telegram, and suddenly turned to look at the grand scholar at the scene:

"The decree is to order all banks in the world to suspend all marriage-related loans from now on.

"All banks that have handled related businesses will be closed for rectification from now on, and we will cooperate with tax authorities to check all related types of loan business in the past, recover loans suspected of tax evasion, and recover all evaded taxes.

"The Royal Bank of Ming Dynasty, the Ministry of Taxation, the Ministry of Punishment, Dongchang, and Jinyiwei jointly organized a tax evasion investigation team to investigate large private loans and capital flows, investigate all tax evasion behaviors, and recover the evaded taxes.

"Immediately begin to amend the tax laws and regulations. Anyone in Daming territory and any Daming person in any place must pay personal income tax uniformly for any income obtained from anyone in any form.

"Delete all exceptions in the original law that can pay less or no income tax, including gifts between relatives in any way, including any inheritance from deceased or living relatives.

"Before the revision of the corresponding laws and regulations is completed and promulgated and implemented, all government offices across the country will suspend all procedures for asset transfers between relatives involving assets worth more than one hundred silver bills."

Zhu Jianyan's series of orders are basically the requests made by Zhu Zhongliang, but there are more precise explanations.

The ministers at the scene knew that they had guessed right when they heard the first few sentences.

Some people really dare to evade taxes, and they even use methods related to marriage.

Some ministers were surprised and curious, but more ministers had already started to panic, and the bad premonition seemed to spread rapidly.

The emperor had long wanted to collect income tax on gifts between relatives.

It's just that this tax is obviously against the interests of all upper-class people who have certain assets in Ming Dynasty.

Therefore, from the government to the people, everyone stands on the level of traditional oriental morality and opposes it on the level of human relations and righteousness.

This is the absolute political correctness of the Shenzhou tradition, and it is difficult for even the emperor Shizu to subvert it.

Emperor Ming, who was obsessed with tax collection, had to give up this idea.

But now, some people use marriage to avoid taxes, which is tearing up the banner of opposing this tax.

Considering the status quo of traditional morality and human relations, the emperor did not impose this part of the tax.

As a result, this group of people didn't know what to do, and even used this method to evade taxes.

Now the emperor has a reason for compulsory expropriation.

So, where did the idiot come from to do such a thing?The key is that it was discovered!

The bad premonition of the ministers soon became a reality.

Zhu Jianyan's subsequent orders stunned all the ministers present.

This is not only a tax on gifts between relatives, but also a tax on inheritance, which is too outrageous!
Regardless of who did these things, the key now is to stop these orders.

The first to react was Wang Tingzhen, the head of the Nine Qings:

"Your Majesty calm down, calm down, what is it that makes His Majesty so angry!"

Zhu Jianyan directly asked the secretary to hand over the telegram:

"See for yourself!"

Wang Tingzhen took it with both hands, glanced at it as quickly as possible, and then said "bitterness" in his heart.

In addition to the Supreme Emperor's order, the telegram also included a brief introduction of what the Supreme Emperor discovered.

After reading it, Wang Tingzhen closed her eyes and passed the telegram to other officials around her.

After the telegram was circulated on the spot, the expressions of the officials present all had a sense of despair.

At the same time, there was uncontrollable anger. If it wasn't in front of the emperor, they might have jumped and cursed.

Of course, what they wanted to scold was not the Supreme Emperor and the Emperor, but those officials, banks and businessmen in Suzhou Prefecture.

The first to bear the brunt must be Gusu Bank and Qian Feng, Wang Baoqing, Liu Yudong and other people directly involved.

Treating marriage as a transaction is of course against Daming's morality.

Of course, this kind of behavior is also taking advantage of loopholes in the law.

Tax evasion touches the absolute taboo established in the era of Emperor Sejo.

But the fundamental reason why the ministers wanted to scold them was not just the things these people did.

More importantly, these things were exposed in front of the Supreme Emperor.

Let the Supreme Emperor and the emperor stand on the triple commanding heights of traditional morality, court law, and Ming ancestor system.

Then you can forcibly start to collect income tax on gifts between immediate family members.

It would be fine if he used this method to evade taxes, at least not wronged.

The key is that the ministers on the scene have basically never used it.

Traditional nobles and professional bureaucrats do not rely on business to make money.

Even if the family runs an industrial and commercial industry, because of their noble and senior bureaucratic status, they will pay more attention to reputation and influence, and they would not want to use weddings to evade taxes.

The point is that nobles and senior bureaucrats have a closer relationship with the imperial court and are easier to be discovered.

At the same time, aristocratic status and senior bureaucratic status are much more important than the little tax evaded.

They don't want to lose the big for the small.

Some people don't even know that they can evade taxes through marriage.

So none of them took advantage of the tax evasion, and none of the tax increases triggered by the news.

The middle and low-level officials below may also evade taxes, and all of them, high-level bureaucrats, have to take the lead in paying the full amount...

Whether it is giving resources to children or giving resources to parents, it must involve relatives receiving income tax.

Therefore, the current situation is that for the highest-ranking officials in the entire Ming Dynasty present, this is a completely unwarranted disaster.

There were very few reasons that could have prevented the emperor from collecting taxes, and even fewer reasons that could take effect.

Originally, the emperor had acquiesced in the fact that immediate family members would not pay taxes on the income they received as gifts.

Now because of the exposure of these people, the most important one is about to be lost.

All the officials present hated the people from Gusu Qianzhuang.

Of course they want to scold these people.

However, the senior bureaucrats at the scene also understood that it was too late to scold these people now.

What to do now is to control the impact of this matter as much as possible.

So Wang Tingzhen, who was the first to read the news and start to think, was the first to speak:
"Your Majesty, His Majesty the Supreme Being has discerned everything and discovered that Liu Yudong and Wang Baoqing, two shameless fools, evaded taxes through their children's life-long affairs.

"These two people are really hateful to the extreme, and should be dealt with strictly by the relevant yamen.

"However, this matter is obviously only the greed of a few people. Most parents cannot use their children's lives to evade taxes. I think the court should control the influence locally...

"Let the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Officials jointly reprimand local officials, and at the same time completely prohibit the corresponding behavior..."

Zhu Jianyan directly recited a passage from Emperor Shizu's words:

"Emperor Shizu said that when you see one cockroach at home, it means there are a thousand cockroaches out there that you can't see.

"Father Huang has seen a large number of similar large loans at a local bank.

"In other banks, in other prefectures and counties, I don't know how many similar things have happened.

"Gift exemptions for immediate family members and between husband and wife are already huge tax loopholes.

"It is this loophole that allows these cockroaches to multiply rapidly.

"Emperor Shizu also said that virtue is the standard by which good people are judged, and the law is the means by which wicked people are punished.

“Virtue can be promoted and goodness expected from all people.

"But again the laws have to be made because we can't guarantee that all people will be good people.

"From ancient times to the present, countless facts have repeatedly proved this point, including the new discoveries of the Supreme Emperor.

"So the law must be amended, and no one should obstruct or disobey it, otherwise it will be punished as treason.

"Let's end today's meeting, and we will discuss the details of law revision tomorrow morning."

The officials at the scene, including Wang Tingzhen, all heaved a long sigh in their hearts.

Regardless of whether the Supreme Emperor and the Emperor were really angry or fake, and whether or not the incident at the Gusu Bank was deliberately instigated as a target, it has now become an established fact.

There is a large group of businessmen who are taking advantage of the relative tax exemption loophole to evade taxes, which can be confirmed to exist.

The order of the Supreme Emperor and the emperor to modify the scope of income tax collection has no way to stop it, whether it is from the moral level or from the perspective of more than a dozen governance needs.

The most we can do now is to strive for the highest possible threshold and the lowest possible tax rate.

And avoid inheritance tax as much as possible.

The ministers speculated in their hearts that most direct orders such as immediately stopping marriage-related loans could not be cancelled, but the details of the law revision should still be discussed.

The former is to be sent directly to the executive agency and implemented directly in the actual affairs facing the people.

The latter is aimed at law-related officials. The revision, enactment, and promulgation of laws are a process, and the implementation of specific executive agencies has not yet reached this step.

It's just that the emperor's attitude is very firm, and he has no idea what to talk about specifically.

The officials resigned with such complicated thoughts, and the corresponding imperial decree was issued soon.

At the same time, there was also a stern rebuke edict, requiring the Ministry of Rites to announce to the world together with other orders.

The content is very simple. First, it introduces the discovery of the Taishanghuang in Suzhou Private Bank.

Then scold this group of greedy businessmen, who use the court's accommodating of relatives and friends to evade taxes, they are the scum among the Ming people.

In the end, he stood on the moral high ground and reprimanded these businessmen who only had money in their eyes.

At the same time, it clearly expressed the attitude of "now the Great Ming Emperor and His Majesty the Emperor are already angry".

These imperial edicts and reprimanding edicts were also included in the mansion newspaper of the day at the request of the emperor, and were distributed to the yamen, the royal family, and government-run institutions all over the world before the release of the yamen.

Most of the officials in the Ming Dynasty were dumbfounded after receiving the notice, and couldn't help jumping and cursing after they were released.

Immediately afterwards, their relatives and friends jumped and cursed after receiving the news.

Then, whether it is public restaurants, restaurants, teahouses, or private clubs and manors, as long as it is the place where the upper class of Ming Dynasty is active, there will be scenes of roaring and roaring everywhere.

In the background sound of these pictures, there is also the Daming Broadcasting which is introducing the cause and effect of the whole incident.

The scope of broadcasting influence is wider.

In addition to people with connections in the yamen, many small and medium-sized businessmen and even ordinary middle-class people also learned about what happened in Suzhou Mansion today through the radio.

Then it caused more people to be angry.

Although there must be a lot of people who have used the routines of the Gusu Bank to avoid taxes, they are really not particularly many in the entire Ming Dynasty.

Like the officials of the imperial court, many ordinary businessmen don't know this routine.

There are also many businessmen who have realized this by themselves, but have no courage or opportunity to try.

More businessmen have not found suitable opportunities in the place where they live, and have not found a bank that is willing to cooperate with them, so they have not had time to try.

As for the merchants in other regions who have secretly used the same method, they are more panicked than angry.

The imperial decree has come down, and the imperial court is going to investigate similar incidents in the past, and it is very likely that the investigation will be carried out on its own head.

This group of people can't wait to spray those people from Gusu Bank to death.

How come it's such a coincidence, the Supreme Emperor went to inspect your place, can't you make a good account book?

Shouldn't there be two ledgers at ordinary times?How could it be possible to show the actual report to the Supreme Emperor?

But just like the officials, no matter whether they have tried and understood this method or not, no matter how angry they are with the Gusu Qianzhuang group, these businessmen have to start thinking about how to pay income tax.

Throughout Daming, most of the upper-middle-class people did not sleep well that night.

Related discussions and contacts and cursing lasted most of the night.

By the next morning, they saw relevant news in official and private newspapers.

With the continuous advancement of technology, the speed of news transmission is getting faster and faster.

(End of this chapter)