Daming 1805

Chapter 605 Value-Added Tax and Transaction Tax
Zhudi Lan took his secretary and escort, looked at the map of the market, and went to the shopping mall of the New Industry Group.

Each of the four major industrial groups has an independent shopping mall, and other private manufacturers share four shopping malls.

The four major industrial groups, in the computer industry, are four major manufacturers with different styles.

The products of Daming Consortium focus on balanced functions, relatively mature and serious styling and design, and have the most office users.

The products of Huangzhuang System focus on stacking materials and are strong and durable. Their designs are often silly, big, black and thick. Many engineers like to use Huangzhuang products.

The products of the Royal Consortium focus on high-end images, with simple and elegant designs, and are most popular among manufacturer executives and owners.

New Industry Group highlights a novel function, and the design style is relatively avant-garde and cool, which is most popular among young people and industry enthusiasts.

When they arrived at the New Industry Group shopping mall, Zhudi Lan left two guards at the door and entered the mall with his secretary and two guards.

The computer shopping malls of the four major groups are completely different from the computer city of Zhu Jingyuan's previous life.

More similar to large supermarkets and conventional shopping malls in later generations.

Customers enter from the entrance, push a trolley around the mall, put what they want on the cart, go to the door to check out and leave.

Just like the electrical appliances in the mall, there are many open machines for customers to experience and try out.

The four major groups are all big businesses. Unless the guests behind them want to experience it but there is no room left, they will basically not take the initiative to chase them away.

There will be technicians on hand to introduce the machine.

As a public place, the trial products provided are suitable for all ages, and children often play games here.

Zhudi Lan did not report her identity when she entered, but went directly into the mall with her entourage.

Look at the prices of things on the shelves, and listen to the voices of technicians around you introducing and discussing to other customers.

Occasionally, when I stop in front of a shelf, the technician next to me will immediately come over to say hello and ask Judy what she wants to know.

The first few times Zhudi Lan met, he always asked the other party to introduce him casually. He was now learning about the market.

Those guys obviously had special training.

He is still very polite to customers who know the market well, or he seems not to be like ordinary people.

They continued to enthusiastically explain the status of the equipment they were responsible for.

Judy Lan was listening to the introduction and occasionally asked some detailed questions.

Zhudi Lan did come out to understand the market so that he could tell his mother and father that he had understood it later.

After Zhudie Lan visited the complete machines on the first floor and went to the spare parts and equipment area on the second floor, he asked an additional question:

"So it turns out that government factories also make the kind of assembled products made by private manufacturers as mentioned on the Internet?"

The technician was a man in his early thirties. When he heard this question, he responded with a smile:
“The group does make assembled products, but the group’s assembled products are very different from private ones.

“The group provides a basic framework, including basic hardware such as chassis, power supply, and motherboard, which are all designed as a whole.

“On this basis, guests can choose the processor, graphics card, memory, hard drive, etc. they want.

“It amounts to customization within a specific range.

“The overall cost is more expensive than privately assembled products, but it is obviously more stable and durable.

"You can also enjoy our group's complete after-sales service."

After hearing this, Judy Lan nodded slowly:
"Are there any other differences?"

The technician looked at Judy Lan again and said:

“In addition to the difference in sales methods, the market positioning between the two is actually very different.

“Many of these customized machines from official factories pursue extreme performance at any cost, and are often sold at a price higher than the finished product.

“For example, in terms of accounting capacity (memory), 320 billion words (32G) is actually quite the limit.

"That's very generous for most consumer computers.

“So the official finished machine is equipped with an accounting capacity of 320 billion words.

“But custom machines can double that.

“Another example is processors. Civilian computers don’t need two processors, but they can be used if customized.

“If a dedicated workstation platform is used, the account capacity will be doubled again to hundreds of billions.

“The storage capacity (hard drive) is the same.

"The top-end finished machine has two trillion words (2T) fast library (solid state) plus four trillion words (4T) slow library, which is already a completely sufficient level.

“But there will be at least four or even eight channels on the computer motherboard that connect to the warehouse.

“So we can double the storage capacity several times more.

“Private assembly machines have been pursuing cheapness from the beginning, usually achieving the highest possible performance at the lowest possible price.

"That is to say, the standards will be raised on primary hardware and lowered on secondary hardware...

“They may handle the same top-notch products as the official factory.

"But the account balance is only 160 billion or even 80 billion, and the total storage capacity may only be [-] trillion fast storage."

After hearing this, Judy Lan suddenly realized:
"I see, I understand, I just want a machine like the one you mentioned.

"Install two processors, and the accounting rack and library channel are fully filled."

After hearing this, the technician was a little surprised, a little pleasantly surprised, and also a little careful to remind and confirm:
“We have assembled this kind of machine, and the estimated price is probably about one thousand silver coins.

"Young master, if you really need it, you can start choosing the frame and hardware.

“Then you go to the counter to pay, and I’ll have someone fill it up for you.

Judy Lan happily agreed:
"Okay, I really need it, let's start now...

“But I have other things to do, so I can’t just wait for you here.

"I will pay first, and you can just deliver it to my home."

The technician said very happily:

"Young master, just leave your address and our craftsmen will come to your door to install and debug it."

Technicians operate from an on-site office computer, matching the hardware with a specialized option program.

Judy Lan selected products one by one, not only filling up the memory and hard drive, but also using two processors and two graphics cards.

In the end, the price of the finished product reached 1000 two hundred and sixty silver notes.

Judy Lan also felt it was a bit exaggerated.

As a prince, his annual salary was only [-] silver coins, and now he got more than one-twentieth of it.

However, Zhu Dilan is still young and has been living in the palace until now. Most of the expenses in life do not need to be paid for by herself.

Before leaving the palace, taking concubines and opening a house, the [-] silver notes were actually pocket money.

Judy Lan doesn't usually spend much money, but now she still has a lot of pocket money left on her card, so she just decided to just pretend.

The technician printed out the hardware list and price list and handed them to Judy Lan.

Zhudi Lan took it over and took a look at the amounts. Suddenly, he felt like he had a sudden realization and said:
“Transaction tax becomes VAT?”

The technician smiled and said:
"The computer industry has indeed fully switched to value-added tax in the past two years, and other industries will gradually use it as computers become more popular."

Judy Lan learned about taxation in school, and it was an absolute key subject.

Transaction taxes before the Ming Dynasty included consumption taxes similar to those in the United States and Japan in later generations.

When you buy something, you pay a fixed amount of tax based on the final transaction price.

In ancient times and modern times, before World War II, commercial taxes in most markets were mainly various forms of transaction taxes.

Transaction tax or consumption tax naturally has a huge flaw, that is, it is prone to double taxation.

This flaw will also directly promote the birth of large industry monopoly companies.

Take the tax rate of [-]% as an example.

If a textile factory purchases a batch of cotton from a farm and spends a total of one hundred silver coins, it must pay a transaction tax of ten silver coins.

If the textile factory turns the cotton into cotton cloth and sells it to the clothing factory for two hundred silver coins, it will have to pay a transaction tax of twenty silver coins.

The garment factory made [-] pieces of cotton cloth and sold them to the clothing wholesale house for [-] silver coins, and had to pay a transaction tax of [-] silver coins.

The wholesale bank sells clothes to clothing stores in various places, with a total transaction volume of [-] silver notes, and a total transaction tax of [-] silver notes.

In the end, four hundred customers bought these clothes separately, spending a total of 1000 and two hundred silver notes, and paying a total transaction tax of 120 silver notes.

The final market value of these products is 1000 two hundred silver notes, and the cumulative transaction tax paid in all links is as high as 270 silver notes.

The total tax rate for the entire industry chain upstream and downstream reaches 22.5%.

No matter how much transaction tax is paid by manufacturers and functional firms, it will ultimately be borne by customers as part of the total cost.

At the same time, the generally fixed proportion of transaction tax is not conducive to the sales method of small profits but quick turnover.

Taking the previous clothing industry chain as an example, if all intermediaries double their prices, the final actual tax rate will be lower.

One hundred becomes two hundred, two hundred becomes four hundred, and four hundred becomes eight hundred. The final market price is 310 silver notes, and the total tax amount is [-] silver notes.

In the end, the total industry transaction tax rate was reduced to 19.375%.

But the total amount spent by all customers increased from 1000 two hundred silver notes to one thousand six hundred silver notes.

More money turns into manufacturer profits, diluting the final total tax rate.

Therefore, the imperial court's tax on fixed transaction amounts will encourage manufacturers to increase sales prices rudely.

As long as the total price of each transaction doubles, no matter how many times the product is transferred, the total tax rate will not exceed 20.00%.

Once the entire industry chain adopts the strategy of small profits but quick turnover, the tax rate will quickly exceed 20.00%.

Transaction tax in the original sense means that the tax is collected once for each transaction.

In the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang set the commercial tax rate at thirty to one tax, but the actual total tax rate was not low.

Because it takes several passes from production to final transaction. In theory, you can receive one-thirtieth every time you pass a pass.Even if the sales journey is long and you have to go through customs, the price will be one-thirtieth each time.

Ideally, if many [-]-tax taxes are added up, there is a chance that the amount can reach more than [-]%.

It’s just that in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, local control became weaker and weaker, and this tax could no longer be collected.

In ancient times, the imperial court did not pay much attention to commercial taxes and focused mainly on agricultural taxes.

Ancient merchants had many ways to avoid multiple transaction taxes.

In modern times, the imperial court's management capabilities have become stronger and stronger, and it has paid more and more attention to commercial taxes.

Businessmen could no longer easily avoid taxes, so they came up with new solutions based on the court's logic of collecting transaction taxes.

Originally, from raw materials to the final sales firm, there were four or five firms and factories in between, and four or five transactions required four or five taxes.

If four or five factories and firms from raw materials to sales merge and become one company, they only need to pay transaction tax once.

The tax rate was directly reduced to [-]%, and all the added value became the company's profits.

Then the era of monopoly bourgeoisie and imperialism came...

Value-added tax is to solve the problem of double tax collection and at the same time delay the trend of upstream and downstream mergers of industry manufacturers.

Only the increase in value of the item is taxed.

If the commercial bank purchases the goods for two hundred silver notes and sells them for three hundred silver notes, then only the additional one hundred silver notes will be taxed.

There will be no repeated taxation on the value of goods, so that manufacturers in the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain will not be taxed multiple times even if they do not take the initiative to merge.

At the same time, small profits but quick turnover are encouraged, because the lower the dealer's price increase, the lower the final tax paid.

If the VAT rate is set at [-]%, the VAT paid by the final customer will not exceed [-]% of the total price.

The theory of value-added tax is a very advanced and modern tax system compared to the original transaction tax.

The main difficulty lies in implementation.

So there needs to be a governing body and notes that flow with the transaction.

The commercial bank submits the counter-copy of the invoice from the previous company to itself and the top copy of the invoice issued to the next company to the tax agency for review.

The difference between the prices of the two invoices is the price increase made by the firm itself.

The commercial bank only pays tax on this part of the figure.

The idea of ​​value-added tax was first proposed by scholars in the United States, where commercialization was the most prosperous, after World War I.

The Germans perfected their theory, and it was the French who were eventually the first to implement it after World War II.

Since then, most countries in Europe, and even most countries around the world, have gradually replaced consumption tax with value-added tax.

On the contrary, Americans cannot use the value-added tax system...

Because VAT requires a unified management organization among manufacturers across the country.

The bills and data between each other must be able to verify each other.

The federal court of the United States has no power to require each state to implement a unified system.

Even federal states have no power to require lower counties to adopt the same system.

We can only continue to make various patches on the basis of transaction tax.

Use additional conditions to exempt portions that may be subject to repeated taxation.

Some items are not subject to transaction tax in some places.

For example, unprocessed vegetables may be regarded as raw materials for catering companies, so no transaction tax is charged.

Be prepared to collect taxes when the catering company sells the finished product to customers.

Some items are not taxed if their value exceeds a certain amount.

For example, if the value of gold exceeds US$150, there is no transaction tax, which means that gold worth more than US$[-] is regarded as an industrial raw material.

The original intention or reason of these regulations is to exempt manufacturers from paying repeated taxes when purchasing raw materials.

But in fact, a large number of tax avoidance loopholes have been created.

Ordinary families in the United States even need to hire a specialized financial company to calculate the tax payable for themselves.

Financial and legal practitioners in the United States are a high-income elite group.

Only they can navigate America’s complicated legal and tax system, which is like a mountain of shit code.

Then find appropriate ways to help employers avoid taxes.

America's tax agencies are too powerful precisely because their tax system is backward.

Therefore, we have to rely on more manpower for personalized execution.

Although the value-added tax is advanced, the court will not refuse to collect more taxes if conditions permit.

Therefore, when major countries in Europe replaced consumption tax with value-added tax, many of them adopted the final tax rate of transaction tax as a matter of course.

Most are around 20.00%.

20% in the UK, 19% in Germany, 20% in France, 22% in Italy and 21% in Spain.

Daming is doing the same thing now.

The transaction tax before Ming Dynasty was 20.00%, and now the value-added tax is set at [-]%.

As a prince, Zhudi Lan knows a lot about tax matters and is a little bit sensitive:

“Since this consumption tax has been changed to value-added tax, why is the tax rate [-]% of the original consumption tax?

"It stands to reason that the amount of value-added tax should appear to be twice as high as consumption tax, so that it can actually be equivalent..."

The technician smiled and said:
“Actually, it’s 20.00%, but the computer industry is still a government-supported project, so the value-added tax is levied at half the rate.

"If other industries are enabled, there may be many that directly charge 20.00%..."

Judy Lan was suddenly enlightened again, and then asked a little curiously:
"From the perspective of customers who are buying things, the tax rate on the purchase receipt has doubled to 20.00% of the item price.

"Would it be difficult for them to accept..."

The technician thought for a while and said:

“It must be hard to watch, but just look at the total price.

“The value-added tax of 20.00% is not much different from the [-]% transaction tax.

“So the final product price should not increase, and the total amount of money spent by customers will not change.

“But industries with tax exemptions and exemptions will feel that things are cheaper.”

Judy Lan immediately smiled and said:
"I don't think computers are cheap..."

The technician said with some embarrassment:

"After the computer industry spreads, it will basically be collected according to value-added tax. It's normal that the young master doesn't feel anything..."

Zhudi Lan smiled, asked the technician to install the machine for him, and followed Xu Wenyan to pay the bill at the counter not far away.

Zhudi Lan had to go alone without Xu Wenyan because the current card swiping machines in Daming had a screen on which the card owner's profile picture would appear.

It also displays the card owner's serial number and the first and last character of the name.

If the name has only two characters, only the last character will be displayed.

The trader must confirm that the cardholder is himself before he can trade.

On Zhudi Lan's information, the word "Di" is not displayed. It is preceded by Zhu and followed by Lan.

People in the Ming Dynasty are all familiar with the naming rules of the emperor's family, and they can tell at a glance that Zhu Lan belongs to the clan.

However, since the middle surname is hidden, it is impossible to confirm which lineage it belongs to, and it cannot be confirmed that it is a member of the royal family.

The royal family of the Ming Dynasty was worth tens of millions, and many of them were no different from ordinary people.

But there are also many wealthy people who are officials or have titles.

Ordinary people have long been accustomed to it.

Judy Lan signed the document, and the transaction was considered successful.

In terms of legal restrictions in the Ming Dynasty, the regulations on adulthood and behavioral capacity are relatively broad.

If someone is capable of acting at the age of 12, parents cannot deny their children's completed transactions on the grounds that they do not approve of their children's payments.

But after the Era of the Grand Duke, the imperial court became more meticulous in managing personal wealth.

Children cannot pay directly with their parents’ bank cards.

Children as young as 12 can even buy their own house, but they must pay with a bank card in their own name.

You can get married directly from the age of 16.

But you don’t become an adult until you are 20 years old.

There is no clear correlation between marriage and adulthood.

Zhudi Lan gave the signed receipt to Xu Wenyan next to him to put away.

Xu Wenyan skillfully set it up and put it in her bag, then asked in a low voice with some confusion:
"Your Highness, why don't we just call and ask the supplier to send it directly to the palace for you?"

After hearing this question, Judy Lan seemed a little helpless and said:
“Although what I did today was to buy something, my purpose was not to buy something.

“But through the process of buying things, I can experience the feeling of communicating with ordinary people and observe the lives of people from various industries.

"My father asked me to understand the people, so I can't just do nothing. I'll start now.

"My daily records, Sister Xu must record these things, so that my father and mother will not think that I am just playing."

Xu Wenyan didn't know how to react, so in the end she could only agree honestly:

"My subordinates will note it down..."

(End of this chapter)