In the Southern Song Dynasty, I competed with Mongolia for the world

Chapter 271 Tax exemption?The pinnacle breakthrough of the feudal dynasty
But the money is not enough to run the Song Dynasty.

There are also many other expenses.

Last year, the imperial court used about 300 million guan to build water in various places, built many shipyards, and spent more than 200 million guan on factories and some infrastructure.

Leaving Zhejiang, Dayuan and Jeju three places have started to set up schools, so that the children of military officers and officials can go to school for free, which is also an expense.

In addition, the budgets of various departments of the imperial court are also money. Zhao and Rui have tried their best to cut down personnel and expenses, and now the departments add up to several million.

After listening to it, everyone found that the expenditure budgets of various departments of the imperial court are small money instead.

In the past, the water here was muddy, and it was the easiest place to make money.

When Du Fan said the last expense, everyone's expressions changed even more.

"Last year, the imperial city spent 21 yuan for the whole year."

All the ministers looked at each other in disbelief.

Imperial city expenses include the wages of all servants and court ladies.

However, there are less than 500 servants and maids in the imperial city of Song Dynasty, which can be said to be the fewest in all dynasties in history.

But the emperor was obviously very frugal, and the annual royal expenditure was only in the early 20 yuan.

During the Jiading period, Ningzong was relatively frugal, and he didn't even dare to drink alcohol during the New Year.

In this way, the annual expenditure of the imperial city is close to 100 million.

After Du Fan finished speaking, he sat down and passed a income and expenditure statement on the table. Everyone could look at it for a while before handing it over to the emperor.

Zhao Yurui said at this time: "After several years of restructuring, the imperial court has temporarily controlled expenditures well and cut unnecessary expenditures——"

Zhao and Rui talked for a long time, roughly meaning that the income will increase next year, and the expenditure may also increase, but it must still be positive.

The bulk of the increased spending next year may be on military spending.

That is, next year, there may be a war.

The officials looked slightly moved, watching each other.

Of course, the emperor only said it was possible, not sure.

At this time, the emperor began to talk about the most important restructuring next year.

Reform food tax.

The emperor wants to change the system again, and everyone can't laugh or cry. Some people may think that the emperor's steps are too big, and he has to change it every year.

In fact, Zhao Yurui knew that the Mongols had gone back to elect the Great Khan. There had not been many wars in the past two years. Taking this opportunity, he quickly changed a few more. After the Mongols came back to cut gold, there would be wars everywhere.

Zhao Yurui said that we have collected more than 4000 million shi in grain tax this year, which sounds like a lot, but the process was also very tragic. In some places, the harvest was not harvested, and the court officials had to collect it as usual, and some local officials had to pay extra. Tax.

In addition to the normal agricultural tax in the Song Dynasty, there was also heavy corvee.

There are other miscellaneous taxes, eg.

Having said that, Zhao Yurui asked his servant Huang Shang to come forward, and each handed out a piece of paper.

Many officials looked red in the face, and some honest officials were ashamed and angry.

All the types of agricultural taxes among the people of the Song Dynasty are included in it, and each item is clearly written.

Increased consumption (grain and rice are afraid of transportation loss and being eaten by rats). In some places in the Southern Song Dynasty, the increased consumption even exceeded the regular tax by two or three times, and the people suffered unspeakably.

Disbursement and foot money (let the grain transport farmers bear the transportation costs)
Change (when collecting taxes, convert money into objects, convert objects into money, fold back and forth, and repeatedly collect taxes)

Head money (equivalent to head tax, how many taxes are collected according to the number of people in the family)
Tax on cowhide tendon horns (to make soldiers, force people to pay cowhide, cowhide, and tendons, and pay if they don’t pay)
Yicang tax (it is to build a granary, let farmers donate rice into the warehouse, and use it when there is a natural disaster)
Jinji tax (in some places, the silk is collected according to the field, and each field is ten mu, and the silk is three feet and four inches, which will be halved later)
Printing deed tax (tax on selling cattle and sheep, in the Southern Song Dynasty, it was based on the property of the family, no matter whether there were cattle or sheep, it was collected in advance)
And buying silk and silk money (the original meaning is that during natural disasters, the government lends money to the people, and the people pay back the silk when they have money. Later, in the Southern Song Dynasty, the government did not lend money to the people, and the people had to pay silk money if they had more shares)

body money (also a poll tax)

After seeing all kinds of dazzling tax types written in the note, most of the officials at the scene were shocked.

Many people may have discovered for the first time that the people of Song Dynasty are so miserable?Pay so much tax?
Maybe someone knew, but never cared.

What does it matter to the people to collect taxes from the common people?

But the taxes in the Song Dynasty were more than that, and the big taxes such as commercial tax and economic general system money were not here.

Zhao Yurui said at this time: "Starting from next year, all these taxes will be abolished."

"In addition to the summer and autumn taxes officially issued by the imperial court, officials in various counties, governments, and localities are not allowed to collect weird agricultural taxes and other taxes under any excuse."

Then Zhao Yurui's voice suddenly became louder, and his tone became more severe: "Who used to give local officials the right to collect taxes?"

As soon as this remark came out, the scene was completely fried.

Although the emperor had blown the wind before and made the teenagers run around in the street shouting for tax exemptions, not everyone knew about it, let alone believed that the emperor would exempt these agricultural taxes.

You must know that since ancient times, agricultural tax has been the basis of feudal imperial rule. The exemption of agricultural tax may have been appropriately reduced by the emperor, but it is definitely not exempted from the whole country like Zhao Yurui.

Do you still want Zhao Song Dynasty?

National finances, do we still need income?

If Shi Miyuan had been around before, he would definitely be the first to stand up and oppose it.

Why did the imperial court levy heavy taxes on the people at the bottom?
Because the ruling class must make the common people poor.

This is the most commonly used routine of the ruling class, only to 'make the people poor' and make life difficult for the majority of ordinary people, thinking about how to survive every day, they will not think about other things.

If you feed the people enough, they will think wildly when they have nothing to do.

Fortunately, Shi Miyuan is not here now, and most of Zhao Yurui's appointments in the court are honest and good ministers.

Although the emperor's tax exemption shocked everyone, everyone can be sure that this is at least a major event that benefits the people.

"Your Majesty is a sage, you are truly an eternal wise king." The flatterer Zhao Rushu began to flatter him regardless of the situation.

Liang Chengda quickly followed.

Du Fan, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, had a strange expression on his face. He knew in his heart that if these taxes were completely exempted, he would lose at least 2000, [-] million, or even more next year. strength.

But the emperor's original intention was good, to really reduce taxes for the people, and he knew the emperor's ability, so the loss here should be made up elsewhere.

The emperor is considering re-imposing the commercial tax, which will definitely be paid back from the commercial tax in the future.

However, Zhao and Rui originally came one by one, and the most important thing is to settle down the peasants all over the country. "Not to mention the losses here, next year's summer and autumn taxes will be changed. If I'm not mistaken, within five years, taxes and food will only increase, not decrease."

The emperor dropped another bombshell. In addition to exempting these messy taxes, the two taxes in summer and autumn next year will also be changed.

The two taxes in summer and autumn were the most important taxes in the Song Dynasty, and the main money, goods and food came from these two taxes.

As mentioned earlier, the summer tax can be money, silk, silk, cowhide, beef tendon and other materials, and the autumn tax is grain.

In the past, Jiangnan, including Liangzhe and other places, was about three buckets per mu.

Jiangnan and other places have high yields, with an average yield of three stones, and the tax per mu is [-]%.

Except for Jiangnan, the other places are seven liters to one bucket.

Now the emperor is going to decree to change the way of taxation.

Households with an average per capita of three mu or less are exempt from taxation.

That is, if there are three people in your family and your land is nine acres or less, you don’t have to pay taxes.

In ancient times, kou usually represented an adult woman. Here, regardless of age, men and children are counted. Everyone with an average of three acres and below is exempt from tax.

At this time, the average production in Fujian is 1.8 shi/mu, and there are three people in the family, and the output of nine mu of land is 16.2 shi.

Originally, the autumn tax was calculated as one dou per mu, and only nine dou had to be paid, leaving fifteen shi, which was enough for the whole family to live a good life.

However, the summer tax in the Song Dynasty was relatively heavy, so the lives of ordinary people were quite difficult.

Summer taxes in the Song Dynasty usually collected money, silk, cloth, etc., and there were many names, including Ding salt money, Ding silk and other head taxes.

"One Ding's tax, people lose seven feet of silk", Ding represents an adult man, that is, there is an adult man in the family, and he has to pay a tax of seven feet of silk a year.

The price of silk fluctuated continuously in the Song Dynasty, and currently it is roughly around two times during the reign of Zhao and Rui Baoqing.

A piece of silk is 42 feet.

According to this calculation, the summer tax on seven feet of silk is worth 330 three cents. Since there is only one adult in a family of three, the summer tax on silk must be 330 cents.

If there are two young men in the family, that is, two adult men, they will have to pay more than 600 Wen.

In addition, there are dices of salt money, about 160 renminbi per dice, and more than 300 renminbi for two dices.

Therefore, the summer tax is calculated in sevens and eights, plus the messy tax that Zhao Yurui mentioned just now is included, and the burden on the common people is quite heavy.

Some people said before that ordinary people in ancient families might not be able to live on [-] acres of land. It was not that there was not enough food, but the tax was too heavy, so they had to sell food to make money.

In case of natural disasters, they even have to sell their sons and daughters to raise money.

Now that summer and autumn taxes are completely exempted, the common people of Tian Shao have benefited a lot, and they are also very excited. The people will definitely applaud.

This has greatly reduced the burden on the people at the bottom of the farm, and truly achieved a reduction in taxes for the people.

There were also many good emperors in the Song Dynasty, and the most famous one was Renzong, who claimed to love the people like a son.

But the only ones who can really reduce taxes for the people are the current Zhao Yurui.

After Zhao Yurui's first policy was finished, there was another uproar at the scene, and Li Zongmian and Wei Liaoweng stood up.

Then Li Huang and others also stood up one after another.

The others were puzzled, but soon everyone realized and stood up one after another.

Li and Wei straightened their clothes and took the lead to walk in front of the emperor.

With a plop, he knelt down heavily.

"On behalf of all the people in the world, I would like to thank Your Majesty. Your Majesty is benevolent and loves the people. You are truly a wise king through the ages. Long live your Majesty."

Li Zongmian spoke first, and then everyone else knelt down and sang in unison.

Both Zhao and Rui saw that Li Zongmian and Wei Liaoweng's eyes were red.

These two people were also sincerely thinking about the common people, and were deeply moved by the emperor's policy of reducing taxes.

The two of them had actually wanted to propose a tax reduction to the emperor for a long time, but the court's annual expenditures were negative and they did not dare to mention it.

The emperor's initiative this time will definitely become one of the most shocking reforms in the history of the Song Dynasty.

These ministers and workers are fortunate to live in this era and work with the emperor, and they will also last forever.

As for whether the imperial court's food tax would be sufficient in the future, they believed that there would be no problem with the emperor's means. The emperor was not sure and would not do this.

These two people trust the emperor's ability quite a lot.

"Hahaha, the two of you finally know that I am the wise king through the ages." Zhao and Rui felt proud and stepped forward to help them up.

In the past, there were only Liang Chengda and Zhao Rushu, the two treacherous ministers in the court, who called Zhao Yurui the eternal king every day, and the other ministers couldn't say it.

After all, Li Wei and the others still have shame, not like Zhao Liang.

Li Wei and the others smiled wryly when they heard this.

The emperor told them to continue to sit still, and said that they will continue to make changes next.

The latter is three to ten mu per household, the summer tax is reduced and exempted, and the autumn tax is five liters per mu. (In addition, those who fail to harvest in disaster years and whose yield per mu is less than one stone are exempt from tax.)
The feudal dynasties have always been one-size-fits-all when collecting agricultural taxes. Regardless of weather disasters, a certain amount is set, and it will be collected when the time comes.

If the harvest is lost due to natural disasters, the common people are usually forced to sell their sons and daughters and sell their fields to pay back, which is more likely to arouse civil uprisings.

Zhao and Rui definitely couldn't do this, so they set other conditions. As long as the local envoy and the court both recognize that a certain area is in a disaster year, the harvest is lost, and the yield per mu is less than one stone, it can be exempted from tax.

Moreover, he also reduced or exempted the summer tax. This tax law is very friendly to families with small land properties, dozens of acres, and a relatively large population. The summer tax is exempted, and the autumn tax is less.

At that time, the folks will definitely be singing and dancing again, and the sound of long live the emperor.

Li Wei and others nodded. The emperor took good care of Tian Shao's people, and the tax was estimated to be the lowest among all dynasties in history.

Moreover, these two types of people accounted for the vast majority of the people in the Southern Song Dynasty, but the fields they occupied were only a small number in the Southern Song Dynasty.

But what about the tax exemption here?With the emperor's virtue, he must make up for it from other places.

So starting from the next level, it is not friendly to the Aritas.

(End of this chapter)