Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 177 Local: Taxation

The task force has been dispatched for more than a month, and the domestic economic situation has stabilized after falling to the bottom.Although due to the shortage of materials, the prices of some commodities are still high.However, under strict price control measures, some traders did not dare to raise prices indiscriminately, otherwise what awaited them would be an arrest warrant from the Ministry of Internal Affairs police.

In order to stabilize the economic situation, increase fiscal revenue, and combat the soaring prices caused by the war, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce issued a series of measures, the most important of which was the newly clarified national fiscal and taxation system.

To be honest, the country has been established for several years, and the previous taxation is completely a mess.At present, the country's main fiscal revenue is divided into two categories, namely general fiscal revenue and special fiscal revenue.

Among them, the general fiscal revenue is divided into two parts: the profits turned over by state-owned enterprises and the income from private plundering of the navy (since the private plundering of the navy is carried out almost every year, let this be included in the general fiscal revenue for the time being).As for other land ransoms, fine income, etc., because they are not fixed income, they are classified as special fiscal income.

In general fiscal revenue, state-owned enterprises such as Pingan Weaving Factory, Northern Arsenal, and the State Reserve Grain Depot (export potatoes and furs) under the Ministry of Materials are the bulk of the profits turned over.Others such as the First Machinery Factory, Ping'an Iron and Steel Plant (in semi-suspended state), Ping'an Coal Mine, Honeycomb Coal Plant, Coking Plant (semi-suspended state), Dye Factory (prepared for construction), Changshan Iron Mine, Henan Glass Factory, Zhenhai Shipyard Due to various reasons, a series of enterprises such as , anchor chain factory, etc. did not generate a lot of profits, and some factories even lost money completely.But generally speaking, these state-owned enterprises are the pillars of the national economy at this stage, contributing a lot of fiscal revenue to the government.

As for the navy's privateer income, it received a fixed share of about 10 yuan per year for the past three years.Of course, according to the agreement, a considerable part of it will still be given back to the navy in the form of special shipbuilding funds for the navy.Therefore, in fact, this part of the income that can be used for other expenditures is about 5 yuan each year, which is still an important supplement to the national fiscal revenue.

As for the special fiscal revenue, the current main sources are the following: 10. The free people of the East Coast Republic of China pay a land ransom of five yuan per mu for the land they have cultivated continuously for more than three years.20. Confiscation of income.It mainly includes fines and confiscation of property for freedmen and soldiers convicted by courts or military tribunals; fine income for freedmen who violated discipline and regulations (worshiping primitive religions, refusing to use Chinese, retaining original ethnic customs, etc.) by the disciplinary police; Other forms of fine income.[-]. Income from issuance of business licenses.At present, in order to enrich the domestic commodity market, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has decided to speed up the issuance of business licenses for private enterprises, and charges a license fee ranging from [-] to [-] yuan for each enterprise license applicant depending on the industry.

It should be pointed out that the current general fiscal revenue accounts for more than 95% of the country's total fiscal revenue, and the proportion of special fiscal revenue is really insignificant.

Since falling into hostility with those colonial trading companies of the British last year, the sea communication lines of the East Coast Republic have been hit hard, and almost all of them have been paralyzed.Although the navy on the east coast did its best through measures such as escorting and attacking enemy ships, it also achieved some tactical victories.But the sea power between the two sides is too far apart, and the tactical victory cannot change the strategic dilemma of being blocked by the enemy.

After the sea lines of communication were blocked, the troika of the East Coast economy—textile exports, agricultural product exports, and arms exports—was almost completely paralyzed.In particular, the source of cotton raw materials for the textile industry was cut off by the British, which led to the suspension of production of two large and medium-sized textile enterprises, the Machine Textile Factory and the Pingan Weaving Factory, which caused a huge financial burden on the government.At present, the unemployed textile workers are even growing cotton and flax in Ping'an Town, relying on the basic wages paid by the government to barely maintain their lives.

According to incomplete statistics, the East Coast Republic has suffered direct and indirect losses of 40 to 50 yuan in the year since the war with the British.As for other invisible losses, such as public dissatisfaction caused by high prices and the inability to perform contracts with French agents, it is even more difficult to estimate.

Due to the outbreak of the war, the Executive Committee and the Ministry of Finance, which lost most of their fiscal revenue in an instant, had to rack their brains to add new ones in the face of the war that did not know when it would end and the financial pressure needed to maintain the country's minimum operations. source of fiscal revenue.

In view of this situation, Tang Yuan and Xiao Mingli, executive members of the Central Committee, submitted a high-profile proposal to the Executive Committee on clarifying the tax system, the core content of which is to tax domestically.Many taxes that were not levied before, and many taxes that should be paid without express laws and regulations before, will have to be clarified one by one, and staff will be sent to collect in various cities and towns in the country to supplement the increasingly depleted central finance.

In their plan, the first thing to be collected is the property tax, that is, to check the property of each freeman, including land, houses, factories, mines and other real properties, as well as movable properties such as livestock, grain, and means of production.Then register the amount of property of each freeman, and tax at a rate of 2%.Among them, property valuations below 50 yuan are exempt from taxation.These taxes can be levied in cash or in kind, but the proportion in kind should not exceed half.When irresistible events such as natural disasters and war damage occur in the country, the government can reduce or exempt certain taxes as appropriate.

Among them, real estate inventory statistics are carried out every three years; movable property is estimated and declared by taxpayers themselves every year, and tax collection agencies have the right to conduct verification and severely punish tax evasion.

After the wealth tax is the income tax, which is a tax on everyone's income.It is worth noting that in the proposal of the Tangyuan couple, there is no distinction between people of various income classes, but a method of levying a 10% income tax on all people (those whose monthly income is less than 1 yuan are exempted from income tax) ) for taxation.

In addition to income tax, there are a series of taxes such as consumption tax, sales tax, and customs duties.Among them, the business tax is levied on major domestic state-owned and private enterprises as well as self-employed individuals. It is levied every six months, and the tax rate has not yet been determined.Tentatively, the business operator negotiates a fixed tax amount with the taxation authority each year, and then collects it uniformly.For example, at this stage, a super-large enterprise such as Dongan Company has to pay a fixed amount of 2 yuan in business tax to the taxation authority every year.

Consumption tax is currently a specific tax, that is, tariffs levied on luxury goods such as red wine, tobacco, high-end fur, high-end furniture, jewelry, silk, tea, and porcelain. The tax rate is uniformly set at 15%.The sellers take the initiative to declare and pay the tax to the tax collection agency, and the tax collection agency can send personnel to check at any time.

Tariffs are taxes that are levied on goods imported into the country from abroad.According to the importance of a certain commodity to the China East Coast Republic, its tax rate is also different.For example, gunpowder, spirits, copper, lead, pig iron, graphite, hardwood, cotton, wool and other materials that are in short supply on the east coast are completely zero-tariff; while general consumer goods such as sugar, cocoa, livestock, fur, raisins are levied Taxes ranging from 3% to 15%; punitive tariffs of 50% to 200% are imposed on foreign goods that compete with the East Coast, such as textiles and leather products, as well as some luxury goods.

Tangyuan expressed confidently at the executive committee that as long as the tax system is clarified, the central government’s annual fiscal revenue can be conservatively estimated to increase by 6 to 7 yuan.Moreover, with the rise of the total economic volume and the increasing prosperity of the economy, this part of income will rise and eventually become an important income of the central government.

In fact, this proposal by Tang Yuan and others at this stage is the largest taxation target for state-owned enterprises, cross-travelers, and some wealthy immigrant officers and senior craftsmen.Therefore, this proposal aroused great criticism when the Executive Committee issued it to various units for comments.

Although I understand that the good days without taxation in the past are abnormal and abnormal, many people always have a hard time giving up money, especially when the property tax is collected, everyone’s land and workshop must be registered. , which is unacceptable to some.

However, this proposal has received strong support from the military and a considerable number of tech nerds.This group of people has long been blind to some high-profile people who work in the government's administrative department and open factories in private. The National Congress voted in favor, which made the proposal of Tangyuan and Xiao Mingli narrowly passed with a support rate of 1637%.

After the proposal is passed and implemented, the first step is to carry out statistics on the personal property of all citizens whose property is more than 50 yuan.

This is a huge project.It is easy to check the acres of land and real estate, because there are records in various government departments, but it is more troublesome to check some other aspects.For example, you have to go door-to-door to check how many catties of grain, how many pigs, and how many sheep there are in his family. If the family also has a fruit forest or fish pond, you have to estimate it, which requires too much manpower. too amazing.Moreover, at present, the executive committee has not trained so many cadres who can write and count to make statistics.

Therefore, this work is destined to be delayed, at least this year it seems difficult to complete.In desperation, the executive committee could only temporarily entrust grassroots cadres such as village chiefs and militia directors in each village to make an estimate of the property of each household in the village, and then report it to the higher-level department. After the summary, the central government will dispatch Tax collectors collect taxes uniformly.

(End of this chapter)