Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 2170 Finance and Gold

On February 1692, 2, it was sunny and the beginning of autumn on the east coast.

Liqiu is not a statutory holiday, so there will be no holidays, but this does not prevent people from celebrating spontaneously.For example, in the cafeteria of the State Administration of Precious Metals in Qingdao Port, there are extra meals today: the work meal is a large plate of chicken, two cod, grilled steak, and clam tofu soup. agreed.

Director Kong has been in Qingdao Port for two days.He was here two days ago to inspect the work of the taxation system and listened to some thoughts and opinions of local cadres.Qingdao Port is a place of wealth on the east coast, with huge national and local taxes, and has always been valued by the big shots. The capital sent people over every three days to check the work and understand the situation.Director Kong, as the celebrity next to Huang Hanhua, the executive committee member in charge of finance, taxation, and financial work, and the office director who specializes in formulating various policies, has traveled to Qingdao Port countless times in the past few years, so that the tax system of Qingdao Port No one in the country knows about it.

This time Director Kong came to Qingdao Port. Of course, the key task is not to inspect and rectify the tax system, but to contact people from the State Administration of Precious Metals to discuss the matter of gold exchange certificates.Therefore, after checking the work of the taxation system like a horse and a horse, he came to the State Administration of Precious Metals on Expo Avenue, and discussed the gold reserve and gold exchange certificates with the corresponding officials.

Officials from the State Administration of Precious Metals told Director Kong that the current domestic gold reserves have reached 16.6 tons due to the recent receipt of multiple batches of gold brought back from overseas.Moreover, this time, the higher-ups issued a death order, no matter how difficult the finances are, they will not use this batch of gold again, and they must really store it as a reserve and use it as a reserve for future issuance of gold exchange certificates.

16.6 tons of gold, some of which are stored in the First Army Prison in the capital, are regularly sent to the Capital Mint for stamping and casting to produce gold coins of various denominations; some are stored in the Shipu Mint and are also used for casting gold.It is worth mentioning that the gold coins currently being produced by the two major mints are not in circulation. Only when the gold standard currency system is officially launched, these legal gold coins can enter the public's sight.

"Director Kong, I'm afraid it will take ten or eight years to prepare for the gold exchange certificate. I estimate that it will not be stable until there are fifty or sixty tons of gold reserves. Otherwise, this new thing will not be stable. I'm afraid it will be difficult to gain the trust of the people." A bottle of Hezhong Daqu was opened at the dinner table, and an official from the Precious Metals Administration said, "When the exchange coupons first came out, the people did not trust them, so they would definitely apply for exchange frequently. Gold coins, if the reserve is insufficient, it will not be able to support it.”

"Ten years or eight years is too long, just seize the day." Director Kong used to work with Huang Hanhua as the deputy director of the taxation department, so sometimes people familiar with him would call him Director Kong. After all, this is right, Kong Isn't the director now a bureau-level cadre?Moreover, he is different from ordinary bureau-level cadres. His position is very important and his actual influence is great. He is far from being regarded as a simple director.At this time, when he heard someone say that it would take ten years to raise enough gold reserves, he immediately said: "Now the central government is launching many major projects at the same time, and the urban construction and rural development of La Plata are also progressing steadily. The annual tax collection of more than 1000 million yuan is not enough, and we still have to find a way in other ways.”

Speaking of the last fiscal year (1690-1691 fiscal year), the national fiscal revenue of the East Coast Republic of China reached a record 4571.07 million yuan, of which non-tax revenue was more than 1300 million yuan, and tax revenue was more than 3200 yuan.Among the tax revenue, chattel tax and real estate tax still account for the bulk (movable property tax will be canceled in the next fiscal year), and the total of the two has exceeded 1300 million yuan; followed by customs duties and consumption taxes, each with more than 400 million yuan.The above are the big ones, and apart from the big ones, the income from deed tax, stamp duty, business tax, personal income tax, land tax, tobacco and alcohol tax, inheritance tax, and various unified taxes generally range from hundreds of thousands to 200 million. It doesn't seem like much, but it adds up to a huge amount.

In addition to tax revenue, the East Coast government also has a large amount of non-tax revenue, which mainly includes land sales, various franchise fees, registration fees, administrative fines, land leases, state-owned enterprises’ profits, etc. The total amount of the previous fiscal year It is astonishingly as high as 1364.6 million yuan.However, we should also see that the growth of this type of income has basically sluggish, especially the profits handed in by state-owned enterprises, which occupy an important position. The growth rate has declined rapidly over the years. The reasons for this are hard to explain.In short, if the government wants to increase revenue, it still has to find a way in terms of tax revenue. This is the right way.

Of the total fiscal revenue of more than 4500 million yuan, about 1875 million yuan belongs to the central government, and the rest belongs to the local government to maintain the operation of the government and the huge consumption of local daily construction.Moreover, we should also note that these fiscal revenues are only theoretical, and there are always problems of one kind or another in actual collection.Although the tax collection system is becoming more and more perfect now, every township has set up tax police offices, and the tax department has also set up its own tax police battalion directly under its jurisdiction, but the actual tax payment rate has only increased by less than ten percentage points, and tax collection is still low. Big problem.

Basically, we can think that the actual disposable income of the East Bank central government in the last fiscal year was about 1500 million yuan.This number seems to be quite a lot, but it is still not enough on the east coast where the work is going fast, so that the leaders of the executive committee are emphasizing how fast and easy to save, so as to save huge expenses.

Considering that the "notorious" chattel tax will be abolished next year, the growth of state revenue may be downplayed for a large part - capital gains tax, as it stands, will not fill the chattel tax gap in the short term at all - while spending will only There will be more and more, so the government has a strong impulse to issue more currency.In view of the unsatisfactory experiment of small-value acceptance bills (the public did not recognize them and depreciated in actual transactions), the government still thinks that gold-linked gold round notes are more reliable and easier for the public to accept.Therefore, the current Shaw government has emphasized the importance of gold more than ever before, and has repeatedly asked for an increase in gold reserves. For this reason, the Tieling and Tuanjiehe gold mines in the country are trying to expand production. Overseas South Africa, New China, Colonies such as Australia, Denglai, and Manchuria are also trying their best to transport gold to the mainland to complete the minimum required reserve of [-] tons as soon as possible, and then start issuing gold exchange certificates to alleviate financial difficulties.

Of course, some people say, is the East Coast government insane?Can't we stop the major projects that are almost a financial nightmare, such as the popularization of education, the renovation of water and sewage facilities, the construction of reservoirs and canals, and the construction of railway infrastructure?If you listen to it, the central and local governments at all levels can save at least 1000 million yuan in huge funds every year, and this financial surplus will be abundant at once, which is guaranteed to be more generous than any government on the planet.But if you think about it carefully, this is almost impossible. The current East Coast government is indeed no worse than the old generation in terms of the achievement of "construction maniacs", and it may be even worse. This money cannot be saved at all!

"With the current growth rate of gold reserves, ten years is actually necessary. If you want to speed up, then you can only..." Someone at the dinner table said, but he stopped talking halfway, and his face was full of surprise. Feel.

In fact, there is no need for him to finish. Many people here know that if they want to quickly increase their gold reserves, besides discovering new gold mines and increasing gold production, there is another way, and that is to grab ready-made gold!As for where to grab, um, there are three areas to talk about.

One is the Zambezi River in Africa and inland Zimbabwe, Zambia and other places.There has been a lot of gold in the area since ancient times, and the local blacks also like to trade with gold, which the people on the east coast have long known.In the past, they hadn't expanded there yet, and the people on the east coast were a little too lazy to care about them, but now that the country is short of gold, it is naturally necessary to go there to collect wool.The only thing that makes people worry is that the people on the east coast have not visited the site, so they don’t know how much gold there is, whether it is locally produced or imported from other places, and the uncertainty is relatively large.

The second is the Indian subcontinent.As we all know, Indians have loved gold since ancient times. Whether it is nobles, individuals or religious places, they all like to collect gold. Therefore, the total amount of gold in the entire country should be very amazing.Taking Diu Island as an example, people on the east coast seized a Hindu temple a few years ago, and recovered a full [-] kilograms of gold from its cellar, and the purity was very good, which was quite surprising.Considering that the Indian subcontinent is now in a state of war and the central government's control over the local area has been greatly reduced, is it possible to cross the boundary river and go to the wider Indian inland area to "collect" some gold?This seems like a plan worth discussing.

The third is of course Japan.This country is very rich in gold-silver associated mines and gold-copper associated mines. The output of gold, silver, and copper is huge, which is another potential source of gold.The tricky thing is that this country has a relatively stable central government, has a population of 2000 million, and the military's combat effectiveness is not bad, so the use of force to seize it is not worth the candle.Moreover, the sea distance from Japan to the east coast is relatively long, and there are greater risks in transportation, so it is actually not as easy as the first two, and it can only be used as the last choice.

Such a comparative analysis is actually very clear.The best solution for the people on the east coast is to devote most of their energy to the Indian subcontinent.There are piles of gold and a large population. If you make a detailed plan, maybe you can dig a few temple cellars and get a few tons of gold easily. This is much easier than other plans, but it is not I wonder if the higher-ups have made this plan now.

(End of this chapter)