Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 986 Taxation and Finance ([-])

On August 1653, 8, Bao'an Township, Ping'an County.

With the end of the trade crisis with the Brazilian colonial authorities, the trade between the two sides that had been cut off quickly resumed in a short period of time. A large number of Portuguese merchants returned to the border trade market in Baoan Township with a large amount of goods, which made the trade volume of this market rise rapidly—— On August 8 alone, the entry customs collected more than 15 yuan in customs duties, and the faces of the two customs officers on duty were all smiles.

Blanco de Sousa Almeida, accompanied by the family manager Silva, once again came to the border trade market that has been built now - it is said that the "built" border trade market is actually just the government A so-called border trade market was formed by choosing a rotten land with poor soil and no cultivation, and then surrounding it with a fence.

In this market, the respective shops were built by themselves, just like the smuggling trade market in Maolin City.The richer shops—like those of the Almeida family—purchased building materials from the east bank and hired workers to build them themselves; the poorer shops bought some wood to build a wooden house; Merchants who set up a shed or even traded in the open air.These merchants from foreign countries, carrying all kinds of commodities from Brazil, paid customs duties at the border in Baoan Township, followed the smooth asphalt road all the way south, and entered the east bank of the Baoan River (Sinos River). In this market, bargain with the east coast merchants who come to buy goods.

The place across the river from the market is a gray field. Over the years, with the gradual increase in the population of Baoan Township, the degree of land development has also deepened. Now it is time to move to the west bank of Baoan River.Blanco looked at the west bank through the low fence, and saw that at least one square league of land had been leveled there.Blanco, who is very familiar with the east coast, estimates that these lands will be planted with soybeans or pastures, or corn after spring. In short, these newly developed lands will soon provide the people on the east coast with the food that humans and animals rely on for survival. .

Farther away in the farmland on the west bank, some fires were burning flickeringly. It seemed that the farmers clearing the land were clearing the land. After the valuable trees were cut down, now only the stakes, bushes and weeds remained on the land. These farmers seemed to think that it would be more troublesome to go to the ground to dig tree roots, mow grass, and cut bushes, so they simply set a fire and burned them.Blanco felt that they were so bold that they were not afraid that these wildfires would spread to the forest not far away.

Water pumping stations were set up at regular intervals on the banks of the Baoan River, and a chimney was erected high in the cabin next to the water pumping stations—Blanco knew that it was a steam water pumping station set up by people from the east bank.Drought sometimes really destroys the crops in the field, no matter in the plantations in Brazil or in the open farmland on the east coast, once this kind of disaster breaks out on a large scale, the land lacking the necessary irrigation facilities will face poor harvests Or fail.

Although the land in Bao'an Township is relatively fertile, the farmers are always rewarded generously for their hard work, but the occasional drought will also take away the fruits of the farmers' labor.Droughts generally also induce locust plagues, which is even more frightening. Once a large-scale outbreak occurs, it often means that there will be no food harvest-there have been several outbreaks in northeastern Brazil in recent years, and each time they rely on Import food from the east coast where the locust plague has not yet broken out to tide over the difficulties.

"After the opening of this shop in the market, the family will have two shops here." Blanco said, looking at the quietly flowing Baoan River, where clusters of withered yellow grass were blowing in the cold wind along the river bank. The wind is swaying, and a few goats who don’t know where they came from are lowering their heads and eating hay. It’s winter now. Farmers with a lot of livestock may not have enough hay for the winter, so they will release some of the flocks to let them Find food by yourself.

"In the future, the shop in the city will buy lighter goods from the east coast, and then bring them back to Brazil by land for sale. As for customs clearance duties, you can go to this market to handle them. Didn't the east coast people also set up a customs here? , just pay the customs duties here, it’s more convenient.” Blanco said slowly, “The shops opened here are smaller in scale, so let’s focus on export business. Gemstones, feathers, dried fruits, handmade products and other small things, the East Bank The demand is not small, and it is easier to sell. Besides, we have a fixed shop, and our competitiveness should surpass those of small traders who trade in the open air."

"I understand, sir." Silva nodded humbly, and then said in a negotiating tone: "Last week, customs officers from the East Coast Customs came to the store to find me, saying that they are currently part-time tax collectors and asked us to Unify to the township government to apply for a business license and pay business tax at the same time. They said that there is a regulation that stores with an area exceeding a certain size must pay a fixed business tax of [-] yuan per year, do you see?"

"Pay it." Blanco replied without thinking.In fact, he has also heard about this matter. Last month, when several Portuguese businessmen who opened stores in the southern Qingdao Port returned to San Vicente, they talked with Blanco a lot about the business tax.That is to say, in the future, if foreign businessmen transport their products to the east coast for sale, not only will they have to pay customs duties when they enter Hong Kong, but they will also have to pay business tax if they have their own shops—fortunately, the corporate income tax that has been rumored for a long time has not been affected. Still have to pay another wave of taxes.

Tariffs are drawn upon seeing the goods, and the respective tax rates are different according to the classification of goods.People on the east coast are so attached to this tax that most of their customs officials devote most of their energy to it; Much less—and quite a few of them are part-timers—so they are really powerless to collect a lot of taxes.

Like the border trade market in Bao'an Township, the only two customs officials and several tax collectors really don't have the energy to investigate the operating conditions of as many as thirty or forty shops and a larger number of individual traders. In terms of cost, there is still a one-size-fits-all approach, that is, individual traders pay a uniform annual business tax of 250 yuan, small and medium-sized stores (according to the area) pay an annual business tax of 1653 yuan, and large stores need to pay an annual business tax of 7 yuan.The tax collection standard is adjusted every three years. July 1654-July 7 is the first tax collection year. It is estimated that the annual sales tax can exceed 1.8 yuan. In terms of tariffs, this market will bring more than 5 yuan in taxes to the East Coast Ministry of Finance next year, which is already quite good.

Blanco is not an ignorant person. In fact, he has received a strict aristocratic education since he was a child and has mastered a lot of knowledge.In the past 20 years of contact with the people on the east coast, he has also been strengthening his studies, so he is also very concerned about the so-called tax reform that the people on the east coast have been pushing hard for the past few years. It is the sales tax and consumption tax related to the daily operation of their stores——after conducting some in-depth research, and then comparing it with Brazil, which is still almost blank in this area, I couldn’t help sighing silently again: Even collecting taxes is more expensive than taxation. Brazil has received "science", and the gap between the two sides has widened again. How will Brazil compete with the East Coast in the future?

Thinking about the Portuguese-Dutch colonial war that is currently in full swing, and thinking about the declining international status of his home country because of the entanglement with the Spaniards, Blanco felt the gloomy future for the first time, and also felt all kinds of difficulties. frustration and helplessness.The pagans on the east coast bully my motherland so much, I still have to put on a smile to do business with them, and I have to endure their taxation one after another. When will this day end?

The glorious Kingdom of Portugal has shown a comprehensive incompatibility in technology, economy, system, and military in front of the emerging Chinese East Coast Republic. It will become weaker and weaker under the slow bloodletting competition method of the pagan countries on the east coast, and finally be easily kicked to the ground by them, becoming a stepping stone for the rise of the east coast people.

As a patriotic Portuguese businessman and aristocrat, Blanco never wanted to see this kind of scene happen. He was more wary of people on the east coast than ordinary people.

"The fleet from the mainland has arrived at the port of San Vicente, and is currently doing ship maintenance. This time it is a big scene, with a total of 25 warships and armed merchant ships. If you count several ocean-going armed merchant ships that are resting in El Salvador Bay As for the Brazilian local fleet, the number of ships that can be recruited to fight this time will reach an unprecedented forty.” Blanco looked up at the leaden gray sky and thought to himself: “Most of these ships are recent King Joao spent huge sums of money to rebuild it in the past ten years. If there were so many ships gathered in Brazil in the past, the Dutch of the West India Company would have been driven away and retaken the whole of Brazil. But now there are still a large number of East Coast naval ships off the coast of Brazil. In the event, this matter is much more troublesome, can our lads really break through the obstacles of the heretics?"

There is no doubt that the Royal Portuguese Navy is not inferior in Europe in terms of combat technology and morale.Especially the superb sea shooting technique for which it is famous, once made the British feel scared.However, as Portugal's elite navy suffered heavy losses in the Downs naval battle, the quality of the newly trained naval officers and soldiers in recent years is still a question mark. Then with such a group of people and ships, they can challenge the famous East Coast Navy?

Regarding this point, even Blanco, who is relatively optimistic, dare not make sure.

(End of this chapter)