Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 66 New Tax Policy
Lu Zhenfei's behavior stunned all the senior officials present.

No one expected that Lu Zhenfei would directly expose the faults of Zhang Shenyan, Minister of Dongge University, and Zhu Guobi, Duke of Baoguo, in front of His Majesty.

Zhu Youjian was also very surprised. Of course, he had a good impression of Lu Zhenfei, the former governor of Huaiyang Water Transport who was not very familiar with him.

After all, both Zhang Shenyan and Baoguo Gong Zhu Guobi were big bosses in Donglin, and they had a high status among the officials, gentry and honored relatives in the south of the Yangtze River.

And this kind of favoritism and malpractice, which is nothing more than an ordinary matter in the officialdom, was actually brought directly in front of himself and other officials by Lu Zhenfei.

It has to be said that this Lu Zhenfei is quite courageous and quite courageous.

"Your Majesty brought up these two indecent incidents involving Mr. Zhang Ge and Duke Baoguo in front of His Majesty today. It was not to impeach Mr. Zhang Ge and Duke Baoguo, but to ask Mr. Zhang Ge , if the imperial court treats officials and gentry preferentially and does not levy taxes on them, then once the business of officials and gentry is bought and sold by force, looted or even drowned, can the imperial court ignore it?"

"Similarly, can officials and gentry guarantee that they will not rely on their power to take advantage of their power and illegally compete for profits with the common people? The world is dominated by billions of people in Ming Dynasty, not the world of officials and gentry. Why can't officials and gentry pay taxes? It can be stopped, only the imperial discipline and law can control it!"

What Lu Zhenfei said made Zhang Shenyan, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, choke his mouth, and silently lowered his head, but he naturally gritted his teeth against Lu Zhenfei in his heart.

Zhu Youjian just smiled lightly, read the contents of the letter, and glanced at Zhang Shenyan.

"I have said that today's court meeting does not investigate anyone's crimes, but only discusses the pros and cons of the Ming Dynasty's current government. What you dear ministers said are all heartfelt words, and there are many merits. I am very relieved and very happy. This is at least It shows that everyone is still thinking about the country of Daming."

To everyone's surprise, Zhu Youjian did not accuse Zhang Shenyan of his malpractice for personal gain, nor did he praise Lu Zhenfei for his integrity.

As an emperor, Zhu Youjian knows that it is most important for the empire to clarify a basic new policy. As for the violations of individual officials, it is naturally not at this time that they need to be investigated.

However, Zhang Shenyan's face was still unavoidably hot, and Lu Zhenfei's attack that didn't pay attention to official rules made him completely lose his confidence.

Seeing this, Zhu Youjian patted Zhang Shenyan on the shoulder, and continued: "The prosperity of the world is for profit, and the world's hustle and bustle is for profit. The common people are my people, and the gentry are also my people. The people of Ming Dynasty also hope that I can give them a good life and make them profitable, so that the country can be prosperous and the people safe."

"What the elders said can be roughly classified as tax collection, the treatment of gentry, how the court makes profits, and agricultural and commercial matters; it is true that the poor people in the Ming Dynasty have become rich today because of problems in these places. The New Deal began to implement reforms from these aspects:

"The first is taxation and corvee. According to what the chief assistant Fan Jingwen said, plus what I think these days, corvee and poll tax will be permanently exempted. This will free the common people and devote more energy to farming or other labor. Err What do you think?"

When Zhu Youjian said this, it surprised the cabinet scholars present and the officials of various ministries who were in charge of politics.

Because none of them thought that His Majesty would ban corvee and poll tax that had existed for thousands of years!

"Your Majesty's move is indeed a kind of good governance that has never been seen in ancient times, but the burden on the court will inevitably increase," Fan Jingwen said, standing up.

The other ministers also looked at Zhu Youjian. They could all accept the abolition of corvee and poll tax. After all, as officials and gentry, they did not have these taxes. Now that they are banned together, it will naturally not affect the interests of officials and gentry.

But we all know that in this way, the dynasty's treasury tax revenue will naturally drop sharply.

"I have also considered this point. Even if the poll tax is not abolished, the court's income is only a few million taels. I can cover this loss by copying any corrupt officials. Why bother to exploit billions of people."

When Zhu Youjian said this, the cabinet ministers naturally couldn't say anything more, because he also had to admit that what His Majesty Zhu Youjian said was the truth.

"In this way, only the land tax and the tax on sales are left. First of all, the land tax. According to Fan Aiqing's proposal, the people in the north will be exempted for three years, and the people in the south will be exempted for one year. The refugees are encouraged to reclaim wasteland. The cultivated land belongs to the household of the cultivator, and the imperial court exempts him from tax for two years."

After Zhu Youjian said that, Li Banghua stood up: "Your Majesty, it's good to be so, but in a year or two, the imperial court has almost no tax to enter, how to support the army?"

"At present, the imperial court still has 800 million silver deposits. Although the money confiscated in Qian Qianyi's treason case has not been counted, it will not be less than tens of millions. Even if there is no land tax, the imperial court can still support it for a few years. What's more, there are commercial taxes to be levied."

Speaking, Zhu Youjian said again: "The so-called commercial tax is naturally a matter of buying and selling. I don't have to exempt the common people from farming land, but doing business is a sideline business and unexpected income. It must be collected. The same is true for officials and gentry. It is to be an official to seek knowledge, but since you have a business, you have to pay taxes, but it is not easy to decide how to collect it. Ma Shiying, you go back and draw up a detailed memorial, and it is better to calculate how to collect it. The small people who buy and sell can't survive and the merchants can't make a profit, and the imperial court can't collect less than the land income."

"My minister obeys the order!" Ma Shiying noticed the gazes of the officials looking at him, and couldn't help but smile in his heart. These officials with the background of the Donglin Party usually hated themselves to the bone, and now His Majesty handed over the decision on how to collect business taxes For myself, I must let these fat-headed Donglin Party members bleed well. As for Shengdou Xiaomin, naturally they can reduce as much as they can.

"In addition, there is a new tax that needs to be collected. This is what I thought of based on what Lu Ge said. It is the personal income tax. Since the imperial court has the obligation to protect the property safety of the people, the people should also have The obligation to pay for this security; of course, in order not to burden the bottom-level common people, I will set a threshold. Those with low incomes will have a low tax rate. Farming income is in addition to personal income, and agriculture is a hundred industries. I hope that this will keep the plowed fields of the world from being barren."

The concept of personal income tax that Zhu Youjian suddenly threw out surprised all the officials present, but when Zhu Youjian finished speaking, they also immediately understood that His Majesty was taking care of the people at the bottom in disguise and favoring high-income officials and businessmen as well as advocating excellence. The dusty people are taxed.

"Your Majesty's move will naturally have no effect on honest and honest officials. After all, they do not do business and their salaries are not high. For those who are greedy and love money, although they have to give a small part of the benefits to the court, But the imperial court also has more spare power to create a stable governance for them, so it is the best of both worlds."

Sure enough, Lu Zhenfei stood up first and expressed support for His Majesty Zhu Youjian's personal income tax, and other officials also couldn't say that they were not honest and honest officials because of Lu Zhenfei's words, so naturally they couldn't refute.

"You don't have to stare at Mr. Lu Ge with poisonous snake eyes, and you don't have to complain secretly. I know that you are officials for thousands of miles only for money, and I have no intention of preventing you from getting rich. I can talk about it first, and later If someone commits a crime, I will not confiscate your family’s legal income, this legality includes your salary income from business, writing, teaching, and even being an official, except for bribes you accept.”

Zhu Youjian's words made the officials present finally breathe a sigh of relief. What they were most afraid of was that if they accidentally committed a crime, all the family wealth they had worked so hard to accumulate for several years or even decades would be confiscated.

(End of this chapter)