In the second half of March and throughout April, the main functional departments of the imperial court were busy formulating a new tax framework.
Yes, it is just a "framework", not the details. Because this is a huge project and it will take a long time to complete. For now, it would be good to have a rough framework.
At the end of April, Du Xiao, the Minister of Household Affairs, submitted a copy of the "Tax Rules".
Shao Shude opened it and looked at it, then thought for a long time.
"Du Qingguo has a big plan." Shao Shude suddenly smiled and said: "You suggest restoring the system of the prime minister judging the three divisions. Do you know what this means?"
"I only serve the public good and don't do what others think." Du Xiao replied.
Shao Shude nodded slightly. He believed that Du Xiao was telling the truth. The Du brothers were considered veterans, and their status was not that low.
The so-called prime minister's judgment of three divisions is a system that emerged during the financial crisis in the Tang Dynasty.
The three departments are the household department, salt and iron department, and Duzhi department. The first two are for receiving money, while the latter are for spending money.
In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, due to frequent rebellions and huge expenditures, finances became more and more vital to the court, so a prime minister was ordered to "Pan Sansi" to specialize in financial management. From then on, these three departments that were not under each other were organized by the "Pan Sansi"
"The title of prime minister directly leads the government, which has in fact become an independent financial revenue and expenditure agency.
During the melee at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the finances of Shuofang's army were managed by the military envoy's yamen and military control was implemented.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was gradually transferred back to the Ministry of Household Affairs.
Now, Du Xiao, who is the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, suggested that following the practice of the Tang Dynasty during the financial crisis, a special tax collection and cashier agency should be established directly under the leadership of the prime minister to improve its status.
There is no doubt that this is stripping one's power away from others, which is not easy.
Of course, then again. As a veteran in the officialdom, Du Xiao knows very well who the source of his power is. Of course he will be scolded by the Ministry of Revenue for making such suggestions, but so what? The saint can just remember his good deeds.
ah.
"The name of the tax envoy is not good. Let's change it to the tax envoy." Shao Shude said again: "The two tax laws have been in existence for 140 years, and it is no longer the era of the tax envoy. The duty of the tax envoy is related to the national economy and people's livelihood. With this position,
Enter the political affairs hall and become the prime minister."
"Your Majesty is wise." Du Xiao praised.
Shao Shude continued to read the "Tax Code".
Imperial taxation can be roughly divided into two categories: land tax and commercial tax.
As the name suggests, land tax is levied on farmers. There are two categories: household tax and local tax. Except for a small amount of cash, most of them are in kind and are collected by local governments.
Most of the land tax, such as grain, is not necessarily sent to the central government because long-distance transportation consumes too much. Unless necessary, it is generally stored in local warehouses.
The county has a county treasury, the state has a state treasury, and the state has a treasury. The Ministry of Household Affairs will regularly send people to inspect and reconcile accounts.
The supervisory censor also has the power to inspect.
Relatively high-value or light items, such as cloth, leather, copper coins, etc., have a much higher proportion of being transferred to the central government. When wars are frequent, not even a few items can be left in the local area, and all are sent to Beijing.
"During the separatist period of the former Tang vassal town, the principle of two-thirds tax was established. What does Du Qing think?" Shao Shude looked at the land tax and asked.
Two-thirds tax means that one-third of the household tax and local tax collected will be retained in the state, one-third will be sent to envoys (Jiedushi), and one-third will be offered as tribute (sent to the court). The ratio is quite clear.
"I believe that the conditions of all Dao are different and cannot be generalized," Du Xiao said.
This is a smart person.
When the sage proposed the reform of the tax-sharing system, wasn't it to determine how to divide the profits from each Taoist field tax?
It will definitely not work according to the traditional two-thirds tax principle.
In that case, the land tax left in the local area would reach two-thirds, and the court would only get one-third. The local government had sufficient resources for construction, and the court would be unhappy if it lost a large amount of revenue out of thin air.
To put it bluntly, it is a matter of competition between the central and local governments for resources.
Moreover, the conditions of all Taos are indeed different.
In provinces such as Anxi, Yunnan, and Liaodong, even if two-thirds of the land tax is retained locally, it is still reasonable.
Take Anxi Road as an example. There is still a war there and a large number of troops are stationed there. The food produced by oneself is still insufficient and needs to be imported from the outside. If you transport the land tax back and forth, you are not asking for trouble and only increasing consumption.
What?
The current local policy is to keep all land taxes on the road and in the state.
In areas where there is no war, or where the land tax is relatively abundant, the proportion can be appropriately increased, and the court can take half or more.
"That's what I mean too." Shao Shude said: "The Jianghuai roads are peaceful and peaceful, and they have the reputation of a land of plenty. Hebei has endless flat land and thousands of miles of fertile fields. I think more than half of it can be offered as an offering, or even more. The specific proportion, you guys
Let’s discuss it again.”
"I obey." Du Xiao felt very stressed. This matter was not easy to handle. No matter how he adjusted the ratio, he would be scolded.
If the sage wanted to collect 70% of the field tax from Jiangnan and keep all the land tax from Anxi Road locally, would the people of Jiangnan be happy? This is not bad. In actual implementation, it is likely that Anxi Road will be subsidized. That is to say
Their own land tax is not enough, they need to transfer it from other places...
Use the wealth from the south of the Yangtze River to support the powerful soldiers from the north. This is the keynote proposed by the sage, and it is indeed very vivid.
"Now let's talk about commercial taxes." Shao Shude invited Du Xiao to sit next to him, pointed to the tax discussion column, and said: "You suggest abolition of some tax types, which is very good. You can't collect much money in a year, but it makes you miserable.
The flying dogs are jumping around and the people are uneasy. It is indeed a good idea to stop the military expedition."
There are dozens of different types of taxes, the first one earns several million yuan a year, and the last one earns several hundred yuan a year.
Although the collection is small, it still disturbs the people and only increases disgust. The cost of taxation may not be covered, so it is better to cancel it.
By the way, the tax is collected directly by the court and has nothing to do with the local area.
For example, when talking about tea money, it can be understood as the consumption tax on tea, a commodity.
In later generations, China has a total of fifteen major categories of commodities, such as tobacco and alcohol, firecrackers and fireworks, high-end cosmetics, jewelry and jade, refined oils, etc., which have consumption taxes, but other categories do not.
At this time, a few commodities such as salt, tea, paint, iron, and coal are subject to tax, but most are not.
After the mid-Tang Dynasty, in order to collect salt taxes, the imperial court sent out salt envoys; in order to collect iron taxes, it sent out iron envoys.
When there were only these two kinds of taxes at first, the imperial court specially set up a salt and iron envoy to collect these taxes.
The Salt and Iron Envoy has branches in various towns that specialize in collecting taxes.
Later, tea tax, lacquer tax, etc. were added, but the name did not change, and the Salt and Iron Envoy was still responsible.
These tax collection agencies directly under the imperial court theoretically have nothing to do with local vassal towns, and vassal towns have no right to interfere with their work. When tax collection encounters difficulties, the supervisory troops sent by the imperial court to each town will also urge Jiedushi to assist in tax collection.
transport.
It can be said that taxation is the lifeblood of the imperial court's finances, because it is a tax that belongs exclusively to the imperial court and does not need to share profits with local governments - in theory, the actual situation is more complicated.
"Is it appropriate to exempt more than 300,000 yuan from various miscellaneous questions, and then impose a tax on wine money?" Shao Shude asked.
"Your Majesty, I think that the banquet has been abolished and the people have been less disturbed. Now we only charge one more banquet for wine, so it is no big deal." Du Xiao said.
After speaking, he explained in detail.
I didn't get much money from Zagua, but the tax collectors came to my door, arrogant and extremely disturbing to the people.
If you reduce one clutter, the people will be less disturbed.
After such a calculation, a dozen or so miscellaneous people were eliminated, and the people - mainly businessmen engaged in the industry - had a much easier life and felt relieved.
In this case, levying an additional drink fee is really nothing.
"When was the last time the Tang Dynasty collected wine money, and how much did it earn?" Shao Shude asked.
"In the eighth year of Taihe reign of Emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty (834), he received more than 1.56 million yuan."
"This over one million yuan does not include Hebei, right?"
"Mainly Guanzhong, Henan, Jiangnan and other places."
"Have you ever estimated how much money Guochao can collect for drinking?"
"No less than three million yuan."
"Liquor tax is not easy to collect." Shao Shude said: "The reason why wine money was collected and then wasted in the former Tang Dynasty is not without reason."
To put it simply, winemaking is not high-tech.
Ordinary people can make wine at home, so they don't necessarily need to go to a liquor store to buy high-priced wine with the cost of the wine tax evenly shared.
This problem was encountered during the expropriation in the Tang Dynasty. People's smuggling became popular and repeated prohibitions continued.
The government initially set a tax rate of 250 cents for a dol of wine, but later found that it could not be implemented because people would not come to buy it. In the end, everyone had to think of a way.
For example, the Chang'an government came one by one and required wine shops and brewers to pay a monthly fee. This was equivalent to levying a fixed amount of tax, and the previously set tax rate was useless.
Some places are trying to control the sale of distiller's yeast, and taxing it from this perspective is really clever.
In some places, in order to meet the amount of wine money set by the court, they simply allocated it to the land tax and collected it from all households.
When the imperial court saw the chaos happening frequently, it banned it to avoid depleting the lake.
Only when you are really short of money, you can temporarily "take a sip", and after you have recovered, you can immediately stop the tax, because this kind of tax is really disturbing the people and destroying the foundation of the court.
"Forget about the money for the wine." After thinking for a long time, Shao Shude finally decided to give up. He only heard him say: "If you don't receive a few money, it will damage the prestige of the court and do more harm than good. But today, when the country is in peace, every household in the north is raising livestock and buying and selling horses.
It is popular that the money spent on horses and the annual income of one million horses of silk are worth the money spent on wine."
Having said that, I have to mention the chaotic monetary system, which is a real pitfall.
Due to historical reasons, starting from the time of Shuofang's army, horse sales have been priced in silk - not copper coins, not silver coins, but silk.
The price of silk varies. The cheap ones cost 200 to 300 yuan a piece, the medium ones cost 500-800 yuan, and the expensive ones cost thousands or tens of thousands. It is very troublesome to trade and tax, but there is no better way at present. I can only find a way to make it work.
Merchants gradually switched to silver dollar ticket transactions, which made pricing, transactions, and tax collection more convenient.
"I obey the decree." After hearing that the saint did not intend to accept the wine money, Du Xiao wrote it down and planned to cross it out when he returned.
At the same time, I also have some admiration. The saint was able to create new types of taxes without disturbing the people, and made people pay them willingly - without a large number of horse transactions, there would be no way to collect horse money.
In addition, with the widespread use of coal, the price of coal has increased by leaps and bounds, and the growth rate has been staggering. From tens of thousands of mins at the beginning to about 600,000 mins now, it has stabilized slightly.
Last year, we received more than 100,000 yuan of haloalkali money. This was collected at a very low tax rate. In order to encourage the entry of grassland haloalkali into the Central Plains, tax exemption or only a very low tax will be levied. In the future, we will definitely have to slowly
improved.
But coal and halogen-alkali are inseparable from people. The former can be used for cooking and heating, and is more cost-effective than buying firewood. The latter is related to wool degreasing, which is urgently needed in production and life.
The saint seized the opportunity to collect taxes on horses, coal, and halogen-alkali. It was indeed a stroke of genius.
"Taxation is the top priority. With an annual income of more than tens of millions, there is no need to share the profits with the local government. It is the money bag that the court holds in its hands." Shao Shude said again: "After you go back, you can think about it with others. The miscellaneous things that disturb the people.
There is no need to question it. Others will be levied as usual. You can discuss the tax rate again. The tax rate for halogen and alkali can be slightly increased, but it cannot be raised too much. The tax rate can be started to be levied on furs. Don’t set the tax rate too high first to avoid being frightened.
Bad guy. Anyway, let’s improve it a little more. When everything is settled, I will hold a meeting to watch the situation. People from the East Palace, Lifan Yuan, and Privy Council will all come."
"I obey the decree." Du Xiao responded.
After talking for a while, he quickly left.
Shao Shude called Wang Yanfan and said: "Summon the King of Qi to the throne."
Qi King Shao Guancheng also returned to Beijing and participated in the tax reform.
Shao Shude assigned him the task of improving the details of another major component of commercial tax (tariffs and customs fees).
The former is his old profession, and the latter needs to be coordinated with other departments. It has been nearly a month, and it is time to take a look at the progress.