Chapter 326 How much tax is enough to maintain the normal operation of the country?
"Yao Cao, in the past month, you have combined the duties of the Civil Security Bureau and the Shuntian Prefecture Yin, and used one month to clearly deliver the errands to Yan. The affairs of the Civil Security Bureau are complicated, and the delivery must be careful. After one month of Yan,
Officially appointed as the Governor-General of the Civil Affairs Bureau."
After bringing Zhu Dadian, Ma Shiying, and Zhou Yanru together, Zhu Youjian officially announced the appointments of Zhu and Ma.
After the appointment was announced, they talked about related work for a long time, and then sent the two of them away, leaving Zhou Yanru alone, and Zhu Youjian was ready to discuss real major matters with him.
"Grand Master, there is one more thing to discuss today. This year is coming to an end, how is the income and expenditure of the imperial court?"
"This year's fiscal and tax expenditures are quite good. It is estimated that the tax revenue will be about eight million taels of silver dollars." Although Lao Zhou said that the situation was not bad, he was actually very happy. With the help of a province, he could
He couldn't even imagine that he would receive so much money.
"Eight million taels? The tax revenue seems to be okay! According to the current trend, the increase next year should also be okay."
"It should be like this. The newly opened Tangshan factory area just started this year and will be put to great use next year."
"However, the situation of national taxes is still a big problem. If we don't talk about anything else, just with the current income, if there is no palace industry to support military expenditures, relying on national taxes will not be enough to support the current soldiers and horses. In the future, the world will be pacified.
The total number of troops that the country needs to support is around one million, and the palace's industry is definitely beyond its power to support military expenditures. The palace's industry is already huge enough. If it is expanded on a large scale, the profits will only fall.
.In addition, I estimate that for a long time, the taxes of other provinces will be difficult to compare with Beizhili. Most provinces will maintain a pattern of mainly agricultural taxes for a long time."
Zhu Youjian's plan for the palace's industry must be small and precise in the future. Otherwise, the hidden dangers of increasing the system and scale will be very great. Once the number of workers exceeds millions, it will be difficult to guarantee the profitability, and it is uncertain.
Everything has turned into a mess. Starting from this year and next, the palace industry will be transformed. Only industries with average scale, average efficiency, and average technical content will be cut down. Managers with poor abilities need to be eliminated! In addition to the supply and marketing cooperative system, we must also make a fuss about scale.
, everything else must be transformed into high-tech and cutting-edge industries. Once the scale fails to increase, its proportion in the entire people's financial system will decrease accordingly.
The current proportion of agricultural tax in Beizhili is less than 30%, and it will continue to decrease in the next one or two years. It is not a problem to fall below 10%. However, this situation is unlikely to happen nationwide in a short time. The proportion of agricultural tax in Beizhili
It is low because of the large amount of palace property and customs tax offsets. The real private industrial and commercial tax cannot even equal the agricultural tax. For a long time in the future, the situation nationwide will not be better than that of Beizhili, but will only be worse.
.
"Your Majesty's far-sightedness is beyond the reach of my ministers. With millions of soldiers, the imperial tax cannot support them."
"If you can't hold it back, you have to find a way to hold it up! The Ming Dynasty needs millions of soldiers. This is not my estimate, but a precedent that has existed since the Taizu Dynasty! There must be one million soldiers, and they must be fully equipped.
troops, otherwise it will be difficult to maintain the stability of the country. In addition, the Ming Dynasty must have more than one million officials, including teachers, so that the country can operate normally and orderly."
Zhou Yanru was frightened by the emperor's two million! The financial expenditure of these two million was absolutely astronomical. "Your Majesty, the dynasty cannot afford to support so many soldiers and officials. No matter how rich the national tax is, it cannot be like this."
possible."
"Grand Master, the Ming Dynasty is currently raising so many soldiers and officials. Liaodong, Chuang, Xian and the two thieves, as well as the military leaders and warlords from various places, plus the soldiers and horses of the imperial court, can they produce millions of soldiers and horses? Plan? As far as I know, in a middle-class county, in addition to serious officials, there are also many gangsters and evil officials who are not on the list! The total number of these people is less than a thousand. Let's calculate it as 500 people per county. Is the total number of guards in all the prefectures and counties of the Ming Dynasty nearly one million? Including some private school teachers, are there millions? In other words, the world is originally supporting so many servants, but the problem is that these people are unified by the imperial court Whether they are raised and used by the country, or they are scattered elsewhere and raised by others. Whether it is raised by the state or raised by other forces, the most fundamental thing is that the people of the world are responsible for this matter."
After hearing this, Zhou Yanru suddenly had a thought. What the emperor said really cut through the surface to the inside! It turns out that the world has been supporting such a large number of soldiers and officials to maintain operations. The imperial court has no money to support these people. What will happen in the future? Wasn't it taken away by other forces? Isn't this the legendary loss of the cauldron of the world? It turns out that the cauldron of the world lies in these two million people! "Your Majesty, the imperial court should come to support these people and serve the country. It is for the use of the imperial court. But the current difficulty lies in the inability to collect these financial plans for the country. I would like to ask your Majesty to clarify my doubts."
"We have to first calculate how much money is needed to support these people! Nowadays, soldiers have fifty taels of silver for a year, and officials have thirty taels of silver. One million soldiers, plus one million officials. All in all, the total annual expenditure is tens of millions of silver dollars, can it be used?"
"Ten million taels of silver are definitely worth it!"
"I have checked the financial revenue of the Ming Dynasty in the past. At its peak, it was almost thirty to forty million taels of silver. If the financial revenue of all provinces were like what Beizhili is now, the country's wealth would be enough for the country. In short, tens of millions of taels of silver would be enough for the country. The common people can afford the tax of two silver dollars. However, the previous levy of three rates caused public resentment and turmoil in the world. Why is this? Probably because the tax of three rates is an equal tax levied on the country based on the number of acres of land. This is the source of disaster. Some people all over the world eat and drink on their fields, while for others, the harvest from their fields is just the icing on the cake. Those who live solely on their fields will not be able to survive. Some people may starve to death. What is the benefit of the country's survival if the people are worried about it? Therefore, when solving national affairs, you must not make a fuss about the belly of the people. Think about it, if everyone in the world is strangled, fat people will still have oil and water if they are strangled, and thin people will be strangled. Bones."
"Your Majesty, this thought is deeply ingrained in your heart, and it should be regarded as the principle of governing the country for all ages. I ask the kings of future generations to have a special name in the daily life record, so that everyone can learn from it, so as to prevent the recurrence of political disasters for the country. According to your Majesty's opinion, you should pay tribute to the rich tax?"
"We have to tax the rich! But how do the people of the country distinguish the rich from the poor? We can't let the officials go from house to house to count the income, right? This is simply impossible. Even if it can be done, who would want to be rich? Therefore, when governing a country, Think about the taxes that the rich pay more and the poor pay less. We should be careful in this matter and gradually reduce the impact on the livelihood of the poor. For example, the salt tax, the amount of salt consumed by the rich and the poor is roughly the same, right? This is indiscriminate There is an equal tax between the rich and the poor, and the poor who have no money cannot avoid it. The Shuntianfu license plate tax we discussed before is not an equal tax! It is natural for those who have money to use private cars to walk in the city during the day, but for those who have no money People can also get things done in the city by riding in a multi-person carriage. There are options for this matter based on the amount of money and actual benefits. If the strategy of governing the country does not allow the people to make weighed choices based on their own circumstances, it will be easy to overthrow the people of the world. Forced to a dead end."