The phrase "if you want to get rich, build roads" was also applicable at the beginning of the 20th century, don't look at the fact that Bulgaria has planned a bunch of industrial plans, in fact, most of them have not yet begun.

Everyone is waiting for the government to build roads? As long as the traffic problem is not solved for a day, the big industrial plans are nonsense!

The Balkans are already well developed, and Ferdinand does not plan to continue to develop heavy industry here, while the development of other regions is very backward, even the Asian Minor Peninsula, which has been run by the Ottoman Empire for hundreds of years, has no decent industry.

Road construction began in 1916, when Bulgarian troops landed on the Asia Minor peninsula, and there are currently more than a million prisoners of war under the railway company's banner, fighting for this great and sacred cause.

If you add the prisoners, ordinary railway workers, and the industrial workers and technicians of the supporting enterprises, the entire staff of the Bulgarian Railways alone exceeds 2.6 million!

Now, as soon as the major highway plan is launched, Bulgaria's road construction army will once again exceed one-tenth of the total population, one-tenth of the registered population to be exact!

Such a high proportion of labor input is naturally impossible under normal circumstances, and other industries in the country also need labor, but fortunately, this era is the colonial era, and there are cheap labor available.

By the end of 1921, the number of registered Bulgarians had exceeded 48.76 million, of which more than 3.4 million were naturalized immigrants, and the rest were the growth of the new population.

Perhaps it had been suppressed for a long time in the world wars, and from 1919 onwards, the country's newborn baby boom broke out, and the birth rate reached a peak of 5.18% in 1920. (Referring to the data of the Russians)

This is also the highest peak since the founding of Bulgaria, and according to UNFPA experts, this wave of baby boom will probably last until about 1930.

This means that in the next ten years, Bulgaria's population growth rate will remain between 3.1% ~ 3.8%, and they are optimistic about the plan to double the population in 20 years.

As a price, the Chancellor of the Exchequer cried to Ferdinand every day that he was poor!

From now on, the Bulgarian government will pay more than one million mothers every year for the duration of pregnancy, and the rural population will be included in the budget.

According to the new labor law, the minimum wage in Bulgaria is not less than 75 leva per month and 3 leva per day, which is 450 leva for half a year.

This alone costs more than 450 million leva per year! If you add in the total exemption of medical expenses during childbirth and the incentive policy from the third child, up to 700 million leva will be invested every year in family planning.

If the investment in this area is high, the investment in other aspects will be low, which is also a matter of no choice. In the early thirties of the twentieth century, Bulgaria was a well-developed country at that time.

However, in terms of social welfare, Bulgaria is far behind European countries, and the Germans have established a universal pension system as early as the 80s of the 19th century.

Since then, the era of human pensions has begun, and now most countries in Europe have established pension systems, and the establishment of Bulgaria's social pension system has long become a hot topic in society.

This problem has also plagued Ferdinand for a long time, and the current world's most popular pension system is funded by pension insurance and government financial allocation.

In the short term, social pressures are not great, life expectancy in Bulgaria has just exceeded sixty-five years, and the era of population ageing has not yet arrived.

But the future will be troublesome, maybe in a hundred years, Bulgaria will not have to worry about pensions, anyway, there is oil behind, and the government cannot be poor!

If Ferdinand was only the president of the country, he would be happy to do so, without thinking so far, and directly build a high-welfare society, hello to me, hello everyone!

Unfortunately, he is a king, and he must think long-term, what will happen to Bulgaria if the oil resources are exhausted, or if the birth of new energy sources replaces oil?

History has already taught him that once a country that is overly dependent on resources is exhausted, the whole society will immediately collapse!

Ferdinand smiled again, as if he could close the loophole in advance.

Bulgaria is still a country of struggle, everyone has a strong sense of social responsibility, there are still very few people who are greedy for pleasure, if a shackle is set up in advance to limit the dependence of future generations on resources, it seems to be very interesting!

……

After April Fool's Day, Ferdinand consulted the whole society on the establishment of the Bulgarian pension system, and also convened a government seminar.

Prime Minister Konstantin reported to Ferdinand: "Your Majesty, this is our government's plan for the establishment of a pension system. ”

Ferdinand took the document and didn't open it, so he asked directly: "Let's talk about it first, what kind of pension system the government intends to establish, where the funds come from, and how to calculate the distribution ratio?"

Covering the population, and what are they? How can we ensure the smooth implementation of this plan, and long-term development! ”

Konstantin thought for a while and said: "The pension system that the government plans to establish is mainly to learn from Britain, France and Germany, and we are currently preparing to implement pension insurance."

That is, through the payment of pension insurance premiums by young people and the payment of pensions to the elderly, our government has calculated in detail that there are about 2.2 million people over the age of 60 in Bulgaria.

According to the principle of fairness, we only need to pay pensions to those who have contributed to Bulgaria, that is, those who have worked in Bulgaria for more than 20 years and have Bulgarian citizenship, which accounts for only 1.8 million.

According to the current minimum wage standard in society, a total of 1.62 billion leva is required to pay pensions.

At present, there are more than 23 million young men and women of working age in the country, and if calculated according to 1.62 billion leva, then each person only needs to pay 71 leva.

That's less than a month's salary, and it's completely within everyone's affordability! If this cycle continues, we can adjust the pension insurance according to the actual situation! ”

Looking at such a simple and crude pension system, Ferdinand shook his head helplessly, and then said: "Your Excellency, have you considered it, the average life expectancy in Bulgaria is 65 years old now, but in 1889, the average life expectancy in Bulgaria was only 52 years old!"

If nothing else, you will be surprised to find that within ten years our life expectancy will exceed 70 years old, and in 20 years our average life expectancy may break through 75 years old!

With the continuous increase of life expectancy, the demand for pensions in society will also rise sharply, and our population growth cannot continue indefinitely.

There is also a desire for our people to have little economic pressure on the surface, and everyone's life is not bad, but don't forget that they also have to raise children, and it is not uncommon for two adults to raise four or five, or even seven or eight children.

Now the incentives and subsidies issued by our government seem to be enough for them to raise children in the short term, but don't forget the existence of inflation, with the development of the economy, price rises are inevitable.

We can't guarantee that the income of each of them can rise at the same time, and the current pension does not seem to be much, but what about the future?

Now 1.8 million people receive pensions, and in ten years I am afraid that 3.8 million people, or even 4 million people will receive pensions, but our contributory population cannot be doubled in ten years!

And this payment base will continue to increase? What if we wait a few decades for the population to age?

What if one day, our whole society becomes four generations in the same house, or five generations in the same house?

Ten young people raise an old man, everyone can bear it, five young people raise an old man, everyone can bear it, but a young man raising several old people, it is estimated that this is going to force our descendants to death!

Don't be in a hurry to deny this possibility, with the deepening of industrialization, the decline in the birth rate is also inevitable, and at the same time, the earth's population carrying capacity is also limited, and it is inevitable that this situation will break out one day in the future! ”

Konstantin was dumbfounded, and everyone was dumbfounded, what was thought to be just a simple problem has now become such a complex social problem.

What to do? Ferdinand didn't know what to do either! Relying on the social pension insurance system will definitely not be able to solve the problem of Bulgaria's future pension, unless the average life expectancy of the whole society is reduced, or the payment period is continuously increased, and the pension is reduced.

In this case, it is better to directly disclose this issue to the whole society, and let the Bulgarian people decide for themselves whether to establish this pension system!

That's right, Ferdinand didn't plan to go to the giant pit of high jump welfare, it is only the beginning of the 20th century, and the wealth created by the whole society is limited, and it is impossible to improve social welfare endlessly.

The pension system still needs to be established, but the standard of distribution can not be as high as the outside world guesses, with the development of social economy, human beings in the problem of eating, the consumption of social wealth is more and more limited.

Therefore, the establishment of an endowment insurance fund with a minimum subsistence guarantee is in line with the actual situation in Bulgaria, but the establishment of a pension system equivalent to the income of ordinary workers is not to be talked about, and he does not want to pit future generations!

Whether to pay pension insurance, this issue is also left to the people to decide, it is really not possible for the government to establish a relief agency in the future.

Seeing everyone's stunned expressions, Ferdinand knew that these questions were not in their consideration. No way, this is also a reality, how many politicians will think about the problem in a few decades?

If everyone thinks about the long term, Europe will not decline in the future, and most countries will be dragged to death by high welfare!

"Okay, I hope you will study this problem in depth, consider the problem more comprehensively, and at the same time explain the situation to the whole society, and see who has a good way to solve this problem!" Ferdinand said again

Chancellor of the Exchequer Kennedy thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, can we solve this problem through taxes?"

For example, the introduction of personal income tax can achieve this by raising taxes on high-income groups, without passing on this burden to the whole society! ”

Ferdinand shook his head and said: "Personal income tax can be collected, but relying on this to solve the pension problem is tantamount to a fool's dream!"

And it's also very troublesome, maybe the money received is not enough to pay the tax officer's salary!

We can't regulate it at all, and the capitalists have ways to avoid taxes, personal income tax, and in the end, they can only collect part of the middle class's money!

For example, what if the company does not pay dividends? They even give themselves an ultra-low salary of 1 leva, put all their profits in the business accounts, and all their expenses can be passed from the company's accounts, without affecting their daily life at all!

You can't collect personal income tax according to the finances of his company, right? ”

Kennedy was reluctant to say, "What if there is an inheritance tax? ”

Ferdinand shook his head and said, "Inheritance tax must not be collected!"

The imposition of inheritance tax will have a very bad social impact and even affect the stability of the Bulgarian state!

We now want to encourage everyone to invest in industry, if the government wants to levy inheritance tax, who would dare to invest in industry?

What should I do if your estate becomes immovable property and your inheritance tax rate is slightly higher and your heirs can't pay the tax in cash?

Is it possible to let the enterprise go bankrupt directly? Or is it that the government can still accept shares? If this is the case, it may not be long before all of Bulgaria will be left with our state-owned enterprises!

More often than not, if the capitalists sign an agreement on the disposal of their estates before their deaths, such as selling a business for one leva, is it necessary to collect this tax?

Of course, we can also collect according to the actual value of the enterprise, and the consequence goes back to the previous problem, the enterprise will either go bankrupt or the government will receive the shares! ”

Kennedy was silent, as long as the main body of the Bulgarian economy was industry, then it was doomed that the inheritance tax would not work. There is even greater resistance, from the power of tradition, the whole society will oppose the imposition of inheritance tax!

If this tax had been raised, the peasant class would have revolted, and now the Bulgarian peasant class was very strong, the most combative.

The military aristocracy is the spokesman of the peasant class in the government, and in terms of interests, they stand together, and whoever dares to touch their land will take their life!

Now Bulgaria can collect any tax, but the inheritance tax cannot be touched, and whoever touches it will be finished!

Kennedy seemed to have thought of something, and cold sweat was already beginning to break out on his forehead, but fortunately it was raised at a high-level meeting of the government, and the news would not leak.

If he is left to the outside world, he will be ruined by this proposal to levy an inheritance tax, and it is better not to do what he does against all the Bulgarian people!

Kennedy looked at Ferdinand gratefully, he knew that he had just gone to the ghost gate and closed a slot, if it weren't for Ferdinand's explanation of avoiding the serious, once the lid was lifted, he would be finished!

Of course, what he didn't know was that the King in front of him was the backbone of the opposition to the inheritance tax, and who let him have his vests all over Bulgaria?

Once there is an inheritance tax, there will be the most poignant scene for him, most of the inheritance tax in the country is paid by him alone!

How does this work? Isn't this the equivalent of a tax set specifically for him?

As the boss of this country, he is already very face-saving to be able to pay taxes, if there is another tax set specifically for him, is there a royal law?

This hidden danger must be extinguished in the cradle, and he has decided to add an article to the constitution, not to levy inheritance tax on any real property, land and real estate!

Taking advantage of the current social environment, all vested interests in Bulgaria are members of the opposition to the imposition of inheritance tax, and this hidden danger is directly eliminated!

At this time, many people reacted, looking at Kennedy's eyes, they were a little unkind. Even if you want to die, you don't bring this, huh?

Everyone has a lot of fiefdoms, right? Once the inheritance tax is levied, one of the people sitting here is counted as one, and they are the main force in paying the tax.

They are all a generation of nobles, and there are not many who can take out this money! If you don't have money, you have to cut down the fiefdom, isn't it their life?

Ferdinand had already mourned for Kennedy for three seconds in his heart, knowing that he would have a hard time ahead. Considering that he still needed this capable Chancellor of the Exchequer now, he opened his mouth to relieve him.

"Well, on the issue of increasing taxes, stop here, no one is allowed to mention it outside!

The topic of today's discussion is the issue of pensions, and the government must consider the issue holistically, and at the same time inform the community about what may happen.

The establishment of a pension system is a long-term social problem, we cannot arbitrarily make a direct decision, we must discuss it with all the Bulgarian people, let them decide whether to establish this system or not!

And whether to achieve full coverage is also a problem, everyone's income is different, the economic level of each place is also different, how to determine this standard, is also a very serious problem!

The government should go out and see more and listen to what ordinary Bulgarians have to say, before the pension system is established, we can create a social assistance system.

The most basic social assistance is provided to the elderly who have contributed to Bulgaria and are now out of the labor force, have no children, or whose children cannot afford to support their old age! ”

……