Many people have a misunderstanding, thinking that the financial revenue of the Song Dynasty was very high, the tax system was very strict, and the commercial tax also accounted for the majority of the finance, so they thought that the burden of merchants in the Song Dynasty was very heavy, or that the taxes that should be collected were collected, but in fact, this is not the case at all!

Take the current Great Song Dynasty as an example, for the sake of convenience, according to the annual calculation of 100 million yuan, the actual monetary tax is only less than 40 million yuan, which is still the result of Wang Ning'an's tossing for a long time and increasing. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Among the 40 million guan, 18 million guan is salt tax, 7 million guan is tariff, and only 15 million guan is various commercial taxes, and among them, Kaifeng Heping County, the two places account for nearly 10 million guan, and the commercial tax distributed to other places is very limited.

If you carefully break down the details, you will find that the so-called commercial tax of the Song Dynasty is not the same as the common value-added tax, stamp duty, business tax, etc. in later generations.

Among the taxes of the Song Dynasty, the most important was the monopoly income.

Salt is the big deal, in addition to copper, tea, wine, iron, sugar, tin, horses, cattle, etc., the imperial court through the form of buying, the franchise rights to some big merchants, these merchants pay a sum of money to the imperial court, the imperial court is only responsible for maintaining market order, the merchants are responsible for their own profits and losses.

There are two main kinds of commercial tax in the Song Dynasty, one is "tax", the other is "residence tax", the so-called tax is to pass through certain passes along the way, need to pay taxes, not much, pay 20 wen per thousand wen, and the living tax is trafficked to the market, stationed in the shop, the tax that needs to be paid, a bit similar to the nature of business tax, 1000 wen to pay 30 wen.

The sum of the two items is 5 percent, which does not seem to be high, but in fact, it is very flawed.

For example, the tax, it is impossible to be just a checkpoint along the way, and you have to pay it once you pass it, as for the residence tax, the county government has collected it, the prefect's yamen has collected it, the prefect's yamen has collected it, and the field affairs have to be collected, and the actual businessman is very aggrieved and helpless. Of course, at all times, there are some exceptions - such as scholars!

Starting from Emperor Shenzong, the Great Song Dynasty allowed some official households to reduce or exempt the two taxes, of course, the Great Song Dynasty was still very cautious and set up various restrictions, but as long as many things were opened, they would be like a flood that burst the embankment, surging constantly.

Scholars do not do business themselves, but they can let their relatives or family members go into business and enjoy the dividends of dry shares. And the relatives will use their banner to avoid taxation...... All in all, the fiscal and tax policies of the Great Song Dynasty were the best in the past dynasties, but they were by no means perfect, on the contrary, there were a lot of loopholes, otherwise the core of the law would not be placed on finance......

Having said so much, what did Wang Ningan plan?

He advocated abolishing the monopoly of the salt industry, reducing the price of salt by increasing supply, and controlling the salt works by the imperial court, so that all merchants could go to the imperial salt works to purchase salt and transport it back to the local market.

Because the price of salt overwhelmed the extremely low level, there was no room for private salt, and the imperial court extracted reasonable taxes, Wang Ningan estimated that the Great Song Dynasty had a population of nearly 100 million, and each person spent 100 Wen per year to eat salt, of which 30 Wen was handed over to the imperial court, so the salt tax that the imperial court could get was 3 million.

Compared to the current 18 million, only one-sixth.

It looks like the court has lost a lot, but don't be busy!

With salt as the core, the imperial court was able to tax commodity transactions.

"Your Majesty, taking silk in the southeast as an example, the annual transaction volume of tens of millions of horses, if the imperial court can levy a tax of 10 percent, there will be tens of millions, as well as porcelain, as well as cashmere, tea, etc., in addition to my Great Song Dynasty in recent years, overseas trade has flourished, and there are more than 10,000 large merchant ships on the sea, and the goods brought overseas every year are innumerable, and many products are brought back from overseas, if these taxes can be raised, it is not as simple as increasing tens of millions of yuan!"

Wen Yanbo listened to Wang Ningan's words, and the more he listened, the more frightened he became, and his whole body trembled unconsciously.

He thinks this kid is a madman, or a downright madman!

It has always involved the part of taxes, and it is a major matter of digging ancestral graves, Wang Ningan actually dared to think about it, and he moved so much! Don't you kid know how to die?

……

"The old minister doesn't dare to agree, Lord Wang is whimsical, it's nonsense!"

Zhao Zhen listened to Wang Ning'an's words silently, he felt that what Wang Ning'an said made some sense, not to mention anything else, just take the price of copper as an example, before the imperial court relied on the monopoly of copperware, it could earn millions of yuan a year, which seemed to be a lot, but almost all of this money was used to buy copper, and the court did not get much benefit, and the price of copper was deformed, and there was a shortage of money in society.

Since the price of copper has been lowered, the price of copper in the entire market has fallen, the cost of minting money has also decreased, and there are fewer people hoarding copper utensils, and there are fewer hoarding copper coins.

The main thing is that the money shortage has eased, the economy has prospered exponentially, and the tax revenue of the imperial court has increased accordingly.

Zhao Zhen admires Wang Ningan's unity of knowledge and action, it is useless to say it beautifully, the key is to have practical results. If the price of copper is lowered and all parties are profitable, will it have the same effect if the price of salt is lowered?

Zhao Zhen is looking forward to it.

"Wen Xianggong, the disadvantages of the salt law, there are ancient times, the people suffer from the high price of salt, the court is disturbed by private salt, there is no peace, it can be said that the court suffers, the people suffer...... Lao Tzu sage once said that inexpensive and rare goods make the people not thieves. According to Wang Qing, salt is an ordinary thing, it shouldn't be so expensive, and lowering the price of salt is not just to promote the good and eliminate the disadvantages, so that the people can get benefits? ”

As soon as Zhao Zhen's reasoning came out, Wang Ningan simply danced with his hands and tears streaming down his face, he really wanted to shout three times, long live my emperor!

In fact, many things are just a layer of window paper, Zhao Zhen has been in charge of the country for decades, and he can't understand anything. Wang Ning'an's set was played a few times, and the emperor also sniffed out the clues, and he would not be as shocked as he was at the beginning. On the contrary, Zhao Zhen can also find some loopholes in Wang Ning'an's method and fill in the gaps.

In this way, Wang Qing's strategy was to deal with Western Xia, and then extended to the salt administration. I don't say whether his idea is right or wrong, at least I can try it on Yongxing Military Road and Qinfeng Road. If we can really reduce the burden on the people and maintain a certain amount of tax revenue, I will support it wholeheartedly. ”

After Zhao Zhen finished speaking, he looked at Wen Yanbo with a smile, "Xianggong Wen, what do you mean?" ”

What else can Wen Yanbo say, he has been playing the role of a loyal dogleg these days, if he opposes it at this time, wouldn't all his previous homework be done in vain.

Wen Yanbo was very reluctant, but he could only say: "The old minister is willing to fully cooperate." ”

"Okay, I hope you can be single-minded, think more about the court, and don't always think about your own selfishness. Wang Qing mentioned tariffs, mentioned merchant ships, he advocated taxation, if I remember correctly, Wang Qing and their fleet are the largest in the world! ”

Zhao Zhen said, walked to Wang Ning'an's side, patted him on the shoulder, and said with relief: "Before Wang Qing provided cement to Wen Aiqing, Wen Aiqing said that Lord Wang is young, but he puts state affairs first everywhere, regardless of personal interests, I saw it today, Wang Qing, you didn't let me down, I hope every courtier will not let me down-isn't it, Wen Aiqing?" ”

Wen Yanbo shuddered, and hurriedly said: "Yes, yes, the old minister must do his best to share his worries for His Majesty." ”

……

Coming out of the palace, Wen Yanbo is not as kind as when he went in, and the old guy's face can be scraped with a layer of frost!

"Lord Wang, what are you calculating, the old man knows in his heart that you can coax Your Majesty, but you can't coax me!"

Wang Ning'an sighed, "Xianggong Wen, you also underestimate our Majesty, what I do, I never hide it from Your Majesty, if it weren't for Your Majesty's dislike of some people's actions, would he agree to my proposal?" ”

"Ahh

Wen Yanbo shuddered, and there was a fleeting fear in his eyes!

That's right, Zhao Zhen is different from before, he has recovered Youzhou, defeated the Liao State, is wise and wise, and even above Taizong, his prestige among the people has reached its peak.

With Zhao Zhen's wisdom, he would not fail to understand Wang Ningan's calculations, nor would he fail to guess the consequences, but he still supported Wang Ning'an, and even beat himself......

Wen Yanbo thought of this, and suddenly gasped.

The last time he stood up to the hope of the world, he prayed to the prime minister, but he didn't do anything, because he hated the emperor, he was driven out of the capital, and he ate sand in the place for many years, and the lesson was not painful!

In the past, Zhao Zhen was a guy who hid needles in his mouth, and whoever was deceived by his gentle face would be unlucky!

This uncle has a black belly!

Could it be that this is another exam question, to test your loyalty?

Wen Yanbo's old heart was drumming, and he desperately closed his mouth, for fear of jumping out at once.

After a long time, Wen Yanbo squeezed out a smile, "Lord Wang, I don't know if you can come to the mansion to talk about it?" ”

"I can't ask for it!"

Wang Ning'an readily agreed, and in the evening, he came to Wenfu, Wen Yanbo and Wen Jifu personally greeted him, and invited him to the pavilion in the back garden, where there was water in all directions, and the servants could not enter within ten zhang at all.

Wen Yanbo drank a glass of wine, and then the wine was vigorous, with a sad face, "I said Lord Wang, you can't come nonsense, the salt tax can't be moved, and the commercial tax can't be moved!" If you do this, you are going to cause chaos in the world! ”

Wang Ning'an gave a toast in return, he looked at Wen Jifu, and suddenly smiled: "Young Master Wen, in the battle of copper prices, you fought well, I was so miserable by you that I almost collapsed...... When it comes to business, you're afraid you're even more powerful than Wen Xianggong, what do I think, tell me! ”

Wen Jifu was very humble, and said: "Lord Wang has the ability to be unpredictable, and he is ashamed to be out of reach, but I just want to remind Lord Wang that the gentry of the northwest family and the big families are involved, and there are not a few people involved in private salt, take Luoyang City as an example, half of the people actually eat private salt." How much profit is there and how many people are involved, Lord Wang knows that our Wen family categorically cannot cooperate with Lord Wang! ”

"Okay, it's really honest, I'm starting to appreciate Wen Gongzi!"

Wang Ningan smiled loudly, "Xianggong Wen, what if I cooperate with you to open a bank?" ”

He said it carelessly, but when the Wen family father and son heard it, they were like being struck by lightning, and they were all stupid!