Chapter 540: Taxes

Now the courtiers are headed by Wang Yisun, Lu Wende, and Ouyang Xun, and after seeing Wang Yisun pondering for a while, he said: "Your Majesty, although Dakang started as a businessman, he can't help but be afraid of the businessman, and the businessman pursues profits, and does not hesitate to sell the country for small profits. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoDuring the Great Song Dynasty, most of the barbarian iron weapons were smuggled by them, and they were repeatedly banned. ”

Li Xiang frowned, he knew that the inferior nature of businessmen was undoubtedly revealed in this era. He didn't write anything about it, and said directly: "Shoufu's words are biased. These words are a stick that kills a boatload of people, and there is a suspicion that they have lost food because of choking. I once studied the taxation of the Great Song Dynasty, and the economy of the Northern Song Dynasty was not as prosperous as that of the Southern Song Dynasty, but their tax revenue was 80 million yuan. And in the Southern Song Dynasty, the highest is only 50 million, what is the reason? ”

None of the ministers here thought about this question, if it weren't for Li Xiang's coming from the next generation, how would he know about the prosperity that commerce brings to society? He never underestimated the potential of business, what he wanted to do was to guide business on the right track, so that it could bloom the most beautiful flowers in this Chinese land in a different time and space.

Wang Yisun pondered for a while, and suddenly his eyes lit up: "Is Your Majesty going to let go of Dakang Commerce?" ”

Li Xiang didn't answer him, but asked: "Think I Dakang was at the beginning of the founding of the country, how many people and how much land?" In the previous dynasty, the agricultural tax was drawn by three out of ten, how could the peasant households have no complaints? Water can carry a boat, but it can also capsize a boat. Everyone understands this truth, but before it came, who took it seriously? ”

Li Xiang continued: "Some time ago, I did a survey in the market and found that there was almost no commercial tax in this dynasty. This governance of the country is like controlling water, it is better to block than to sparse, because it is never advisable to choke and waste food. Therefore, I have a draft to levy commercial taxes and cancel complicated taxes such as entry tax and poll tax. ”

Wang Yisun couldn't help but be surprised, once these harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes were abolished, would they really be able to support this imperial court by relying solely on agricultural taxes and commercial taxes? He hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, don't be in a hurry in this matter!" ”

Li Xiang was excited, and when he heard this, he immediately calmed down, pondered for a while, and said in his heart: "Yes, the ancients didn't accept new things so quickly, there must be a process." That's all. ”

Li Xiang nodded with satisfaction and said, "What Shoufu said is right, this matter is really not to be rushed, I am not worried." When he said this, he was just giving Wang Yisun a face. The cabinet was just created, and the prestige had not yet been established, and Li Xiang had high hopes for the cabinet he founded, so he naturally wanted to give some face, so he went down the steps.

Li Xiang continued: "Tax reform is a national priority and must be considered carefully. I have an idea, right in the middle of the capital, how about setting up a special zone? ”

Wen Yunsun was the new head of the household department, and hurriedly asked, "Dare to ask Your Majesty, what kind of thing is the Special Economic Zone?" ”

"The Special Zone, as the name suggests, is what makes it different from other places. I want to be the first to promote tax reform in the capital, which is limited to Shaoxi City and Shaoxi Mansion, what do you think? ”

Wang Yisun said: "This move is feasible. He said so, and naturally no one objected anymore. Li Xiang was actually still very worried, after all, what he was doing was aimed at the feudal landlord class. Tax reform was only the first step, and the next step was to dismantle the landlord class and the small peasant economy and free up the land. He didn't dare to say that, after all, this dynasty was still a feudal society, a small peasant economy based on land. The power of this class is so great that Li Xiang doesn't dare to reveal his inner thoughts a little, so he can only slowly and step by step eat away at its foundation, and finally completely overthrow it.

Li Xiang said: "If business is developed, there will naturally be more taxes. And those farmers who don't have land can come to Shaoxi Mansion to find a living. In the past, this kind of thing was looked down upon by the world. If the imperial court had guided it, it would have made a big difference. In this way, it is possible to absorb a large number of redundant manpower and reduce the possibility of rebellion. I believe that there are many benefits to the development of commercial taxation, and the cabinet needs to come up with a plan, which I will see tomorrow, and the household department must do its best to help and not slack off. ”

Wang Yisun and other twelve ministers all responded, and Wen Yunsun had just taken office, so he naturally wanted to burn the three fires, and he also responded. If there were other ministers, they might have tried their best to oppose it. They also have shops in their house, and if they pay taxes, won't they be dead? But the cabinet minister was promoted by Li Xiang from the local government, and he did not have any family business, so he held back his strength to live up to the emperor's trust. After a while, Li Xiang did not dare to guarantee that they would still be so pure and flawless, so he couldn't wait to announce the plan for tax reform. Secondly, Li Xiang has not only the special economic zone plan in mind, but also the next step, which is the reform of education.

Ten years of trees, 100 years of people. Whether a country is strong or not depends on tens of millions of talents. A country without innovation and talent will inevitably disappear into the long river of history. If Li Xiang wants to inject innovative genes into the Chinese nation, he naturally has to start with the most basic education.

After the educational reform, it was the military reform. Li Xiang didn't think of a good reform plan for the time being, but now the army is also patchwork, most of which are the local troops of the original Great Song Dynasty. It's just that after Li Xiang's rectification, he has relented. No matter how powerful the Supervision Department is, it will not dare to touch the army easily, and if it causes a mutiny, it will be counterproductive.

To tell the truth, the agricultural tax in the Great Song Empire is too heavy now, and as much as 30% of the ten percent has been withdrawn, and this does not include the tenant rent handed over to the landlord by some tenants. Li Xiang has seen the secret performance of the Supervision Department, the tenants of the Great Song Dynasty, a year's harvest, need to hand over as much as sixty percent, and only forty percent in his hands. The grain in one acre of land is only 200 catties, and if you hand over 120 catties at once, the remaining 80 catties can only feed a family of three for four months, which is still an extremely economical situation. As for chicken, duck and fish, that's the food that only comes in dreams. Although Dakang continued to use the agricultural tax of the Great Song Dynasty, it was reduced a lot, and the peasants basically only paid less than one-tenth of the tax.

Li Xiang was very angry, but also helpless. The Chinese nation is the most industrious nation in the world, and if there is a little hope for life, it will live a good life, rest at sunset, and work at sunrise. For three meals a day, hard work.

It is not that the Chinese nation lacks creativity, but that the times have imprisoned their ability to innovate. A person who can't even eat enough to eat will think about inventing and creating? Definitely not. If Li Xiang wants to unleash the creativity of the nation, he must first let them achieve food and clothing, and then create a soil for innovation for them, so that more great inventions can come out of nowhere.

The next day, Li Xiang got the special economic zone plan jointly formulated by the cabinet and the household ministry, and immediately announced it to the world, and it was like a small drop of water sprinkled into boiling oil, and the entire territory of Dakang was boiling, from officials to ordinary people, everyone was talking about special economic zones.

The holy decree clearly stated that Shaoxi Mansion immediately began to levy commercial taxes, with a ratio of one out of thirty. And the green building, the restaurant, the tea house. High-income places such as Goolan tile shops are one out of twenty.