"Your Majesty, dissipate your anger, don't be so angry. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info Emperor, let me say something unpleasant, even if we take back the so-called privilege of tax exemption for the scholars, then can we really transfer the tax to the scholars? At present, there are even a considerable number of state and county adjutants in the local state and county history, and they are generally side branches of the scholar clan. Even if they are not scholars, they are inextricably linked to the scholars. And let them carry out those policies that are not conducive to the scholars, I am afraid that it will be the people who will suffer in the end. Your Majesty, with the influence of the local scholars in the minds of the people, even if we reluctantly withdraw the so-called tax-free privileges of the scholars, then what use do we have? Perhaps, the people would not have known that there was such a policy. Without the scholars, the emperor's orders would not have been able to leave the Gyeonggi region at all, and even if there were any good policies for the benefit of the people, they would inevitably be distorted or even transformed into policies that endangered the people and harmed the people. ”

"Although there are many children from my Tang Dynasty, more of them are illiterate, and the literacy rate is not high. Even if our court formulates policies, the people don't know about it. Over the course of hundreds of years, the scholars have changed the consciousness of all the people. Even ordinary people recognized the so-called privileges of the scholars, and the ordinary people themselves naturally believed that the scholars were privileged and that their privileges were deserved. So, even if we make a policy, the people themselves don't accept it, what can we do? So, you can't do it this way, you have to slow down. ”

What Shi Bufan said is actually talking about two truths. One reason is that the Tang Central Committee does not have the executive power at present, although it seems that the emperor can make decisions, but whether the decisions can be implemented is not necessarily. Shi Bufan understands that decision-making and execution are equally important. Even if Li Shimin has the decision-making power, but in the end he can't implement it, isn't that miserable? Historically, whenever the imperial court raised taxes, ordinary landlords who did not have the privilege of tax exemption would also impose their own taxes on their tenants. Those landlords who have even the privilege of tax exemption will also take the opportunity to sit on the ground and ask for more shares.

In fact, even if the imperial court increases taxes, it may not really receive those scholars. At that time, those scholars who have mastered the local executive power can completely apportionment the taxes they should pay to the people, so that in fact, the taxes are not collected from the scholars, which is actually increasing the burden of the people.

On the other hand, it is also the tax-free privilege of the gentry that has undergone hundreds of years of development, and even the ordinary people think that the gentry have privileges and take it for granted. If it was an ordinary person in later generations, he could say that all privileges would be abolished, but in ancient times, ordinary people also took it for granted that some noble officials had privileges. People's consciousness in different eras. The form is different, and it cannot be directly compared with the eyes of future generations. Perhaps later generations generally hated privilege, but in ancient times it was so strange, while being oppressed by the privilege of others, but they supported this privilege from the bottom of their hearts, supported the privilege of others, and took the privilege of others for granted. Even the victim agrees with being killed, so what can you do? The consciousness of the ancients. In different forms, the oppressed side of privilege also agrees with privilege and supports privilege, so even if you take back this so-called privilege, it is the people who suffer in the end.

"Your Majesty, since we can't collect taxes horizontally and vertically, it is better to simply admit the established facts. Anyway, whether we admit it or not, we can't collect the taxes from them, and if they insist on coming, they will pass these taxes on to the ordinary people and apportionment them to the ordinary people, so wouldn't it be even more troublesome? At that time, they could even use the banner of the imperial court, and then take the opportunity to exploit the people more seriously, and finally our central imperial court carried the black pot, and then they were pretending to put on a show, increasing the tax amount of our imperial court tenfold, and then pretending to reduce it by five times again, saying that they bore fifty percent of the income for the people. But when the time comes, they will fill their pockets with four times the tax, and then the people will stupidly scold our court black, and they will be grateful to the scholars! Shi Bufan said.

"Smack!" Li Shimin smashed a celadon porcelain, and then scolded: "Bastards, these bastards!" ”

Li Shimin also knew the consequences, so he was helpless. If you insist on taking back the tax-free privileges, you will end up harming the people and increasing the burden on the people. Although Li Shimin held the decision-making power of the central court of the imperial court, in terms of local executive power, almost all of them fell into the hands of the scholars. Therefore, if the local executive power cannot be in the hands of the people, then all good policies will be in vain.

"So, Your Majesty, instead of reluctantly fighting for something that is destined to be out of reach, it is better to take a step back and exchange it for something else by recognizing their legitimacy!" Shi Bufan said.

"In exchange for what? What did you just get in exchange? How come I don't know what you're getting? Li Shimin asked.

Shi Bufan smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I just agreed just now, I can exempt them from Dingkou and agricultural taxes, and other taxes have not been exempted!" Other taxes, such as business tax, and many other taxes, are not exempt from tax! ”

"Is this any different? Commercial tax does not occupy the mainstream of my Datang. Li Shimin said.

Li Shimin is right: In ancient times, commerce was not attached, and of course there was a reason for stabilizing agricultural production and ensuring agricultural production. On the other hand, however, commercial taxes do not account for the majority of state revenues. In fact, in addition to the development of productive forces in later generations, there is another reason why later generations attached importance to commerce, that is, the tax generated by industry and commerce has completely overwhelmed the agricultural tax. Even in later generations, China has abolished the agricultural tax, and the abolition of the agricultural tax shows that the agricultural tax has completely become a chicken rib and can no longer play any role. So the future of commercial taxation is far greater than that of agricultural taxation.

Shi Bufan actually agreed with the population tax and agricultural tax of the scholar clan, but he retained the tax power of the commercial tax. Those officials of the scholar clan could not realize that even Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, two people who claimed to be famous through the ages, could never predict that the commercial tax would completely overwhelm the agricultural tax in the future. Commercial taxes will account for the vast majority of the country's revenue, and at that time, the gentry will really cry and faint in the toilet.

"Also, even if the so-called population and agricultural taxes of the gentry were exempted, there would be no problem. Because the population of the gentry tribe accounts for less than five percent of the country's population, and if they are exempted from the population tax, there will not be much loss. And the land they occupy seems to be quite a lot, but compared to our huge ordinary people, they still do not occupy the mainstream. Therefore, even if the taxes of the nobles were exempted, it would not cause a large financial loss to the imperial court. What's more, I couldn't receive it in the first place, and if I had more, it was useless. Shi Bufan replied.

Li Shimin asked: "However, what if the land of the Shi clan increases in the future?" ”

"Does the emperor mean land annexation? In fact, land annexation is already very difficult at present, since we have gradually realized mutual medical assistance, people do not have to be forced to sell their land for medical treatment, and they are not forced to sell their land for medical treatment. And we adopted this cooperative system, so that our people have formed a group from the individual households in the past. Help each other in the group, and no one can completely leave anyone. At that time, the family was in trouble, and everyone supported them, so that they would not get the land to be sold. Even the outlets of our money bank association will gradually expand to the whole country. With the use of small low-interest loans, the annual interest is generally about 10 percent, so the people have the capital to repay the loan, and will not be exploited by the annual interest rate of 100 percent. ”

Therefore, as long as the expenses of the people in various times of crisis are solved, the people really have no reason to sell their land. And we mobilized the people to build water conservancy, and the people almost maximized the harvest from drought and flood. Coupled with the balance of this future, the income of ordinary people is relatively stable, and they will not be forced to sell their land by various so-called crises. Therefore, we have blocked the channels for the scholars to annex land to a large extent, do they still dare to rob these lands? As long as we block the channels for the nobles to annex the land as much as possible, then we are almost still relatively safe. Therefore, the exemption from taxation does not mean that there is any problem, in fact, it is nothing more than the formal recognition of their so-called privileges in law. But in fact, we will not have a penny more, nor will we lose a penny, and the burden on the people will not be increased because of this. On the other hand, if we are reluctant to collect taxes, it will be the people who will suffer in the end. ”

The most terrible thing about the so-called tax-free privileges is not reflected in the privileges, but in the concentration of their wealth. Just a small number of people have tax exemption privileges, this is not the most terrifying. The most terrible thing is the tax exemption and the concentration of wealth, which is the most terrible. Once they occupy more than ninety percent of the world's wealth and do not have to pay taxes, this is the most terrible thing. So the focus is on cutting off the channels that they desperately need to increase their wealth, rather than worrying about this tax-free privilege. As long as their wealth does not continue to skyrocket, then tax exemption for a very small number of them will have no impact on the overall situation. Shi Bufan has cut off their channels for annexing land as much as possible, and in business, he has also cut off their channels for exemption from commercial taxes.

Commercially they can't be exempt from taxes, so in the end they hold on to those lands, which doesn't mean much. When the proportion of their land in the country's wealth has been reduced to a very low percentage, their so-called tax-free privileges, their economic base has collapsed, and their political foundation will not be far away, and the so-called tax-free privileges at that time cannot be maintained at all.

"Your Majesty, in fact, although we don't directly collect the taxes of those scholars, we can use indirect means, maybe we can loot more. For example, those nobles are extravagant, and they are used to luxury, so we can start from this aspect. We impose heavy taxes on luxury goods, and if luxury goods are highly profitable, we can impose heavy taxes, so that not only can we curb the luxury of the people, but also indirectly loot the nobles. Those nobles have become accustomed to luxury, so once they buy luxury, they are indirectly paying taxes. When the time comes, the tax we have scavenged from this luxury tax will definitely be no less than the agricultural tax they have exempted. ”

"Taxes, in fact, are not necessarily collected directly, but may also be collected indirectly. Moreover, indirect collection often has a better effect than direct collection. ”

"Indirect?" Li Shimin didn't quite understand.

Shi Bufan explained: "Your Majesty, if I just take away your 100 yuan and don't give you anything back, of course you will be very angry, right?" ”

"Of course, although I can afford to pay a hundred yuan, why should I let others take it out of thin air?" Li Shimin said as a matter of course.

Obviously, the money was taken away for no reason, and even the emperor who claimed to be rich in the world was not happy. It's not a question of money or not, and even if you can afford it, you won't be so stupid. it!

"But if you buy something for a thousand dollars, does that feel so painful?" Shi Bufan asked.

"That won't be!" Li Shimin said.

But Shi Bufan said: "What if, out of the price of this thousand yuan, there are 100 yuan of taxes from the imperial court? So what do you think about the emperor? ”

"......" Li Shimin had nothing to say, feeling a little embarrassed.

Just now I said that I would be very angry if someone took the money out of thin air, but now out of a thousand yuan, one-tenth of the wealth is actually the tax of the imperial court, so isn't this actually taken away?

"Your Majesty, you see, taking it directly is not the same as taking it indirectly through trading. Anyone who takes it directly will be angry, but this kind of indirect taking away is not felt by ordinary people at all. And they also obtained the corresponding things, so that they would have a lot of balance in their hearts, so that they would not feel that the court directly exploited them too much. Shi Bufan said.

Li Shimin nodded and said, "This is a bit interesting!" ”

As a king, don't you just want to exploit the people? Of course, this exploitation is also in the hope that the people will not rebel because of this, which is the most appropriate. Any dynasty, even the government of later generations, often does not use direct collection methods when collecting taxes, and generally collects them indirectly. In later generations, many people were very sensitive to the payment of personal income tax, but if we look at the national statistics, personal income tax does not actually occupy the mainstream of national taxation. However, the people are the most sensitive to this personal tax, because this personal tax directly takes away their wealth.

In fact, other aspects of consumption tax, corporate income tax or something are the focus, but the people are not very sensitive to this aspect, because this is not taken directly, so the people are relatively slow in this regard. This is actually a matter of feelings, and anyone who takes it out of thin air will be extremely angry. But take it indirectly, although you may take more, but you won't feel so angry because of this, at most you will complain about the high price of goods, and you won't make a fuss.

It's a pity that the ancient people didn't know to do this, and they took it directly, so that it would be strange if the people didn't get angry. (To be continued.) )