The abolition of the agricultural tax on peasants with less than 30 mu of their own land was not a whim of Song Zhewu, but a measure he had prepared for a long time to win the hearts and minds of the people.

At this time, less than half of Shanxi's land was in the hands of yeoman farmers, and most of the land was concentrated in the hands of large landlords. In other words, the richest people in Shanxi, in addition to the big capitalists and big businessmen, are these big landlords, and there are many people who have thousands of acres of land in their hands.

In particular, the vast majority of landlords only keep the money they have accumulated over the years in their hands, and they will not make industrial investments at all, and some people even do not believe in the banks, so they even bury them in their homes.

These landlords not only had no meaning in Song Zhewu's reform and construction plan, but were even a major hidden danger in his construction and social reform plan, and the reason was grain.

Grain, the most important strategic material, must never be in the hands of a few, especially if the person who controls a large amount of grain is not completely under his control. The situation is very different when the land is dispersed among many peasants. It is impossible for these peasants to act in unison, using hoarding and other means to control grain prices, and they dare not compete with Song Zhewu's policies and decrees.

Of course, the main role of Song Zhewu's move is to get the support of the farmers and gain a firm foothold in Shanxi. Ordinary peasants can no longer pay taxes, and on that basis alone, they will genuinely support whatever Song Zhewu does.

As for the millions of tax reductions, Song Zhewu didn't care about it very much. Although these reduced tax revenues are now considered to be very large, once these new factories are built, they will increase a large amount of tax revenue, and the reduction of several million agricultural taxes is completely negligible.

Moreover, Song Zhewu was also prepared to impose an additional tax of 20 to 50 percent on landlords with more than 50 mu of their own land, so as to force them to sell their land and invest their funds in industry. If a large amount of private capital is invested in industry, and if there is an exemplary role of a large company like Xinghua with advanced equipment and technology, Shanxi's modern industry will surely develop rapidly and by leaps and bounds.

In order to encourage private capital to invest in industry, Song Zhewu also suggested, "Separate the industrial tax from the commercial tax, the current commercial tax will remain unchanged, and the industrial tax will be reduced by two percent." ”

Through Song Zhewu's explanation, Jia Jingde, Jia Jiying, He Qigong, Zhao Pilian, Qiu Zengyi and others understood that Song Zhewu's purpose was to curb land annexation, win the hearts of the people, and at the same time force and encourage private capital to invest in industry and speed up Shanxi's industrial development. If this policy is actually implemented, the millions of tax dollars reduced will really be nothing.

Jia Jingde thought for a while and said, "Commander, I agree with your plan, but I propose that the tax on landowners of more than 50 mu be increased by 20 to 50 percent. ”

"Oh? How to change? Tell me about it. Song Zhewu asked puzzled.

There is nothing wrong with increasing the taxes of the landlords, not only can they forcefully pressure these people to sell their land, but the increased taxes can also make up for the reduced taxes.

"The system of land endowments implemented by the national government has great drawbacks, there are many additional taxes, as many as several hundred kinds of additional taxes under various names, and the additional taxes in the provinces hardly exceed the regular taxes, and the landlords have no choice but to increase the amount of rent collected in order to cope with these land endowments. Since the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the law formed was that the landlord collected 30 percent of the rent, and now the amount of rent collected by the domestic landlord has generally reached more than 50 percent of the output, and the situation in Shanxi is slightly better, but there are more than 40 percent. ”

"Among Shanxi's 20 million population, more than 90 percent of the peasants have less than 30 mu of their own land and no land at all, and no tax is levied on land below 30 mu.

Jia Jingde looked at Song Zhewu, smiled and then said: "It's just that it is inappropriate to impose an additional tax of 20 to 50 percent on landowners of more than 50 mu. If these landlords make trouble about this matter, it will be a little troublesome. ”

"You mean to cancel this?"

Regarding Jia Jingde's suggestion, Song Zhewu was very unimpressed. If the tax burden of the landlords is not increased, the reduced tax burden cannot be made up, and the most important thing is that these landlords do not feel the pressure, and it is impossible for these people to give up their land and invest in industry.

As for the landlords making trouble, Song Zhewu is not afraid of this, because of the crossing, the education he received in his previous life made him have no good impression of the landlords from the heart, and Song Zhewu does not care about the use of drastic means against the landlords who make trouble.

Jia Jingde smiled and nodded, then shook his head and said: "The increase in taxes on these landlords can be made up by the increase in agricultural taxes alone, and may even be more." Kezhi and I said that although many factories cannot be built this year, even some factories will be put into operation in the second half of the year, but this year's industrial and commercial tax revenue will still increase significantly, and the number will be very amazing! The millions of dollars in agricultural taxes that were undercollected had little impact on us. ”

He Qigong nodded and did not speak, but listened intently to Jia Jingde continue.

"The purpose of increasing taxes on land-rich landlords is to force them to give up their land and invest in industry, and there is actually another way to achieve this goal, which can achieve the same goal without giving them the truth."

Zhao Pilian's eyes lit up and said: "Yuru, do you mean to implement the two-five rent reduction?" ”

Jia Jingde nodded, smiled and waited for Song Zhewu to decide.

The phrase "Rent Reduction in the Second Five-Year Plan", Song Zhewu saw it in the novel in his previous life, but it seems that it was all in the liberated area during the Anti-Japanese War? Can Nanjing agree to such a policy?

Seeing Song Zhewu's doubts, Zhao Pilian explained: "Wen Ge, the rent reduction in the Second Five-Year Plan was officially passed by the central government as early as the 17th year of the Republic of China, which is to reduce the original rent by 50% and then 25%. Although this policy can reduce the burden on the peasants, it has not been implemented in all provinces for various reasons. Zhang Jingjiang did it in Zhejiang for a while, but because it touched the interests of all parties, it finally stopped. ”

He Qigong also nodded and said: "The 25th rent reduction is a decree of the national government, and it is justified in its implementation, and I also want to do it in Beiping, but the resistance below is very strong." But now it is different, if anyone opposes the rent reduction in the 25th Five-Year Plan, we can bring him to justice. Director Jia's method is good, so that the farmers will get more benefits and will support us more. Moreover, if the landlords receive less rent, the income from the land will decrease, and this can also achieve the goal of forcing the landlords to turn to industry. ”

It was only then that Song Zhewu understood that the "25 rent reduction" was not invented by GCD, since it was a decree of the national political axe, it would be great, and he implemented the decree of the political axe, and it would be no wonder if anyone dared to make trouble.

He knew that Jia Jingde had truly understood the significance of winning the hearts and minds of the people, but he believed that the "25 rent reduction" was still too small, and there would still be many stubborn landlords who would not be willing to give up their land.

"Good! Director Jia can not increase the landlords' land endowment and still maintain the current amount of collection. However, for the landlords who are unwilling to give up their fields, they should not only reduce the rent of the land by 25 percent, but also increase their efforts, and the land rent they collect must not exceed 30 percent of the output. We must resolutely crack down on landlords who do not obey our rent reduction policy, and we will never be soft-hearted. ”

"For the landlords who sell their land, if they can't find a buyer for their land for a while, we have to buy it at the market price, and then gradually sell it to landless peasants."

He also said to Qiu Zengyi: "Most of the landless peasants live in poverty, and they have no money to buy land, so the Taiyuan Commercial Bank can give loans to such peasants, up to 30 mu of land, and all the loans should be in the form of interest-free." ”

After thinking for a while, he added: "If you don't have enough funds, you can discuss with Junchen and change some from the Northern Development and Investment Bank." ”

Zhao Pilian thought for a while and said: "Wenge's rent-free, rent-reduced, and tax-reducing policies are really a great good governance, and the people of Shanxi will benefit immensely. We need to publicize this kind of good governance, whether or not to use the Propaganda Committee and the Public Safety Committee to assist in its implementation. ”

In order to firmly control media opinion and ensure the safety and security of the areas under his control, Song Zhewu has just set up a propaganda committee headed by Wang Xinggang and a public security committee headed by Fang Zhen and Kong Wei as deputy director.

Regarding Zhao Pilian's suggestion, Song Zhewu agreed very much.

"Mr. Zhiqing's suggestion is very good, and our newly established Northern Morning Post comes in handy, so let Wang Xinggang focus on the Northern Morning News, and at the same time mobilize other newspapers to vigorously publicize our policy. The Public Safety Committee shall issue orders to the local police agencies to fully cooperate with the implementation of the tax and rent reduction policies......"

Sure enough, as soon as this policy was introduced, it caused a huge repercussion in Shanxi, and the vast number of peasants were all elated and rushed to tell each other about the good news, especially the landless peasants were even more happy, as long as they had land, it was not a problem at all to repay the loan for the purchase of land, not to mention that there was no need to pay the field tax, and there was even a phenomenon of peasants outside the Taiyuan Administration moving to the Taiyuan Administration with their families.

In stark contrast to the warm welcome of the peasants, the Taiyuan Administration and the landlords in Suiyuan were unanimously silent. It's not that they have adopted a tacit attitude in the face of Song Zhewu's coercion, but that none of these people are willing to be the first to stand up and openly oppose the boycott. However, these lands are their lifeblood, and they will not be willing to give up the land like this, and the private tandem has begun secretly.

(To be continued)