Chapter 475: The Troubles of Soaring Taxes

"The Deng Xiaotian case itself is not a trouble, the trouble is that someone wants to use the topic to play. Especially those corrupt people, they are full of the idea that the poor must be justified, and the rich must be guilty......"

Huangpu Wuya Palace is in the thatched hall, and the envoy Shi Yi is buried in the deerskin sofa in the government hall, frowning and saying. He was accustomed to talking relaxed here, and Ji Si made Gu Xiyi and the ministers of the Privy Council and the three provinces. Either spread his hands to support the backrest, or crossed Erlang's legs. Put it in the front court, it is a big loss of honor. Except for Li Can, the general political envoy, his qualifications are too shallow, so he set up a false point, the three divisions and the three provinces plus Fan Jin Xiaosheng of the Privy Council, these eleven make up the cabinet of the British Dynasty, and they are the prime ministers of the British Dynasty. At this time, the British Dynasty and the government system made some fine-tuning, the main idea is that the two provinces of Zhongshu and Shangshu are the same, and at the same time, Xiao Sheng was promoted to the right governor of the Privy Council as a military general, and Fan was promoted to the left governor.

At present, in addition to the six departments of households, rites, workers, soldiers, officials, and criminals, Shangshu Province has also added the post department and the agricultural department. The post department is not only responsible for the post transmission system, but also responsible for promoting the construction and management of the national transportation network, which is equivalent to the postal and communication department of Li Xian's previous life. The Ministry of Agriculture has been specially set aside from the Ministry of Households in response to the detailed control of agricultural affairs.

At present, the Yinghua court is in Zhongshu Province, where the Daoist Bureau is mostly in Zhongshu Province to manage industrial and commercial and emerging affairs, the Xian Party is in Shangshuyi, which is responsible for social stability and agricultural affairs, and the Confucian Party is located in the Confucianism Province, which is responsible for interrogating and impeaching officials. This pattern can basically remain stable, and at the same time, everyone can do their best.

Fighting with each other is naturally inevitable, but unlike the previous court battles, it is mostly reflected in the competition for budget, talent and discourse.

In addition, the post department and the agricultural department were established, not only to meet the needs of national political management, but also to balance the virtuous party. And with this step, Zhongshu Province also got the coveted opportunity to turn over, and they were justified. In the past, it was a temporary official office such as the General Administration to manage affairs, but now it has finally been promoted to an official department, and the previous awkward position of "governor" has also been replaced by a scholar.

The General Administration for Industry and Commerce was upgraded to the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Culture and Education was upgraded to the Ministry of Culture, Sports, Culture, Sports, and Health, the General Administration of Health and Health was upgraded to the Ministry of Medicine, and the Ministry of Internal Health was also transformed into the Ministry of Health. Because it is not good to make a big leap forward, departments such as the Nengshiguan, the General Supervisor, and the Qin Tianjian are still the same.

After this adjustment, the court structure of the three provinces and three divisions of the British and North Koreas plus the Privy Council has also stabilized, so the people also have eleven ministers. But this phase is different from the dynasties of the past dynasties, they are all in charge of practical matters, not Zaifu by the emperor's side. The Imperial Hearings held on the first day of every decade at the Government Council are the highest-level state councils.

Regarding the "trouble", Li Zhushou is worried about another point, the eight departments of Shangshu Province only rely on the Ministry of Agriculture to control the land tax, and in general, it is a province that spends money. However, the recent series of "benevolent policies" promulgated by Li Shi led to a further decline in the tax collected by the Ministry of Agriculture, and he was very worried about this matter due to the psychological inertia of the local officials in the Manchu era.

Li Zhushou: "The official family has lowered the production tax, the land tax, and the tax to offset the rent interest. ”

When he asked, Shang Shu and the other three ministers of the two provinces all nodded at the same time, they were also very concerned about this issue, and Fan Jin and Xiao Sheng of the Privy Council also pricked up their ears, they were in charge of the army, and they were the most sensitive to changes in the treasury. Britain and North Korea are the most profitable, the budget comes first, and if the treasury is reduced, their army will be greatly affected.

Today's State Council, Deng Xiaotian's case is just a small matter, and this matter is the big deal, listening to Li Zhushou ask, Li Xi looked at Gu Xiyi: "Gu Da shopkeeper, let's use numbers to explain this matter clearly." ”

The predecessor of the Accounting Department was the Degree Branch Division of the Ministry of Households, and the entry and exit of the treasury were all under the management of the Accounting Division, and the numbers were naturally in his hands.

Gu Xiyi nodded and said: "This matter is complicated at all, so I will choose to explain it." Why tax cuts? In terms of agricultural taxes, Yinghua has too much income! ”

This argument stunned everyone, too much? Not to mention this tax cut, let's just say that before, through measures such as the government going to the countryside, the ticket bank going to the countryside, eliminating miscellaneous factions, and the peasants paying their own taxes, the burden on the peasants under the rule of Yinghua has been reduced a lot, how can they collect more?

Gu Xiyi continued: "Why is there more, first, I Yinghua directly supplemented the landlord with agricultural taxes, thus cutting off the local miscellaneous faction. In the past, the peasants paid two taels of silver, one tael to the central government and one tael to the localities. Now their burden has been reduced to one or two or five yuan, but it is all collected by the central government, and the central government has grasped the agricultural tax, which is naturally 50% more! "Not only that, I, Yinghua, in Guangdong, implemented the government to go to the countryside, and calculated taxes based on the actual acres of land in counties and townships, and after more than two years of work, the tax sources sorted out were more than half of before! In the past, there were less than 200,000 hectares of land in Guangdong, but today, the actual number of acres of land held by this dynasty is nearly 300,000 hectares! According to the reports of farmers in various places, this is not the final number, and it is estimated that it will be nearly 350,000 hectares this year! ”

Everyone took a breath of cool air, 300,000 hectares, that is, 30 million acres. Under the rule of Yinghua, Guangdong alone could hold such acres of land, and if it was replaced by the Manchu Qing Dynasty, it would not rely on industry and commerce, but on such acres of land, and it would be able to collect two or three million taels of silver a year, which was two or three times as much as before.

Many people said in their hearts, this is really a demon, the same land, in exchange for our British and Korean control, can actually give birth to so much wealth.

But the people present are all such as today's top figures, and they understand the mystery in a moment, which is naturally today's Yinghua, relying on the ticket office and the government to go to the countryside, and the control of the place has reached a higher level.

Li Xian was calmly admired and aweed by everyone's eyes, and he already knew the number of 30 million mu. In the 21 st century, Guangdong still retained more than 40 million mu of cultivated land, despite the large tracts of cultivated land occupied by occupied cities and factories. According to the inference of historians, this number was reached as early as the Qianlong period, which is also the limit of arable land in Guangdong.

At this time, in the last years of Kangxi, Guangdong's development was also at the limit, 40 million mu was not there, and more than 30 million mu should also be there.

Pushing the government to the countryside is to fish up this number little by little. If it is replaced by the Ming and Qing dynasties and even the previous dynasties, there is no such ability. However, he had advanced financial tools in hand, a strong army to rely on, the prestige and deterrence of the new dynasty, and even the pattern of officials and gentry paying taxes together, as well as the great prosperity of industry and commerce to provide exports for capital. The work of re-checking the number of acres of land was gradually carried out in a subtle and silent manner, and the Confucian Party, which could become a resistance, was even more defeated in the earlier trend of suppressing Confucianism and lowering holes, and the completion of this great cause was completely a matter of course.

One of the direct manifestations of the completion of this great undertaking is the sharp rise in agricultural taxes. In Guangdong Province alone, 3 million taels of land property tax will be received this year, which will be distributed to all counties, and each county will have more than 30,000 taels, which is a tearful figure for each county in the Manchu Dynasty.

Is the skyrocketing tax on agriculture a good thing?

Gu Xiyi shook his head: "Not only has agricultural taxes skyrocketed, but because of the flourishing industry and commerce, taxes in various counties and cities are also skyrocketing. Guangzhou county city tax, in the first half of this year, Yijing collected 120,000 taels of silver, of course, this is a special case. Taking Qujiang County as an example, in the first half of the year, the municipal tax was already 20,000 yuan, and the local tax was as much as 50,000 taels with the agricultural tax. The magistrate and the county public bureau have set up a plan next year to open 100 Mongolian schools, 10 county schools, 10 hospitals and 10 orphanage homes, and to build a hundred miles of road, because they plan to receive 60,000 taels of tax next year. ”

Everyone was silent, and from Gu Xiyi's words, everyone saw a bad prospect.

Li Xi took over the conversation: "Now all counties in Guangdong have the phenomenon of tax over-entry, and they have their plans to spend money, but many things must also be planned and dispatched by the imperial court, and there will be conflicts between them." ”

"Some people say that it's not good to draw money directly from Fu County, of course it's not good. Whether it is an agricultural tax or a municipal tax, the court has a word in advance, and it will not be drawn from the local government to the central government. And you have to pay for the rich county, and in the future, the rich county will learn to be obedient, and he will not accept as much as he can, so that the matter will be hidden in the place, and it will be difficult for the court to see the place clearly. The local government and the court must always be consistent, there can be no contradictions, and even if there is, the local government must be willing to show it all the time, instead of trying to hide it from the court. This is a backdrop to the skyrocketing local agricultural tax and municipal tax. And our current big trouble is that although the land price is falling, the land rent is still not moving, and the landless farmers are still a huge hidden danger. I also talked about the Deng Xiaotian case just now, how to deal with it is still a trivial matter, and how to prevent more Deng Xiaotian from appearing is a big issue for the imperial court to consider. ”

"Lowering land rent not only stabilizes land prices, but also makes the matter of buying land and tenants less profitable. This matter is combined with the background of soaring agricultural taxes and the strengthening of local autonomy, how to solve it, you ministers, I don't need to say anything more. ”

Li Xi explained, and everyone suddenly realized that this is really a complete set of things to do to beat rabbits!

The skyrocketing tax rate is not absolutely a good thing. This also means that the state's control over the peasants is getting deeper and deeper, just as the Confucian Party of the Xian Party feared before, once the imperial court makes a stupid move, the harm will be more severe than before, so it is necessary to leave a suitable buffer space for the peasants. From the perspective of the landlord, if he has more money in his hands, he naturally wants to do what he wants, but many things will conflict with the layout of the imperial court.

When the time comes, the rich counties will get richer, and the poor counties will get poorer.

So how do you solve the problem?

It's very simple, reduce agricultural taxes.

But this simple thing to do, but the intention behind it is very deep. The imperial court could not draw agricultural taxes and municipal taxes to the central government, which would worsen the interaction between the central and local governments, and if the tax was reduced, it would actually set a way for the landlords to spend money directly on the peasants. Although the local agricultural tax has been reduced, it has also benefited from this policy, and because the farmers are rich, the local industry and commerce will be more prosperous, and they can be compensated by the municipal tax.

Another great advantage is that the tax cut is combined with the action of promoting rent reduction, the landlord cuts the interest rate, and the state reduces the tax subsidy, and the two parties work together to reduce the rent. This is softer than the direct unilateral pressure on the landlord to cut interest rates, the effect is faster, and there are fewer side effects.

Gu Xiyi's eyes were indifferent, he knew very well that his official family had always been greedy in doing things, and he always had to see if he could solve other things in a package. When he reported the agricultural tax situation to Li Xi, Li Xi was thinking about how to use this matter to solve the problem of rent and interest.

"Actually, there are benefits......"

Peng Xianzhong opened his mouth and said that there was another mystery, this rent reduction and interest reduction, there is a condition, that is, the lease must be deed. Of course, a single cent of deed tax can't be run. One percent is nothing for a rent-interest harvest and is acceptable to both parties. In the Manchu Dynasty, whether it was buying or selling, or renting, you had to find a Chinese guarantee, and the commission was three percent, that is, three percent.

The deed tax is still a trivial matter, and the Yinghua Imperial Court only asked for the deed of land and property sale before, but now it is a step deeper, and it is necessary to lease the deed, which is to further grasp the business dealings. In the future, there will be a more accurate basis for agricultural policymaking.

Yang Chongdou, who couldn't see that he had to collect money for everything, shook his beard and said, "Deed tax or a trivial matter!?" In the first half of the year, the land was bought and sold, but the deed tax of 5 percent, this alone collected nearly 2 million silver from the treasury! ”

Everyone laughed at the sight of this. In the first half of the year, land prices soared, tens of millions of taels of silver came and went, although the deed was only a part of the entire sale, and the five percent was only for farmland trading, and even the deed tax of 5 percent was set at such a high level, which was a temporary measure to resist the land price, but the final result was that the land price began to increase after getting the handover, and the deed tax was collected extremely jubilantly.

Now the deed tax on the sale of land and property has been reduced to one percent, but Yang Chongdou, a Confucian party, still thinks that the imperial court is too greedy for money. Two million! He was even wondering if Li Shi was deliberately pushing up the land price in order to make a big profit.

Li Xian said helplessly: "In these two million miles, there are a lot of them that need to be used for the imperial history patrol, so Yang Qing can't be harsh......

Seeing that the emperor had a good attitude, Yang Chongdou also hurriedly got up and bowed. Speaking of zhende, he gets along with his courtiers with such a low profile and accepts advice with an open mind. Such an emperor is not the Ming monarch that their Confucian scholars dream of.

Li Xi continued: "You should understand the matter of agricultural taxes, so let's discuss the Deng Xiaotian case." ”

Coming back to the subject, the crowd was silent for a moment, because they knew it was going to be a strife.