Jiang Wenbin's idea is actually nothing new. It's just that no one dared to think about it before, and no one wanted to do it. He plans to start directly from the Great Zhou fiscal and taxation system.

Although the tax items listed in the Great Zhou Tax Law are complex and diverse, in fact, there are only three main sources of tax revenue for the imperial court at present: Tian Fu, Ding Fu, and Commercial Tax. Among them, the land tax accounts for the lion's share, so the country's heaviest tax burden is actually on the peasants.

The summer tax is collected at the end of August, and the autumn tax is settled by February of the following year. After collecting taxes, the local government will hand them over to the household department, and then the household department will account for them in the state treasury one by one according to the yellow book and the fish scale book.

The three taxes, which account for the heaviest proportion, are collected according to the capitation and land according to the land, and the city tax and customs duties are levied on the merchants. In June, when the summer tax was levied in various places, Jiang Wenbin was short of money and lacked the new household secretary whose hair was gray, and he was looking forward to the tax and silver entering the treasury all day, so he immediately found the yellow book and fish scale book of several wealthy state capitals in the south of the Yangtze River, and wanted to calculate the total tax amount of these state capitals first, as long as the tax and silver arrived, he would directly dispatch and support the war in the north.

However, as soon as he calculated the tax amount of a state capital, Jiang Wenbin found that there was a huge difference between the actual tax revenue in previous years and the tax amount he calculated according to the Yellow Book and the Fish Scale Book, and the difference was so big that it exceeded his psychological expectations.

Of course, this huge difference is not caused by officials at all levels embezzling taxes and devouring money and grain, and no one has the audacity to embezzle such a huge amount of state taxes. On the contrary, the reason for the loss of tax amount is legitimate, precisely because of the various tax reduction and exemption policies stipulated in the Dazhou Tax Law.

According to the provisions of the Great Zhou Tax Law, most of the incumbent officials can enjoy tax reductions and exemptions, and Beijing officials are exempted from 30 stone of grain and 30 ding per person. The second grade is free of 24 stones, and the person is 24 ding. For each product that is reduced below, the amount of free food will be reduced by two stones, and the number of people will be reduced by two dings. Reduced to nine products free of grain and six stones, six people ding.

The nobles with knighthoods enjoy more generous tax reductions. For example, the royal family and super princes like An Guogong never need to consider tax issues.

The officials of the Great Zhou Dynasty were not too high, and such a tax reduction policy was originally a kind of official treatment and subsidy, and when it was first implemented, there was not much problem, but after a long time, the loopholes in the policy began to gradually become prominent.

In the case of land endowments, for example, officials had tax reductions and exemptions, and they could pay less or no tax, so they began to buy large quantities of land, buy farms, and lease the land to farmers who had lost their land to cultivate. These lands, concentrated in the hands of the aristocracy, did not contribute to the national tax rate, but the landless or landless peasants bore most of the tax burden of the state.

Today, although there are many fields registered in the fish scale register, most of them are recorded in the names of the gentry, and the land that can collect taxes is only three or four tenths, and the financial burden of the state is extremely heavy, and the burden on the peasant households is not light.

"Take the younger generation as an example," Jiang Wenbin unceremoniously took himself out as an example: "The younger generation is an official in the court, and the three granges in the family are already poor compared with the officials from the big family. These three granges were purchased one after another over the years. The location is not good, it is not a high-quality fertile land, the annual output is average, but it is enough for the younger generation to live very comfortably, can afford to raise a house and servants, can afford to wear silk and satin, clumsy Jing and the little girl can go to Linglong Pavilion every few days to buy some new jewelry, the dog is in the academy, and the food and clothing are not worse than the sons of the family. ”

A few days ago, Humble Jing was still chattering, saying that the family has saved a lot of silver over the years, and in two years he will hire a daughter-in-law to enter the door, and the house at home is a little narrower, and he wants to change to a larger house to live more spacious. The juniors are not high, but everything in the family is enough to rely on the income of the three granges under the names of the juniors. The old lady and the lady thought that if they paid their taxes in full like an ordinary peasant family, how could they maintain their current life with only three granges? ”

"I understand what you mean." Old Madam Mu closed the music in her hand and nodded at Jiang Wenbin: "My family is a hereditary super prince, and it is a family of meritorious heroes, so naturally there is no need to pay taxes. ”

"In front of the old lady, the younger generation has always spoken straightforwardly and never hides it, so I also ask the old lady and the lady to forgive me," Jiang Wenbin arched his hand towards the old lady Mu: "If you talk about the younger generation's family, most of the food and clothing depend on those three granges." However, the benefits of taxes in the government are far more than just land endowments. ”

"Yes." Old Madam Mu nodded, but she looked very calm: "Ding Fu has a lot in a year. ”

"There is also commercial tax," Jiang Wenbin replied, "Most of the shops in your house are exempt from tax. ”

"Not most, but all free." Mrs. Mu admitted generously: "The shops in our house are tax-free no matter whose name they are recorded, this is the will of Grandpa Cheng." Including when my two daughters got married many years ago, the shops I married were tax-free. ”

"That's another thing the juniors have to say." Jiang Wenbin raised his palm at Old Madam Mu and shook it slightly: "Reward." Our Anguo Mansion didn't have to pay taxes in the first place, so the old lady may not have noticed much difference in this item. However, the Great Zhou Tax Law stipulates that there is no tax on the reward. Do you know that since the founding of our Great Zhou Dynasty, how many fields has the emperor rewarded his courtiers and concubines? How many servants? How many courtyards are there? ”

"If others don't say it, there are a lot of Empress Wei's families." Old Madam Mu replied lightly: "The old body remembers that after Empress Wei was crowned, the emperor knighted her father, but it was not hereditary. ”

"Yes." Jiang Wenbin nodded: "Before Empress Wei was sealed, her father had already died. This posthumous title cannot be hereditary, in fact, it doesn't mean much. Her two brothers didn't have much to offer, they were low-level idle and received a share of idle rice. But old lady, you know that most of the Wei family's granges and shops do not pay taxes. ”

"It's a joke." Duchess An Guo suddenly interjected: "The emperor loves Empress Wei and has many rewards for the Wei family, which is normal." But I know that the Wei family's several small farms near Gyeonggi are indeed the emperor's favors, but their family's land in Jiangnan is all bought. There are also those shops on Ruyi Street in Nanshi, which used to be in our family, what does it have to do with the emperor. ”

"Not really." Second Mrs. Mu immediately nodded: "Those shops on Ruyi Street were originally my dowry. Before I asked for clothes and married a wife, I wanted to sell them, and I changed two better shops on Wenxing Street to give to my daughter-in-law, and the Wei family bought them from me. ”