In fact, there is a key point that is "living within your means", which is very easy to understand, but at that time, I remember that the two tax laws in history adopted the use of the amount of income within the limits of income, which is fundamentally contrary to the guiding ideology of financial management. "Living within your means" means considering your own income to spend, which not only caters to Uncle Li's frugal thinking, but also leaves a good guidance and norms for future generations of financial officials.

A whole month, a month later, I finally held the new "Tang Tax Law" in front of Uncle Li, head high, like a victorious general returning to the dynasty, this thick more than 100 pages of the two tax law, not only the essence of me and my several wives and concubines, but also my Fang's father and son discussed together, after repeated arguments, the same is also the excellent young man of this son to enable the Tang Dynasty to get rid of agricultural civilization, towards commercial civilization, the development of industrial civilization, looking forward to the dream of scientific and technological civilization, The completed Datang tax encyclopedia integrating taxation and law is a collection of taxes and laws. I believe that thousands of years from now, the world will be shocked and amazed by this, and revere me as the father of taxation? Well, it seems like it's too much.

At least Uncle Li's eyes were a little distorted when he looked at me. "I said virtuous son-in-law, the old man has called you several times, why are you stupidly holding that fun?"

"Father-in-law, son-in-law is so happy, under your wise guidance, when the son-in-law was compiling the "Tax Law", he did not dare to come to you all the time to always stand by my side, cheer for me, so that the son-in-law is like a god, thinking like a spring, and crying blood for a month. I laughed dryly, stepped forward, and respectfully handed the "Tax Law" in my hand to Uncle Li.

The moment Uncle Li took it, he looked at me seriously: "It seems that the body bones of the virtuous son-in-law are really extraordinary, and he vomited blood for a month, and he still has such a ruddy complexion, which is really rare." ”

Suddenly, I heard Zhao Kun, the hairy-faced uncle squatting behind Uncle Li's buttocks, snort several times in a row, and the eunuchs and maids on the side also looked weird, and the angry face of the son was like a heavy jujube, and his eyebrows were like a lying silkworm, grandma, you are an old rascal, you are shameless, right? Isn't it possible for this son to brag about himself for a few words?

------------------------------------------------ was embarrassed, Uncle Li smiled: "Okay, okay, don't care, the old man teases you, hahaha, the good son-in-law has worked hard for the rest of the month, the old man still knows the drop, you can rest assured, even if this thing really doesn't work, the old man won't smoke your board, after all, there is no merit, there is hard work." Come and serve tea to the old man's beloved son-in-law. ”

Take a handful of it, give a sweet date, I have never seen such a shameless emperor, we can only swallow our anger, we can't learn Uncle Cheng to pull Uncle Li to the door with his bare buttocks, right?

"Datang tax law? Well, that's a good name, but son-in-law, why should this tax system be called law? Uncle Li asked curiously. The French word "son-in-law" is taken from the interpretation of "Mozi" in "The law is not expensive, and the rope is not twisted", that is to say, in front of the law, everyone is equal. Whether it is a prince or nobleman, or a family valve, it must also be done in accordance with the law, but if I Datang really wants to do it, the law must be followed, and the violation must be corrected. The world can be too peaceful. I made such an explanation very meaningfully, and sure enough, Uncle Li's expression was very moving, and he nodded slightly: "The words of the virtuous son-in-law are quite in line with my heart, there are laws that must be followed, violations must be corrected, and everyone is equal in front of the law, so that the world can be stable and prosperous." ”

Uncle Li didn't speak again, but opened the "Tang Tax Law" and studied it carefully.

Before the catalog, I wrote a sentence that paying taxes is the obligation and responsibility of every citizen in the Tang Empire. What are the obligations? It's what you have to do, if you don't do it, the state will force you to do it, and if you want to resist or run away, you will be punished.

In the same way, I also wrote the principle of "living within your means" as the benchmark for tax payment in the concept of financial management. This is both self-explanatory and impressive. I not only listed the various tax catalogs and taxes of Datang, but even each tax was refined to the physical object, and Uncle Li sighed and his eyes lit up, and from time to time he encountered something he didn't understand and asked me about it.

Let's take the simplest example. Uncle Li didn't know what consumption tax was, so I explained to him: "The so-called consumption tax must be levied on specific products specified in the tax law. Purposefully and selectively select certain consumer goods to levy consumption tax, so as to appropriately limit the consumption demand for certain special consumer goods; For example, mirrors, gold and silver products, antiques and other high-end luxury goods, these things are not necessary for the production and life of the people, I Datang can tax the product, but this tax is levied on consumers, and its purpose is ......"

Uncle Li didn't understand what I meant, and immediately laughed: "You kid, you're bad, I'm afraid that those rich people in my Tang Dynasty are going to vomit blood in anger, right?" ”

"Father-in-law, in fact, this tax is not too high, and the objects in our can be divided into which are high-profit consumer goods and which are medium-profit, and they can be distinguished and treated differently, but the tax rate must also ensure that it is suitable for each product, at least not to make the goods unable to trade and circulate." I at least know that what can't be sold can't be called a commodity. Therefore, in order to let the state profit from it, but not to make the contradiction between businessmen and consumers too acute, this needs to go through precise and detailed calculations and statistics.

In addition, regarding the consumption tax on these high-profit luxury goods, Datang should also adjust according to the changes in the value of the products.

Taxes must be levied twice a year, but the peasants are no longer required to pay any other fees or labour. This led to a dispute between Uncle Li and me, who believed that the state made the peasants to do labor for the benefit of the whole country, not only for the country, but also for the people themselves.

But I don't think so, the officials' disobedience, personal use of labor, or wanton extension of the period of labor, coupled with the inaction of the supervision system, will definitely lead to a series of terrible consequences, in addition, the prisoner of war labor used by Datang today is a substitute for Datang labor, using them to carry out construction for Datang, neither need to worry about missing the agricultural time, nor do you need to pay them for silk and food.

In addition, I painstakingly explained to Uncle Li the advantages of replacing the labor system with the employment system, although under the employment system, Datang will consume an additional part of the state tax revenue, but the use of the employment system can at least eliminate the adverse factors brought by labor to the long-term development and stability of the country.

In addition, the emergence of the employment system can also give those displaced people in society who have lost their land and property a new source of livelihood. "The number of runaways and hidden households in the Tang Dynasty is not more than 10,000 on the surface, but the reality is at least 20,000 or more, in addition, just the people in Chang'an City, many people are unwilling to farm, and would rather work in workshops or handymen in shops......

------------------------------------------------ Uncle Li gradually understood the advantages of the mercenary system, which not only reduced the number of displaced people, but also eliminated the unstable factors in society, and enabled the state to cultivate these people in another way so that they could continue to survive without the bad intentions of destroying security and stability.

At the very least, in the event of a disaster, Datang can also adopt this method to implement an employment system for the affected areas and build various facilities for the disaster-stricken areas, so that the affected people can resume production locally with peace of mind when they are paid...... In the end, Uncle Li agreed, yes, the old rascal finally did one good thing for the people of the world, and another thing, I suggested that Uncle Li raise the business tax. At present, the threshold of industrial and commercial tax in Datang is one-thirtieth, and some are one-tenth, which is very chaotic and complicated, and many state capitals take advantage of the difference to levy one-tenth, but the court only levies one-thirtieth, and many taxes are withheld to fill their pockets.

Although the tax is still a matter of money and silk, I made my own proposal to Uncle Lee. Trial production of gold and silver coins. In order to alleviate the pressure on the circulation of my Datang currency. and weaken the collection of taxes in the Tang Dynasty. "In the past, after the taxes were levied in the states and counties of the Tang Dynasty, some of them were sent to Yanjing Chang'an, while some states and counties could only be sent to the governors of various provinces. It is because of the weight of copper coins, to last year, my eldest brother wrote to his son-in-law that the taxes in Quanzhou and Fuzhou are converted into 370,000 yuan and 370,000 yuan, according to my Datang's coinage system, one coin is one coin, ten coins are one tael, and Qianwen weighs six catties and four taels, so how much is this? This is 2,368,000 catties of copper, father-in-law, think about it, how much manpower and material resources will it take to transport it from the Jiangnan Provincial Governance Office to my Tang Chang'an? ”

Uncle Li's mouth was half open, and his pupils were a little dilated, well, this is normal, and anyone who seriously counts it will be taken aback. After a while, Uncle Li breathed back: "The words of the virtuous son-in-law are also reasonable, but how to mint this gold and silver coin, and how to convert it after casting?" Have you considered any of these? The old man will not accept this just by your mouth. ”

(To be continued)