And how to play?

Zhu Gaoxu wondered: "Wouldn't it be better not to change?" ”

Xia Yuanji said instead: "That's not true, it's better to change it than not to change it." ”

"How?"

Natsuhara explained.

"The two-tax and three-point method is still very effective in places that the Tang Dynasty can control or influence, that is, places that are not divided by feudal towns."

"Traditionally, the central government has allocated the finances of various prefectures and counties, and the distribution method has been changed to the distribution method of tax revenues in which the central and local governments participate together."

"From the perspective of the specific distribution of taxes, the revenues of salt tax, tea tax, wine tax, and seedling money are directly transferred to the central government, and the two taxes are shared by the central and local governments of the Tang Dynasty."

"Under the distribution method of two taxes and three triparts, the central government of Tang Dynasty was able to clarify the ambiguous fiscal relationship between the central and local governments, and at the same time ensure the central fiscal revenue, but also take into account the local fiscal revenue."

"History: In the fourteenth year of Dazhong, the inner treasury was like a mountain, and the household department and the extension of capital were full, so the prime minister Min led Xichuan, and the treasury money reached three million, and the same is true of all the roads."

Jiang Xinghuo nodded and said.

"This is the focus of the tax game between the central and local governments, and it is also the reason why the late Tang Dynasty is taken as an example."

"Because the late Tang Dynasty is the best template for observing the prototype of central tax and local tax."

"The separation of the central government and the local government is a more suitable tax system for the future."

The map spreads, and the dagger is out.

——————

In the Chamber of Secrets.

While lecturing within the walls, several people also got into an argument.

"Your Majesty, listen to Jiang Xinghuo's meaning, is it to reform and completely reform the tax system and separate the central and local taxes?"

Jian Yi couldn't help but persuade: "Giving local finance and taxation rights is a matter that shakes the foundation of the country, and it must not be!" ”

"Your Majesty, the Tang Dynasty implemented the law of two taxes and three divisions, but it was done as a last resort because of the division of feudal towns."

Ru Yu also said with a serious face: "Now that my Ming decree is passed through the thirteen political envoys, there is no need to follow the actions of the late Tang Dynasty, once it is imitated, it will lead to excessive local power and threaten the central government." ”

In fact, it's not just Jian Yi and Ru Yu who understand this truth.

Hearing Jiang Xinghuo's words, even Zhu Di had a trace of hesitation.

Zhu Di was well aware of the impact of taxation on imperial power.

Because the country's tax base is too simple, if the central government does not have the support of the local government, it simply cannot support the huge and huge expenditure. Therefore, every year the central government will let the local government escort the tax revenue, and in addition to this, a large amount of money is required to look strange, but in fact it is a necessary tribute to keep the court running.

If you really do what Jiang Xinghuo said, then you will definitely shake the current tax system of the Ming Dynasty and hand over a large amount of finance and taxes to the local government for their own allocation.

At that time, although the financial burden of the central government will be greatly reduced, once the centrifugal force of the local governments increases, if there is a nationwide change, the consequences will be simply catastrophic!

This is not only a question of inconvenience for the money-makers, but more importantly, a question of the prestige of the central government and the rule of the imperial power.

How many dynasties in history have discredited the people because of tax reforms, which led to the loss of authority, and eventually the emperor was overthrown?

The tax system has long been taboo for emperors of all dynasties.

As long as it is settled, it is not easy to shake it.

That's why Jian Yi is so anxious.

Not only him, but Ru Yu also objected.

——————

Similarly, as soon as these words came out, even Xia Yuanji was a little panicked.

Xia Yuanji hurriedly reminded a little anxiously.

"Given autonomy in the local tax system, doesn't Mr. Jiang know about the empty seal case?"

Hongwu's four major cases - the empty seal case!

The so-called empty seal case means that according to the regulations of the Hongwu Dynasty, every year all ministries, political departments, prefectures, and counties must submit money and grain, financial revenues and expenditures, and tax accounts to the household department. The figures of the household department and the various administrative departments, prefectures and counties must be completely consistent and accurate before the project can be completed. If there is a discrepancy, the entire account book will be rejected, re-filled and re-stamped with the local government's seal.

During the Hongwu Dynasty, officials from all over the country had to come to Nanjing to submit the account books, and the taxes paid in kind at that time, that is, grain, were inevitably lost during the transportation process, and the phenomenon that the account books and the real goods did not match was a high probability event, and the slightest mistake had to be re-reported.

The Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions were still good, but the officials in Yunnan, Guizhou, Liangguang, Shanxi, and Sichuan were not well developed at that time, and the distance between them was long, and if they needed to send them back and rebuild, they would inevitably delay a considerable amount of time.

This was originally a habitual practice from the Yuan Dynasty, and it has never been explicitly banned, and Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely hostile to it after discovering this practice of empty seals. The main reason was that he was very disliked by the bureaucrats who had already appeared in the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. He dealt with such behavior harshly, and the use of empty seals would open the door to local corruption of finance and taxes.

Therefore, in Daming, any reform that modifies the local fiscal and taxation system is a taboo!

It was precisely because of this that Xia Yuanji was afraid that Jiang Xinghuo would say the wrong thing, so he hurriedly reminded him.

Jiang Xinghuo looked at the unpredictable Mr. Qiu and said softly, "Don't worry, of course I know." ”

"The land tax is the foundation of the country, and the separation of the central and local tax systems I am talking about is certainly not the land tax."

And Zhu Gaoxu also felt that something was wrong at this time, and he asked: "Just now in the 'Wolf Divide Silver', Mr. Jiang said that the winner takes all, and the imperial court should take all 100 silver coins. Now Mr. Jiang said that the central and local tax systems are separated, which is not in line with the winner-takes-all principle. ”

Jiang Xinghuo shook his head.

"Since you said it, you just said that the winner takes all, because it was under the condition of [absolute rationality] that the imperial court could take 100 silver coins, and the local and gentry had nothing."

"In reality, the imperial court needs to find the 101st silver coin, so that this silver coin can complete the turn of the game."

Jiang Xinghuo stood up and looked at the clear sky.

"The court is the winner, and the winner has to take it all."

"Why, then, are you so narrow-minded?"

"Why do you have to divide it from these 100 silver coins?"

"Actually, my students."

"The imperial court only needs 1 new silver coin to make the local and gentry start playing."

Xia Yuanji's heart shook, as if he vaguely thought of something, and the hairs on his back began to explode.

"Back to the beginnings of our game theory."

Jiang Xinghuo lit the △ on the ground and pointed out: "The three-way game, the object of the game, has never been just the court and the locality, the court and the gentry. ”

"Have you forgotten that there is also a pair of players to play with?"

"Place, and the gentry!"

When the words fell, the layer of window paper in Xia Yuanji's mind was suddenly pierced!

Central tax, I want all these 100 silver coins!

Land tax, go fight the gentry for the 101st new silver coin!

That's the real winner-takes-all!

——————

Dense goosebumps spread from Zhu Di's shoulders to his body.

Zhu Di took a deep breath.

It turned out that the answer to everything had already been given as early as when Jiang Xinghuo drew which △ on the ground.

And their gaze has always been limited to the central and local, central and gentry.

It has never been considered that the central government can take all the 100 silver coins that the winner takes all, but at the same time there is a way to make the other two sides of the game no longer play with themselves, but turn to play with each other!

"Jian Shangshu, Ru Shangshu, what do you think?"

Jian Yi and Ru Yu, who had just turned from a huge misunderstanding of thinking, looked at each other and smiled bitterly at this time.

What else can you see?

Jiang Xinghuo had already clearly told them his thoughts.

The country's current tax revenue, 1 silver coin is a lot!

In game theory, what shocked the two of them the most at the level of thinking was the hidden third-party game!

Contradiction shift!

So what reason do they have to object?

"But where did the 101st silver coin come from?"

Jian Yi asked softly.

It must be known that in all dynasties, the types of taxes that can be developed to make money have been developed a long time ago.

How can there be new taxes that can meet the needs of the local government and at the same time achieve new development?

Zhu Di also thought of this question at the same time.

And Dao Yan also swept away his lazy appearance and looked at the wall seriously.

Obviously, he was also very curious about where the 101st silver coin came from.

——————

Jiang Xinghuo's hand appeared the silver coin of Ba Si Pa Wen left by Li Jinglong.

"Guess where you got this silver coin?"

Zhu Gaoxu naturally didn't know, just shook his head.

Xia Yuanji recalled for a moment and followed the train of thought just now.

"Since Mr. Jiang gave the example of the late Tang Dynasty, let's continue to sort out the differences in financial resources between the local and central governments in the two taxes and three divisions."

"Please."

Xia Yuanji said while thinking about it: "As I just said, the income from salt tax, tea tax, wine tax, and green seedling money is directly transferred to the central government, and the two taxes are shared by the central and local governments, that is to say, in the late Tang Dynasty, the land tax was shared between the local government and the central government. ”

"And since Mr. Jiang said that he wanted to find the 101st silver coin, in other words, he would exclude these old taxes."

This inference is very reasonable, and Zhu Gaoxu also nodded.

After the implementation of the two-tax and three-point law, with the late Tang Dynasty between the central and local governments around the distribution of financial benefits, the majority of taxpayers actually became the victims of this struggle, and both the central and local governments passed on the losses to the taxpayers. The central government of the Tang Dynasty not only did not update the information on household registration and personal assets for a long time, but also imposed various taxes at will, and the local government did not let Qiao Li set up illegal seizures. ”

"These kinds of taxes with clever names, as Li Ao, the secretary of the household department of the late Tang Dynasty inspection school, commented: then the money and silk are not the rain of the sky, and they are not like springs that can be born, and they are not taken from the people, but will be taken from them? Therefore, there are those who are official shops to live in merchants, there are those who make wine and sell official sales, and other miscellaneous rates, and skillfully set up names, all of which take the benefits of the people. ”

Translated this is to say that money is not rain from heaven or spring water from the earth, and it does not appear out of thin air. If they do not take it from the people, where will they take it? Therefore, the collection tax for opening a store, the tax for winemaking, and other walks of life also set up a name to collect taxes, that is, the government is competing for the interests of the people.

Speaking of this, Xia Yuanji paused, unable to continue.

Yes, all walks of life in the world, in the late Tang Dynasty, in order to collect the tax of 'staying in the state', they have already tried their best.

Where else can the imperial court conjure up this 101st silver coin and leave it for the place?

Xia Yuanji held his breath and quietly waited for Jiang Xinghuo to say the answer.

Zhu Gaoxu smiled bitterly: "Mr. Jiang, the people have become poor ghosts, and there is no new oil and water to squeeze." ”

Jiang Xinghuo has never been a person who likes to hang people's appetites.

Jiang Xinghuo said simply: "I never thought about scraping the money of poor ghosts. ”

"If you don't scrape the money of the poor ghosts, who will the local government collect?" Zhu Gaoxu was puzzled.

"Whoever has the money, whoever earns it."

Jiang Xinghuo's hand appeared the silver coin of Ba Si Pa Wen left by Li Jinglong.

"Guess where I got the 101st silver coin?"

The corners of Zhu Gaoxu's eyes twitched, and he suddenly had a thought.

"Mr. Jiang means that on the gentry?"

Jiang Xinghuo said with a chuckle.

"This silver coin has two names, one plus and one back."

"Positive, it's called the progressive tax on the hukou."

"The progressive tax on hukou is aimed at the local clan gentry, not ordinary yeoman farmers, once the population of a household is greater than a certain normal limit. For example, a normal family has more than a dozen people, while the local gentry often have dozens of people in a family. This kind of huge family, which has several or more than a dozen households, adding up to hundreds of people, has to pay taxes cumulatively, and the more people in each household, the more progressive the payment, and they have to pay every year. ”

It should be noted that the progressive household registration tax designed by Jiang Xinghuo will never affect ordinary poor self-cultivated farmers, and the reason is very simple, if such a huge clan can maintain its existence in the local area, it is destined not to be an ordinary poor.

The reason for this is that it is taxed according to the "household".

And "household" is definitely two completely different concepts for the poor and the rich.

The rich can afford to support a "household" of dozens of people and bear the corresponding taxes, while the poor can only have a dozen or so people in three generations at most.

In addition, in order to prevent the poor from having a large number of "households", the progressive tax on the poor will be burdened by the progressive household tax.

Jiang Xinghuo also kept his back hand.

Zhu Gaoxu couldn't help but ask: "Then what if the local gentry are unwilling to bear such a high progressive tax on household registration and plan to evade taxes by splitting their families?" The imperial court can't help but let people divide their families, right? ”

Jiang Xinghuo smiled premeditated and turned the silver coin over.

"On the other hand, it's called the notary tax of separation."

"If you don't want to bear the annual household tax, of course you can."

"How can the imperial court prevent people from voluntarily splitting their families?"

"Therefore, you only need to pay a one-time fee, and you can complete the separation under the notarization of the government."

"Oh yes, this division is a percentage tax rate, the poor and the rich all pay the same tax rate, but according to the converted value of the family property, if there is really a large number of poor people, according to the poor person's property, you only need to pay a very meager tax."

"As a result, the rich either do not divide their families and pay a hefty progressive tax every year; Either split up and pay a one-time high separation fair tax. ”

"In short, this new source of wealth for the local government will always be obtained from the gentry."

"And once the rich families such as the gentry and the powerful are separated, it means that they are weakened!"

"This is the 101st silver coin I've found."

(End of chapter)