Han Shizu

Don't look at what Emperor Liu said in a calm manner, but when the ministers heard it, they immediately cheered up and realized that the issue of finance and taxation might be the real purpose of Emperor Liu's summoning them.

But at the same time, he couldn't help but feel worried. Emperor Liu expressed his dissatisfaction with the current fiscal and taxation system not once or twice, but he never made a big move. At most, he put forward some suggestions for improvement that could be accepted by everyone.

At this moment, Fang relinquished his position as Minister of Finance and brought up the issue of finance and taxation. It is likely that he has used his brains about finance and taxation again, which has to make all the ministers present be more vigilant.

Like the administration of officials, the tax system is also a wide-ranging issue. From the perspective of becoming a country, it cannot be easily touched.Anti-corruption and eradication only deal with corrupt officials, local tyrants and evil gentry, which can be regarded as the self-regulation and purification of the empire.

This finance and taxation is different, it involves almost all aspects, not just nobles, bureaucrats, landlords and merchants, powerful squires, but also the heads of Guizhou who provide taxes for the big men all over the world, this is really not to be tampered with of.

Of course, it's not impossible to change it, which makes people hesitate, but I don't know what Emperor Liu plans to do, which is the most worrying thing.Even if Emperor Liu hadn't planned to see him, the ministers present had already prepared a plan to dissuade him.
"Your Majesty will respectfully hear your instruction!" the crown prince Liu Yang said, clasping his hands to Emperor Liu.

Emperor Liu raised his eyelids, and asked instead of answering, "The crown prince, tell me, what is the principle of the two-tax system for the Han Dynasty?"

Wen asked, Liu Yang thought for a moment, and said in a cautious tone: "A household has no owner and guests, and it is based on seeing and living; Money is paid by households, and corn is paid by mu of fields.”

Obviously, in this regard, Liu Yang still has some research, and he has spoken out a few core elements of the Han Dynasty's two-tax tax system.The Dahan tax system basically follows the two-tax law implemented since the mid-Tang Dynasty. Although some details have been deleted and improved in the Dahan, the gist has not changed much.

As far as the tax system is concerned, the two-tax law is a great progress along with social development, from the tax system based on the population since the Warring States period to the direction of the tax land for the family.

When it comes to the Han Dynasty, its system is also followed and its advanced features are taken.However, with the passage of time, the core principles of the two tax laws are gradually weakening, and their binding power is also weakening.

In the final analysis, the degree of social and economic development is still limited, which is not enough to support the perfect realization of the two tax laws, and once the development of things exceeds the objective conditions, it will often cause problems.

More importantly, under the two-tax system, land can be bought and sold freely, and land annexation is inevitable, and it will even spread at an extraordinary speed.For a long time, Emperor Liu followed the government's policy of controlling land annexation and private ownership since ancient times.

The high land transaction tax enacted in those years was one of the measures. Naturally, there were some effects, but it is not optimistic about how big it is. From what has happened or is happening, the cost of land mergers will appear to land sellers You can get a glimpse of the inclined trend.

On the one hand, the legal system established the nature of free land sales, and on the other hand, it wanted to intervene in land sales and control land mergers. This kind of self-contradictory phenomenon was not uncommon in the Han Dynasty.This is also one of the reasons why Emperor Liu always wanted to change and innovate. From a personal perspective, he felt uncomfortable with this kind of contradiction.

After listening to Liu Yang's answer, Emperor Liu continued to ask: "That's right, but how well have these principles been implemented? Dahan's annual financial and taxation is increasing year by year, but in the specific tax implementation process, the basis for tax calculation , Has the tax system been implemented?”

"This" Liu Yang was silent about this.

Although he hadn't had an in-depth understanding before, judging from his many years of experience in governing and his conversations with the Secretary of State and related bureaucrats, it is obvious that there is a lot of deficiency in this regard.

In particular, with the passage of time, officials in various places have become more eager for quick success and quick profits in taxation work, and tend to complete their tasks.As for the tax system, most of them only choose the simplicity and convenience. As for following the principle of equal wealth between the rich and the poor and taking into account fairness, most of them just stay in the lip service and have even been forgotten long ago.

There are very few government officials in various places who can carefully study the tax law, and they are all conscientious.Of course, given the current political environment of the great Han Dynasty, the central authority of the imperial court is in full swing, and the local governments do not dare to act recklessly, at least there are very few cases of artificially setting up names and oppressing exploitation beyond the regular tax quota.

It's not that there is no such thing, but once it appears, it will be dealt with severely and strictly.But it is conceivable that once the government's supervision is lax, or other situations arise, due to the greedy nature of the meat eaters, excessive levies and miscellaneous taxes will follow one after another.

The problem exists, not to mention Emperor Liu, these ministers who have been governing the country for many years are also aware of it.But no one has ever said anything about it. The reason is very simple. Conservatism is a very important aspect. In order to ensure the stability of taxation and the "stability" of people's livelihood, we have to be conservative.Of course, what is more subtle is that under the current tax system, it is very friendly to nobles, bureaucrats, landlords, and merchants.

Interest orientation often leads to action. Even if someone sees a problem, they are either humble and have no right to speak, or they are outright conservatives.What's more, the current tax system has been running stably for decades, and the government's annual fiscal and taxation is also stable. There is a lot of room for change, and it is far from the point where it needs to be changed. Why bother?

"Seeing that you are so hesitant, I think you have seen a lot of disadvantages!" Seeing Liu Yang pondering, Emperor Liu said something, and then looked at Li Fang, Zhao Kuangyi and other ministers, and said: "All the ministers here are made by The promotion center of the state department has sufficient experience in local governance, and they all talk about the current tax system of Dahan, what problems and disadvantages have emerged during the implementation process?"

Facing Emperor Liu's question, all the ministers fell silent unanimously.Emperor Liu was not annoyed by their silence, and looked at Wang You very naturally: "Wang Qing, the Northwest is quite a representative place. You have worked in the Northwest for many years, and you have seen many people from prefectures and counties to Daosi Knowledgeable, tell me!"

Being named by Emperor Liu, Wang You naturally could no longer pretend to be dumb. After thinking for a while, he replied: "Household taxes are paid in coins. In the early years, in order to pay taxes, a large number of peasants had to sell silk, grain and In exchange for copper coins. As a result, the money is heavy and the goods are light, and the burden on the people has increased. However, as the imperial court casts Tongbao and circulates the world, this situation has been alleviated.”

Wang You's remarks raised a problem phenomenon, but also pointed out that this problem has been alleviated, as if reminding Emperor Liu that the problem is not big, so don't bother.

However, Emperor Liu didn't like this, and asked Lu Duan again: "Lu Qing, tell me about it!"

Lu Duan looked as immovable as a mountain, heard the question, got up calmly, and answered with cupped hands: "The imperial court sets the tax amount every year, one of which is fixed by the gap between the rich and the poor in all provinces in the world, and each province is also classified according to the development of each state capital. The same is true for the government, in order to ensure fairness, the rich pay more, and the poor pay less.

However, below the county level, the situation has undergone tremendous changes. Government officials, in the process of self-administration of taxes, often generalize, disregarding the principle of equal taxation between the rich and the poor, and only seek to complete the taxation tasks assigned by the superiors, regardless of the personal, land, and property of the households under their control. The actual situation.

As a result, the rich and the poor are equal, and those who live in the big cities and those who work in small farmers pay equal taxes.At the same time, many government governments only apportionment based on the region, the rich area and the poor town, the tax amount is equal, so that the rich pay less and the poor pay more.

In the long run, the poor will become poorer and the rich will become richer.The poor are unable to make ends meet, and in order to avoid the regular tax, the poor would rather abandon their farms and houses, and live in a rich country.”

Lu Duan's words can be said to have exposed a major problem in the implementation of the two-tax system. Not to mention Emperor Liu, even the others looked solemn and frowned.

"Zhao Qing, what did you find?" Emperor Liu seemed to be a little harsh, staring at Zhao Kuangyi.

Zhao Kuangyi's heart was awe-inspiring, but without any hesitation, he opened his mouth and said, "In recent years, many people who have lost their land all over the country have gone to tax deposits. For tenants and hired labor."

After Zhao Kuangyi finished speaking, Emperor Liu turned his attention to Li Fang again. Now, there was no need for Emperor Liu to ask, Li Fang took the initiative to sigh and said: "The imperial court is taxing, and the rich and the poor are paid in equal terms. The amount of property and the amount of land are really difficult to clarify, and at the same time there are many cases of concealing property and concealing land, and so on, all of which affect the annual tax revenue of the imperial court!"

After Li Fang finished speaking, Emperor Liu finally stopped asking. He was silent for a while, and finally let out a piercing laugh: "Ha ha."