Han Shizu

"It sounds like the results are good!" Feeling the affirmation in Zhao Pu's words, Emperor Liu also smiled and asked.

Zhao Pu reported: "According to the reports from Zhengzhou and Gyeonggi Province, the result is in line with the court's expectations. Last year, the showdown was divided into autumn taxes, and the original Wu County should collect 21000 guan of money and grain. This year, according to the new system, the tax was changed to the land tax. There are already 22400 guan of tax money, and about 56 Wen per mu of land."

Zhao Pu simply reported a piece of data, but it gave Emperor Liu a little doubt: "1400 guan, seems to be a lot for a county. But I always feel that the tax gain is not very obvious. , I originally thought, even if it is not doubled, there will always be [-]% or [-]%, but after calculation, it is less than [-]%!"

Hearing this, Zhao Pu explained calmly: "Your Majesty, the principles of the two tax systems are completely different, so they cannot be simply compared. The new tax comes from those who have a lot of land, and from those who have no land and less land." The tax sources of the taxpayers have been greatly reduced, and these people are the main taxpayers in the previous two taxes. This increase and decrease have been offset, so compared with previous years, the overall gain is not particularly obvious.

In addition, the implementation of the new system is the first in Yuanwu County. Although it is the beginning of the whole country, it is only a rough idea. Various regulations still need to be implemented and improved. Yuanwu County still has potential to be tapped.”

Hearing what he said, Emperor Liu finally nodded his head, and he accepted the statement. After thinking for a while, he continued to ask: "The most fundamental purpose of my implementation of the new tax system is to improve the fiscal and tax revenue. burden, and to achieve as fair a tax system as possible, in this regard, what is the result of Yuanwu County?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Pu cupped his hands again: "Your Majesty, the comparison of the autumn tax between the past two years has shown a more intuitive change!"

"Tell me and listen!" Emperor Liu immediately became interested, and pretended to be listening carefully.

Zhao Pu paused for a moment, and then calmly said: "After calculations, Yuanwu County had to pay about 524 renminbi per Ding in autumn tax last year. Under the new tax system, those who own land below 10 mu only need to pay 140 renminbi per Ding; 10- For 30 mu, 210 renminbi per Ding; for 30-60 mu, 336 renminbi per Ding; for 60-100 Mu, 466 renminbi per Ding; for more than 100 Mu, the tax per Ding is about 746 RMB.
Although these data are not fully prepared and the calculations ignore many other factors, they can already reflect some situations.Under the new tax system, the burden on farmers with less land has been greatly reduced compared to before. There are enough people in the family to share more land.What is really added is that the landlord with more than one hundred acres has more land, and the heavier the burden.But these people are the targets of the tax reform! "

"What's the response from the people?" Emperor Liu asked, "How did the people of Yuanwu react?"

Zhao Pu replied: "Naturally there are mixed praises and criticisms. The poor are happy and the rich are angry. However, in general, the people's sentiments are happy. For small and medium landlords, they need to pay less tax, which is beneficial to them. Naturally support .As for the damage to the interests of a small number of people, it is not fundamentally harmful. Under the general trend, we have to obey the overall situation!"

Hearing what Zhao Pu said, Emperor Liu said slowly with a calm attitude: "But the few people in Zhao Qing's mouth control most of the power and wealth in the world. Compared with ordinary people, they control more The right to speak, and even they are the cornerstone of Han rule, can the imperial court completely ignore their demands?"

Emperor Liu suddenly said such a word, Zhao Pu was slightly dumbfounded, and couldn't help but look up at Emperor Liu, his old eyes showed a hint of surprise, what does this mean, the old emperor wouldn't just back down just like that.

However, Emperor Liu's next words calmed Zhao Pu's heart, and he said coldly: "Since you have so many resources and enjoy the privileges that ordinary people cannot have, you still want to blindly live on the body of a big man and suck blood. Competing for profit with the people, intending to share the country's welfare, but not thinking about rewards in actual actions, unwilling to bear basic responsibilities, what is the use of such a cornerstone of governance?

Obviously, human nature is always greedy, and it is difficult to achieve it only by their self-awareness.The binding force of morality is always limited, even useless, and the truly effective restraint depends on the imperial court, as the arbiter, to adjust and redistribute through authoritative means, so as to achieve what I often say, relatively fair.”

"Your Majesty is wise!" Zhao Pu complimented Emperor Liu immediately.

The rest of Zhao Pu didn't care, and he didn't want to think too much about it, as long as Emperor Liu didn't change his mind, otherwise his old Mr. Zhao would be in an embarrassing situation.

"With the new tax system, there are no other problems?" After pondering for a while, Emperor Liu suddenly asked again.

No problem, obviously impossible.Zhao Pu was silent for a while, before he said: "The one who reacted the most is probably the one who only cares about the number of acres, regardless of rich or poor.

In the Zhengzhou report, it was emphasized that many farmers complained about paying the same tax on poor and rich fields. After all, different fields have different outputs, but they pay the same tax. Naturally, it is hard to calm down.Those who own the fertile soil are delighted, but those who occupy the poor land are dissatisfied. "

"This is something that can be imagined! Don't worry about scarcity but inequality! These ordinary people can see, even though the tax has been greatly reduced compared to previous years!" Emperor Liu said with emotion , still couldn't help asking: "Is it really not possible to pay taxes according to the land's rich and poor?"

In Dahan's new tax system, land is fully reflected as the core tax basis, and the most core one is to classify according to the amount of land.

In the previous discussions, many people also suggested that in addition to the quantity, the wealth status of the land should also be regarded as one of the tax calculation criteria.After all, the yield per mu of grain in Dahan still varies greatly among different regions. The yield per mu of poor fields is only one stone, while that in rich fields can reach as much as three stones. necessary.

However, in this regard, Zhao Pu firmly opposed.The reason is also very clear, that is, it is not so easy to distinguish between fertile and barren land. If this is used as a reference, the workload and difficulty of reform will be greatly increased, which is not conducive to implementation.

What's more, just knowing the number of acres of land is full of difficulties. If the quality of the land is added, the troubles will be daunting.In Zhao Pu's view, in addition to fairness, policy must also consider its feasibility.

If it is too complicated, it will also give the bureaucratic landlords the opportunity to do their best and give them more room for manipulation.Zhao Pu even gave an example to Emperor Liu. Taxes were graded according to the number of acres of land. The landlords may just try to hide the amount of land, but if the land is rich and poor, then it is predictable that the rich land will be counted as poor land for tax evasion. , and once this happens, it is difficult to check.

For ordinary farmers, if the officials are not judged and the barren land is counted as rich land, it will become a tax increase in disguise.Although it was Zhao Pu who put forward some assumptions, Emperor Liu also knew that once implemented, it was likely to come true.

Nothing is absolutely fair, and it is already rare to be relatively fair.

At this time, when Emperor Liu asked again, Zhao Pu's attitude was still firm: "The old minister still said that, it is not feasible!"

Looking at Zhao Pu with a stern face, Emperor Liu smiled, waved his hand and said, "Then don't mention it!"

"From the current point of view, the tax reform in Yuanwu County has been basically successful. Can you summarize and promote it based on its experience?" Emperor Liu stared at Zhao Pu and asked.

"At present, the imperial court has only received a report from Daozhou. The specific situation needs to be further investigated and understood by the special envoy. After collecting the situation and continuing to discuss and improve it, we can expand and promote it!" Zhao Pu said conservatively.

Regarding this, Emperor Liu thought for a while, and then nodded: "Your consideration is correct! I am still a little impatient. Since this matter cannot be rushed, let's proceed according to your idea!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your trust!" Zhao Pu said immediately.

"I know that the tax reform has advanced to the present stage. The biggest problem is still the clearing of the land. In this regard, if you need help, I can ask the Imperial City and the Second Division of Wude to cooperate!" Emperor Liu mentioned again a little.

In this regard, Zhao Pu frowned slightly, before ambiguously refusing: "Your Majesty, I believe that with Yousi's current capabilities, the situation is still under control!"

"Hehe." Emperor Liu smiled and didn't mention it any more.