East Factory Governor

Chapter 704 Just do it!
Chongzhen chuckled, "So Brother Qin already has a way to raise money?"

Seeing Chongzhen's greasy smile, Qin Shuhuai knew that this kid had a premeditated plan to cry poor with him.

Speaking of it, the 1000 million taels of silver to distribute military pay, relieve disaster victims, repair rivers and make up for the deficit are indeed almost gone.

After pondering for a while, Qin Shuhuai said, "Hehe, Brother Huang, what I'm going to talk to you next is not the way to raise money, but the way to collect money."

"Oh? What's the difference?"

"Raising money is a short-term plan, but collecting money is a century-old plan."

Chongzhen laughed so hard that his eyes narrowed into a blue light.

"Brother Qin is going to talk about the tax reform of the Ming Dynasty? Hehe, I'm all ears."

Qin Shuhuai said with a light smile, "Brother Huang is clear. Then I will say the same thing."

"First of all, the commercial tax is emphasized and the agricultural tax is light. Among the commercial taxes, the four taxes on salt, silk, tea, and mines are emphasized."

"How should these four taxes be levied?" Chongzhen asked.

"It's worth fifteen out of one hundred." Qin Shuhuai replied indifferently.

Chongzhen was shocked, "Brother Qin, how can the common people bear such a heavy burden? I, I am not as black as you."

Qin Shuhuai thought, "Brother, if you go for a walk a few hundred years later, you will know how light the tax is, okay?"Any value-added tax will charge you 17%, regardless of whether you are profitable or not.

However, he didn't believe it when I told him about it.

After a pause, he said, "Your Majesty, do you know how much the Ming Dynasty actually paid the tenant farmers in taxes? I did a rough calculation, at least [-]% or more."

Chongzhen was speechless.

Although the agricultural tax was not high on the surface before, but with the addition of Liao's salary, suppressed salary, and various apportionments, it must have exceeded [-]%, and it could even be as high as [-]% in some areas. He naturally knew this situation.

Qin Shuhuai said again, "So, the agricultural tax cannot be collected as much as the commercial tax? Besides, we only charge him half, isn't it conscientious?"

"Will that lead to a sharp increase in the price of salted tea and iron silk?" Chongzhen asked worriedly.

"Your Majesty, didn't my minister tell you before? The reason for the high salt price is not because of high taxes, but because officials from all over the country have pushed up the price of salt. As long as you increase the tax, you will issue decrees to regulate these things at the same time. Whoever exceeds this price will be arrested. Well, this is called the government, oh no, the imperial court guides the price. Don’t worry, those salt producers and sellers will not quit because of this, and earn a few pennies less , they don’t care at all. The same goes for tea, silk, and iron.”

Chongzhen frowned and thought about it for a while, then said, "Brother Qin is right, the tenant farmers get their taxes, and the merchants should also get their taxes. It's worth a hundred and fifteen, but they still earn."

Qin Shuhuai said again, "Not only must they be collected, but they must also be collected in a lawful manner to ensure that everyone pays their taxes obediently, and they are not allowed to steal or play tricks."

Chongzhen's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said, "Brother Qin can even do this?"

Tax evasion has been a problem since ancient times, and the ancient taxation methods are too simple and full of loopholes, so generally speaking, one or two out of ten businessmen pay taxes normally.

Therefore, when Chongzhen heard that Qin Shuhuai had a way to make every businessman collect taxes, how could he not be surprised or happy?

Qin Shuhuai raised his neck and drank the wine in his glass, and said lightly, "Simple! Let's implement the invoice... oh no, just implement the tax deed system. Take salt as an example. The tax department checks salt shops regularly or irregularly. How much tax deed is required for salt, and if you can’t get it out, you will go to jail. Where did this tax deed come from? The salt shop asked for it from the previous owner who purchased the goods. How much tax deed should be given to him for salt. So where did the tax deed of the big salt merchant come from? It was given by the salt farm that produced the salt. In the same way, as much salt as the salt farm sells to the big salt merchant, it has to be taxed to the big salt merchant Where did the tax deed for the salt farm come from? It was given by the imperial court. We will give him the tax deed for how much salt he sells himself.”

Chongzhen was in a trance when he heard it, and muttered to himself, "Saltworks reported it themselves?"

If you report yourself, won't he under-report or omit the report?
But what seems wrong?

Chongzhen thought for a long time.

After frowning and drinking a few cups, he finally realized.

He patted his thigh heavily and said, "It's wonderful! It's wonderful! In this way, in order not to be punished, the owner of the salt shop has to chase after the big salt merchant for a tax deed? In order not to be punished, the big salt merchant , don’t you have to chase after the salt farm to ask for a tax deed? And in order to obtain an equivalent tax deed, shouldn’t the salt farm have to truthfully declare the amount of salt to the court?”

Qin Shuhuai chuckled, "The emperor is wise. In this way, the imperial court only needs to check those small salt shops and small salt merchants. These people are timid and have few connections. In order to avoid heavy punishment, they will definitely ask for tax deeds from the salt merchants." Yes. Such a layer-by-layer pressure will make it difficult for the big salt merchants and salt farms above to manipulate."

What Qin Shuhuai said is very simple, but it took human society thousands of years to come up with this method.

This tax collection method has a famous name in later generations, called value-added tax.

Value-added tax can be said to be the most epoch-making invention in the history of taxation, because its appearance has increased tax efficiency by at least 5 to 10 times!
Of course, no taxation method can be perfect, and tax evasion and tax evasion will definitely occur.But compared with the previous taxation method, after adopting this method, it is very easy to charge 5 times more tax at the same tax rate.

Chongzhen was completely excited.

His eyes were bigger than copper bells.

Pulling at Qin Shuhuai's clothes, he said, "Brother Qin, if you use your method to collect it, based on your estimates, how much tax can we earn annually in terms of salt tax?"

Qin Shuhuai spit out a number lightly.

"Probably more than 2000 million taels!"

"How many?"

"2000 taels!"

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, about 300 million catties of salt were produced, 2.4 Wen per catty, equivalent to 17 million taels of silver.If the draw is 4000%, ideally, you can receive 2000 million taels.However, the ideal state is not easy to achieve, so Qin Shuhuai will discount it in half, conservatively estimating [-] million taels.

What is the concept of 2000 million taels?It is three times the previous national annual tax!
And that's just the salt tax!
Chongzhen's hand holding the wine glass began to shake slightly.

"Brother Qin, are you really kidding me?"

Qin Shuhuai smiled slightly, "Your Majesty, I am talking to you now as a subject."

Chongzhen raised his voice again and asked, "Then according to Brother Qin's estimation, if all taxes are added up, how much tax can Ming Dynasty collect in a year?"

Qin Shuhuai said, "Your Majesty, this is what I think. Let's get rid of the land tax first, and then cut off the messy Liao pay and training pay, and then set a small goal, for example, first make it [-] million taels."

"How many?"

"One hundred million taels."

Qin Shuhuai didn't just talk about this number.

In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the national tax was about 5000 million taels. This is not counting the various local apportionments.

Some people say that the times were different, and the Ming Dynasty might not be able to collect so much taxes.

In fact, the commercial activities of the Ming Dynasty were only more prosperous and open than those of the Qing Dynasty, and the population was no less than that of the Qing Dynasty.

Of course, these can also be left aside.Taking a ten thousand step back, even if the Qing Dynasty had a better social and economic development than the Ming Dynasty because of the backwardness of the era—emphasize that this is a ten thousand step back, and the fact is not the case.

Then Qin Shuhuai relied on the more advanced "value-added tax" concept, and the taxation efficiency was at least five times that of the Qing Dynasty.

Moreover, Qin Shuhuai intends to set up a customs office to open up foreign trade.Referring to some big pirates in the late Ming Dynasty, it is known that just for smuggling, the foreign trade volume of Ming Dynasty was at least tens of millions of taels.If it is fully open, then the numbers must be more than that.Customs is a place that can confidently collect high taxes. Import and export goods are taxed on both sides. Even a 30% tax is considered low—guess how much they can collect this year?
In addition, Qin Shuhuai can also make plans on the canal, which is another source of income.

Anymore?
Of course!
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the commodity economy flourished unprecedentedly. Didn’t there appear a large number of banks and banks?Bank transactions, but also tax!
Not only tax collection, but also the imperial court, issuing bank notes endorsed by the imperial court's credit, ranging from one tael to ten thousand taels.If the imperial court can't do it by itself, it can invite big businessmen from all over the country to participate in the shares, and even give these businessmen the management rights of various places. channel?

Qin Shuhuai can think of countless ways to generate income, so [-] million is really just a small goal.

But Chongzhen was already going crazy, floating, and inflated.

The boy repeated in a daze, "[-] million taels... [-] million taels..."

After a while, he said happily again, "Brother Qin, with this one hundred million taels, how do we spend it?"

Qin Shuhuai put away his playful smile, stood up suddenly, and said ambitiously, "How to spend it? First, buy back all the fertile land in the hands of several feudal lords, and then distribute it to the disaster victims and refugees who have no land to cultivate! If they are willing to sell it, that’s fine, if they don’t, let the storyteller scold him to death! A family occupies hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land, and if they don’t plant it themselves, they will let others plant it, what the hell?”

Chongzhen was already drunk with alcohol at this time, blushing so much that he wanted to monkey his ass.

He slapped the table and shouted, "Well said! At that time, not only the storyteller will scold him, but I will scold him too! The rich don't till the fields, and the poor don't have enough food and clothing. It's unreasonable! What the hell!"

Qin Shuhuai took off his coat, fell hard to the ground, and continued, "Then we will build guns and run away, recruit troops and buy horses, fight against Mongolia in the north, conquer Yeerqiang Junggar in the west, and fuck anyone who refuses!"

Chongzhen also stood up, took off his coat, and fell to the ground imitatively.

"Damn it, I've been waiting for this day for a long time! When I have money, I will personally conquer, and anyone who refuses to accept it will fuck his mother!"

"Also, let's use money to build a big ship. The ship is full of cannons. If there is nothing to do, go to Africa, America, and Europe to show off! Sign a dozen or so unequal treaties, forcing them to open a hundred or so treaty ports, one Let them be reduced to a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society if they are not happy! Damn it, let’s talk to them about what justice is only within the range of cannons.”

"Uh, brother Qin, what is an unequal treaty? Where is Africa, America and Europe?"

"It's very far away. Anyway, except for that poor place in Europe, other places are full of gold, and whoever is ruthless will get it."

"Is there such a good thing? It must be done, it must be done!"

"Go! After our fleet has run around the whole world for so many laps, just ask the world a word!"

"What?"

"Who else?"

"And...brother Qin, I'm a little dizzy."

"There's more. Hey, don't, I'm not done yet! Hey, Brother Huang? Fallen again? Disappointing!"

Qin Shuhuai disregarded Chongzhen who was already lying on the table, picked up the jug and drank a few more sips of wine, and then pressed the jug on the table with a "snap".

"Just do it!"

(End of this chapter)