Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 839

"Nowadays Taicang is full, and taxes are increasing every year. While ensuring various necessary expenditures, the balance is normal. This sign of prosperity is inseparable from the fact that the ministers are working day and night on government affairs.

However, it can be seen from the increase in Wanping County’s levy that as the circulation of goods expands and the flow of people becomes more frequent, the costs that local governments need to pay are also increasing year by year. The financial situation can no longer meet the various new needs brought about by social progress. Therefore, the local fiscal and taxation system must make a new plan in order to respond to the emergence of various new situations in a timely manner. "

The incident of additional levy in Wanping County triggered Zhu Youjian's reflection.

In the past few years, most of his sight and attention have been focused on seeking global hegemony, and he has unconsciously neglected the construction of domestic institutions and governance systems. This seemingly insignificant matter woke him up.

The fiscal and taxation system of the Ming Dynasty must be reformed. It is right for the imperial court to centralize power, but proper decentralization will be more suitable for the gradually prosperous commodity economy society, and fiscal power bears the brunt.

In the era when road traffic conditions were backward, if the local government lacked sufficient financial material reserves and encountered an emergency, it could only report to the court and ask for help.

Fortunately, in the Gyeonggi area, because it is close to the capital, many things can be dealt with in a timely manner, but in the other dozen provinces and hundreds of prefectures and counties, it takes a lot of time to go back and forth. The allocation is in place, and the day lily is cold.

"Yesterday's incident can be said to have reminded me and the ministers that Wanping County is right under our noses, but we will be at a loss because of the emergence of new things when administering government affairs. This shows that we and the ministers still lack understanding of the place and An understanding of people's sentiments will lead to mistakes due to negligence when formulating strategies."

The times are striding forward, and policymakers must keep pace with the times and not follow the old ways. Zhu Youjian elaborated on this, and then brought the topic to the reform of the fiscal and taxation system.

Formed for thousands of years, the local government only participates in the collection of taxes, but has no right to control. It is time to change this phenomenon.

Although there are complete warehouses in various places to store food and materials to meet unexpected needs, these strategic reserves are not rich, and the scope and audience targeted are still too small. The government can mobilize manpower in an emergency situation Too few, and the number of people who can be rescued in time is also limited.

For example, a certain place has been rained for days, causing a large number of farmlands to be flooded, roads and bridges to be severely damaged, and countless farmer houses to be washed away. Without sufficient financial resources, how can this matter be completed in a short time?
Without enough money and materials, how do you go to disaster relief?How to provide compensation for the unfortunate death of an employed person?

Another one, how to calculate the property losses of the people affected by the disaster?If all his family wealth is lost and the fields are useless, what methods and methods should the local government help him out of trouble?
You can't just sit back and watch a large number of farmers whose houses are destroyed sleep on the streets, right?After the natural disaster, many affected farmers were unable to rebuild their homes. At this time, the government needed to come forward to help, and the importance of local finance was highlighted at this time.

The government can use the method of work-for-relief to help the affected people to carry out production and self-help. At the same time, it must provide money and food to help the victims build relatively simple houses. This kind of aftermath can reflect the necessity of the government.

One of the purposes of the imperial court collecting taxes is to help those in need, which is also the most basic function of the government.

No matter how abundant the income in Taicang is, but it is not willing to use it for the people, what is the significance of taxation?
National wealth is not something to be proud of, the people's wealth is the foundation, and the people's wealth makes the country strong, not the country's wealth and people's strength.

To solve the problem of local financial autonomy, it is necessary to transfer part of the rights of the royal family and the imperial court. On this basis, Zhu Youjian proposed a two-line tax solution.

Taxes are still collected by the imperial court, and are used for military expenditures, various infrastructure constructions, charity, medical care, schools, official salaries, and other major expenditures related to the national economy and the people's livelihood. This point will not be changed in the slightest.

The endowment will be retained and controlled by the local government and will no longer be handed over to Beijing.

As soon as this statement came out, Zhaoren Hall fell into silence, and then Sun Chuanting stood up first, followed by the rest of the cabinet ministers, and everyone saluted the emperor in the hall, praising the saint Renjun's reign and the blessing of the country.

The important ministers admired the emperor for such a bold and generous move.

The endowment has always been used by the Tian family, but the emperor actually sold this wealth selflessly. How can such a shocking act not make people feel deeply?

Although everyone knows that the various industries under the name of the Four Seas Trading Company bring huge profits to the internal funds every year, but who in this world thinks that their own money is too much?Who would be willing to give away an annual income of more than 200 million silver coins?

Such an emperor who loves and respects the people is unprecedented, and there will be no one in the future.

Zhu Youjian smiled and waved his hands to let the officials go back to their seats, but did not take advantage of the situation to boast about it.

The transfer of benefits is only the first step. With the advent of the commodity economy society, the court's tax collection will enter a virtuous cycle of steady growth. In a certain day in the future, the ultimate goal will be to transfer part of the central government's financial benefits to the local governments.

The army, workers, and farmers are the cornerstones of maintaining social stability. As a ruler, one must find ways to safeguard the major rights and interests of these three. As long as the foundation is stable, no other class can be feared.

Workers are a general term. In fact, a more accurate concept should be the civic class, which is the vast majority of society when added to the peasants.

How to safeguard their rights and interests?
Substance is the most effective means.

Under Zhu Youjian's instructions, the Military Weapons Supervision and the various industries under the Four Seas Commercial Bank took the lead in implementing high-salary employment in the whole of Daming, and then the cabinet formulated a minimum monthly salary standard based on this, and forced all public and private workshops in Daming to implement this.

After several years of spreading and spreading, the income of the working class in Ming Dynasty has generally been greatly increased. The monthly income of many skilled craftsmen has approached or reached the salary of a seventh-rank official. This is what Zhu Youjian most wants to see.

The working class is the irreplaceable backbone of the Ming Dynasty. Their dedication and hard work are worthy of this reward. To maintain a high income for this class, this must be written into the Emperor Ming's ancestral training, and the descendants of the Zhu family must not violate it If there is any violation, the clan mansion can abolish it.

When Zhu Youjian chatted with the prince, he instilled many ideas of his own into him. To his great relief, the prince accepted them all, with a solemn expression throughout the conversation, obviously keeping them in mind.

Zhu Cihong doesn't belong to the kind of talented and intelligent, but after being exposed to him since childhood, he has excellent character and upright outlook, and he is a qualified successor.

(End of this chapter)