I'm only seven years old, Lao Zhu, you let me supervise the country?

Chapter 154 The Cause of Suzhou's Depression
Liu Hanmo explained in detail.

"The annual tax approved by Suzhou Prefecture is 280 million shi, while the annual tax for the entire Ming Dynasty is only 3000 million shi."

"Suzhou's proportion is almost one-tenth of the world's total."

“However, Suzhou’s cultivated land area is only [-]% of the world’s.”

"For a long time, Suzhou has borne taxes nearly nine times higher than the national average."

"If it is compared with some areas with lighter taxes, the difference is even more than ten times."

Zhu Yunzhen was silent.

Although I knew that taxes in Suzhou were relatively heavy, I didn't expect them to be so heavy.

However, the imperial court must have its own intentions when setting taxes. It made a decision after repeatedly weighing the pros and cons.

Lao Zhu is not a willful person.

It is best not to express your opinion easily without a deep understanding of this kind of thing.

Therefore, he listened quietly.

"In the tax system of this dynasty, all official land is taxed at five liters and three in five spoons per mu, farmland is reduced by two liters, and heavily leased land is eight liters and five in and five spoonfuls. No official land is taxed at one dou and two liters."

(Note: No official land refers to the official land confiscated due to criminal confiscation and other reasons)

"When Suzhou was in the Yuan Dynasty, one-third of the land was official land of the Yuan Dynasty. Later, Zhang Shicheng rebelled and occupied Suzhou, and confiscated all the official land of the Yuan Dynasty. Some bureaucrats and nobles who had been attached to the Yuan Dynasty, rich Jiahao merchants were also punished, their property was confiscated, and their fields were confiscated."

"In this way, under Zhang Shicheng's rebellion, Suzhou's official land was expanded, reaching almost half."

"When this dynasty destroyed Zhang Shicheng and restored his official land to the government, and confiscated the property and fields of the wealthy merchants and landlords who had worked for him, seven to eighty percent of Suzhou's land had become official property."

“And among them, almost all of them are unofficial land with the heaviest taxes.”

"According to the tax system, how can there be no reason for taxation in Suzhou?"

Zhu Yunxi suddenly realized.

Suzhou has the heaviest taxes, which is actually an overall concept.

If it is farmland owned by ordinary people, the taxes will still be the same as elsewhere, and will not be treated differently and will be taxed heavily.

The problem is that after rounds of changes in the Yuan Dynasty, Zhang Shicheng, and the Ming Dynasty, most of the land in Suzhou has become unofficial land with the heaviest taxation.

Suzhou's overall taxes have also become ridiculously high.

"Some people think that most common people don't have much land, they just rent the land of rich households and big landlords, and paying them rent and paying taxes to the court, how much difference can there be?"

"It's not unreasonable to say that."

"But the situation in Suzhou is different from other places."

"People who have no land in other places rent and plant ordinary official land, and pay the imperial court a tax of five liters, three combinations and five teaspoons per mu."

"Most of the land in Suzhou is unofficial land. The tax is one dou or two liters per acre, which is much heavier than in other places."

"It is the poor people who suffer the most."

Zhu Yunxi couldn't help opening his mouth when he heard this, but he didn't know what to say.

Daming has a strict household registration system, and people cannot go to other places at will.

But they have to survive and rent land.

If you can't rent official land with a lighter tax, you can only rent no official land with a heavier tax. The burden can be imagined.

The imperial court cracked down on powerful landowners, but in the end it was the landless people who borne the cost.

This result is really a bit dumbfounding.

But looking at history, from ancient times to the present, most policies have not been like this?
Xing, the people suffer.

die, the people suffer.

Crack down on tyrants and suppress mergers.

It has been done throughout the ages.

After all, any ruler knows that the people have nothing to eat and are desperate, so they want to rebel.

But it works.

No one dynasty has controlled the problem of land annexation.

"The land tax is heavy, and the common people can only find another way to make a living."

Liu Hanmo said with a smile: "Suzhou has been a commercial and trade center since ancient times. If the land does not produce enough, trade will make up for it."

"Poor farmers without land can also work for wealthy merchants to supplement their livelihoods."

"In this way, Suzhou City will not only not be depressed, but will also be extremely prosperous."

Zhu Yunxi was stunned again.

This is an unexpected effect.

Is this an alternative "enclosure movement"?

Farmers who have no land and cannot afford heavy taxes are forced to work in cities, providing a lot of cheap labor, thus promoting the development of capitalism in Suzhou?
Liu Hanmo sighed, and said: "But this dynasty is different from the previous dynasty. The previous dynasty did not restrict or even encourage trade. However, this dynasty emphasizes agriculture and suppresses business, and prohibits maritime trade. It is far more severe than the previous dynasty. Suzhou's Commerce is also gradually failing.”

"Before this, we were just trying to support ourselves."

Zhu Yunxi laughed and said, "What Mr. Liu said doesn't seem to have anything to do with Gu?"

He was suspicious.

Proposing a sea ban by myself is only good for Suzhou.

As for the imposition of commercial tax, although it will temporarily increase the expenses of merchants, it will not bankrupt them.

And in the name of tax certificates, liberalizing business qualifications will only promote the prosperity of business.

Liu Hanmo saluted and said: "His Majesty the Grandson is a talented person who has been praised by heaven and earth, and his writings and poems can be passed on through the ages. Wu Ze commanded a thousand troops invincible, and the few suggestions he gave in the court also hit the point."

"Although the additional commercial tax will not reduce the income of merchants, if we take a longer-term view, we will know that this policy can make business more stable."

"Besides, His Royal Highness has formulated an invoice system and a tax certificate system."

"On the one hand, it has opened up the threshold for ordinary people to do business and broken the monopoly of merchants."

"On the other hand, it also eliminates the problem of repeated tax collection by local governments."

"Honestly speaking, the actual taxes paid by merchants have not necessarily increased, and may even have decreased."

Before that, although Ming's taxes were very low, the collection was very chaotic.

Local governments set up cards everywhere to collect taxes.

Every time you go to a place, you may be confiscated.

Taxes that seem light have become heavy.

In fact, most of the "passer-by tax" collected by these local governments did not enter the Ming Dynasty treasury.

If it is said that all of them have been corrupted, that is not the case.

Lao Zhu was strict against corruption, and officials during the Hongwu period were not so bold.

Just collecting the road merchant tax itself requires the employment of a lot of manpower.

After receiving the money, the local government took the money to hire more people to do this and that.

Never mind whether it's useful or not.

Any government tends to continuously expand its yamen and institutions.

If you have nothing to do, find something to do.

Various documents, meetings, click...

What's more, it is also a practice to be overstaffed.

Even in the era of scientific and technological civilization in later generations, the tendency of local governments to expand is difficult to restrain.

The imperial court must forcefully limit establishment quotas and pass administrative orders one after another, ordering local governments to continuously lay off employees and reduce staff...

It's still just barely keeping the bureaucracy under control.

If the imperial court does not enforce it and let it go, many local governments can quickly expand the number of staff by several times, dozens of times.

It is not a joke that every family eats public meals.

As for how to raise them, whether they can afford it or not... let's mix it up first and then talk about it.

If you really want to wipe your ass, that is also a matter for the next official in charge.

The establishment of the Ming Dynasty is not as strict as the control of later generations.

When officials take office, they bring their own people.

As for the appointment of personnel in the county government office, basically the official in charge has the final say.

In this way, after receiving the money, the number of people doing various chores in the yamen increased correspondingly.

All the money was spent, but the court did not receive a cent.

The establishment of an invoice system to collect taxes based on invoices and prevent repeated collection by local governments has actually reduced the burden on many small and medium-sized merchants.

Those who really add to the burden are those wealthy businessmen.

Because they often collude with the powerful, or are simply their family servants.

Prior to this, the local government did not dare to tax them repeatedly.

Therefore, the powerful officials in the imperial court were so dissatisfied with Zhu Yunxuan's proposal to reform the tax system and increase commercial taxes.

After all, one's own vital interests are involved.

Liu Hanmo said: "Except for a few wealthy merchants, the small and medium-sized merchants in Suzhou and ordinary people are all full of praise for His Highness Taisun's suggestion."

"The opening of the sea ban made everyone rejoice."

Zhu Yunxi was puzzled and said: "According to what you said, Suzhou should prosper because of loneliness, but why is it depressed because of loneliness?"

Liu Hanmo looked gloomy, took a deep breath, and said, "Your Highness Taisun must still remember Wu Wanggeng's incident?"

(End of this chapter)