ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 643 About Tax Collection
As for your statement that 'the kingdom has a large population and a lot of land, so the land tax should be quite high'.You are so wrong!Do you know that when Messape and Pucetti were conquered, the decree issued by the Senate was "three years of tax exemption". "Speaking of this, Merses glanced at Daves with a slight dissatisfaction, because this proposal came from the king: "The land tax in the Pucheti area was not levied until last year. Now the Dauni people It was conquered by us, but not only did we not get any benefits, we also spent a lot of money to build roads, bridges, temples, military camps... Every day, the money from the treasury was spent like running water. How can I still have it? More money to pay veterans! "

"Okay, Melses, don't complain. I believe that with your ability, you can squeeze out a few talents from the treasury." Davos looked at him with a smile.

Melcis muttered a few words and stopped talking.

"It seems that none of you have any big objections to the proposal I just made. This is just a rough suggestion. You still need to discuss and discuss it carefully to come up with a detailed and executable proposal, and then return it to I'll review it. But -" Davos raised a finger and reminded: "There is a principle to remember. It is the same as the salary of ordinary officials. The more you work, the more you get!"

"The more you work, the more you get. In this way, there will be fewer idle senators, and they should be vying to take up positions." Sesta clapped his hands. There are indeed some senators in the senate, except when they raise their hands when making resolutions. Other than that, their presence is not felt at other times.

"You will be responsible for discussing and formulating this proposal. It will be handed over to me for review tomorrow morning. I will take it to the Senate in the afternoon." Davos said seriously.

Cornelus looked at the others, and after receiving affirmative responses from everyone, he answered seriously: "No problem, Your Majesty."

"Next, let me talk about another idea of ​​mine." Davos said slowly with a slightly heavy expression: "Mersis has just mentioned that the territory of the kingdom is expanding and the population of the kingdom is increasing, but at the same time, the treasury The consumption of gold and silver is also increasing. At the end of the past two years, the national treasury has almost no surplus, which is dangerous for a country. In case of a major disaster or war, we do not have enough reserves of gold and silver, and there is no way to replace it. Good to deal with...

The kingdom's commercial tax revenue is growing every year, which is related to the expansion of the territory and is inseparable from Mariji's efforts. "

Facing Davers' praise, Marij accepted it calmly.

"But the growth of commercial tax is a slow process. It cannot be ten talents today and increase to one hundred talents tomorrow. The income from land tax is relatively fixed, and the tax exemption for Dauni people is out of the kingdom. Thinking about the long term, Mersis, you don't have to worry. In a few years, there will be a big increase in land tax, but the land tax is not too much, so don't expect it to solve the financial dilemma.

If it weren't for the development of 'Tino's Favor' a few years ago, which earned extra income for the treasury, today's finances would be even more difficult. "

Having said this, Cornerus and Lysias both felt slightly ashamed. Back then, they had strongly opposed the implementation of "Tino's Favor", believing that it was a kind of gambling that would corrupt the morals of the people.In fact, this situation did not occur, but instead brought more revenue to the state treasury.

"But the income from 'Tino's Favor' is only about a hundred talents a year, and there will be no bigger changes... Now we should consider adding more financial resources!" Davos's aggravated tone made everyone My heart skipped a beat.

Cornelus asked carefully: "Your Majesty, do you want to increase taxes?"

Davos squinted his eyes, glanced at him sideways, and said, "Is there anything wrong with raising taxes? In the past, you often said that Greek city-states did not have a tradition of collecting direct taxes. Now look, which of the other powerful Greek states in the Mediterranean collected taxes?" Isn’t the tax higher than Dionia?
In the past, Syracuse's taxes during the time of Dionysius could be as high as 30%.Now they collect a special war tax of 5% every year, claiming that it is to defend against Carthage. Who knows who they are defending against? !
Needless to say, Sparta, its land is completely concentrated in the hands of the state, and the citizens are usually allocated only barely enough food, and all other money is used for armaments.

And Athens, I'm sure you all know that already.At the end of last year, they implemented a special tax system-property tax. One-fifth of the actual property of each Athenian citizen was registered, and one to two percent of this part of the property was collected every year, which is comparable to our collection The land tax for citizens is much higher!
Corinth, Argos, and Megara are also raising taxes.Not to mention Thebes, which was completely controlled by Sparta and paid tribute that far exceeded the taxes paid by its citizens.The direct taxes collected by these city-states are much higher than the land tax of Dionia, and the citizens of Dionia should feel very lucky!
As the king of Dionia, I have to consider not only the governance of the kingdom, but also the lives of the people, so of course I cannot increase taxes casually and must be cautious.But there is a kind of tax. I found that it will not affect people's lives, and it should be collected. "

Davos stopped talking and everyone fell into thinking.

"Your Majesty, what is this tax you are talking about?" Melses asked eagerly.

"Inheritance tax." Davos said a word in a deep voice.

Inheritance tax?The five rotating presidents and Cesta were a little confused, while Melses and Mariji were thoughtful.

"If Ansitanos were here, he would understand." Davos looked at their expressions, joked, and then explained: "This kind of tax has been implemented in Egypt for hundreds of years. When the property owner wants When property is transferred to a relative or other person, the court, while recognizing the validity of the transfer, will also extract 1/10 of the property as a tax paid to the state.

I think we could also introduce an inheritance tax in the Kingdom because it has many benefits.First, it could increase the kingdom's tax revenue.Second, it can adjust the wealth gap between citizens.

This point is particularly important. If the original citizens of a kingdom continue to accumulate merit, they may have dozens of acres by the time they are 50 years old.If he is a successful kingdom businessman, it will be even better. He can save at least dozens or even hundreds of talents in his life.Compared with those new citizens who have just joined the kingdom and are working hard to survive, the children of these old citizens can live very comfortably without having to work hard to contribute to the kingdom. Even if they pass on for several generations, they can easily become domestic The big landowners and rich people.In the long run, it will arouse the hatred of ordinary citizens and is not conducive to the stability of the kingdom, so we need to use inheritance tax to regulate it. "

"Don't citizens strive for merit and wealth just to live a good life and pass it on to their children and grandchildren?! The implementation of inheritance tax will probably dampen their enthusiasm!" Lysias asked doubtfully.

"Working hard to gain meritorious service to live a good life, the kingdom fully supports it. Haven't we given all kinds of material and honorary rewards! Land, medals... and even provided excellent learning and training for the children of citizens Place. But passing too much wealth to the next generation will only cultivate the arrogance of the next generation of citizens, making them lack the motivation to strive, and become greedy for pleasure and unwilling to contribute to the kingdom. Therefore, we can set up an inheritance tax Some conditions are provided to guide wealthy citizens to use their wealth rationally. For example, donating the construction of public buildings can reduce the rate of inheritance tax... This will also make ordinary citizens view these rich people in a friendly manner, which is also the first step in collecting inheritance tax. Three benefits." Davos explained patiently.

"But Your Majesty, some citizens who don't have much wealth in the first place still need to collect inheritance tax. Isn't it a little too harsh?" Cornelus said cautiously.

"You raised this question well!" Davos praised it and said solemnly: "I don't think inheritance tax should be charged to all citizens of the kingdom. How many properties do you own that are not subject to inheritance tax? How many properties do citizens own that are subject to inheritance tax? 5.00% inheritance tax? How many properties do citizens receive a 20.00% inheritance tax? How many properties do citizens receive a [-]% or [-]% inheritance tax?... After the five rotating presidents went down, together with Merses and Mariji discussed it together and came up with a rough draft, and we went to the Senate to propose the bill. I think this will be a long and intense discussion, but in the end it will be established, and I am very confident about it, because Every citizen of the kingdom hopes that their child will be a hero who is proactive and can create more brilliant achievements than himself, rather than a waste who only knows how to eat, drink and have fun! And we, the elders, hope that the future kingdom will be a stable and harmonious society. Rather than a bad situation where the rich are running rampant, the civilians have no place to stand, and may cause riots at any time!”

"Your Majesty, I think the senators will appreciate your painstaking efforts, and the bill to collect inheritance tax will definitely be established!" Antaoris immediately expressed his attitude.

Others also expressed their support one after another, among which Melses was the most active.

"Next let's talk about the All-Greek Scholars Conference." Speaking of this matter, Davos also showed a solemn and excited look on his face: "With the current strength of our Kingdom of Dionia, it is already The most powerful among the Greek countries in the entire Mediterranean. But in many places, especially in mainland Greece, the people there do not think that Dionia is a Greek city-state. Instead, they despise that Dionia is just a group of barbaric, backward, and It is just a large tribal alliance composed of ignorant barbarians. We need to let other Greeks understand us and understand that our Kingdom of Dionia is not only powerful, but also advanced in civilization and splendid in culture! If we talk about the Greek world a few decades ago The model to learn from is Athens, so today Thurii in Dionysia is the center of Greek culture! Let the people of the Greek world know us and get close to us. This is the real reason why I specially proposed to hold the "All-Hellenic Academic Annual Conference" Purpose!"

After listening to Davos's impassioned words, everyone was a little excited.

Lysias immediately said: "Your Majesty, although the "Annual Conference of All-Greek Scholars" is mainly held in Dionia Academy, it is also the glory of Tuliyi. Our Tulii City Hall will do our best to assist Dionia Academy will host this conference where scholars gather."

(End of this chapter)