I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 466: To win, we must win against Britain (please give me a monthly ticket at the end of the month!)

If France had a financial situation as good as that of the United Kingdom, it could issue special government bonds to survive the six-month fiscal window.

However, in order to cope with the debt of more than 20 billion, the French government has already exhausted the market for purchasing government bonds. Even if the interest rate of government bonds is raised to 12%, it may be difficult to sell many.

Joseph nodded solemnly. According to the French government's estimated annual fiscal revenue of 5 million francs, at least 2 million francs must be raised at one time to start the reform of abolishing the tax-farming system - this money can be used to support the first half of the year, and the taxes collected in the first half of the year can be used to maintain the second half of the year.

However, if you want to be safe, you might need 3 million francs.

Joseph quickly recalled the cases of fund-raising in later generations. There should be some cards to play in the fields of banking, insurance, securities, etc.

He initially selected a few of them as backup and said to Mirabeau, “I will find a way to deal with the financial issues, and tax reform must be promoted as soon as possible.

“You can contact the forces that support the reform first and spread the word in advance to build momentum. I will propose the establishment of a tax bureau at the next cabinet meeting as the beginning of the government taking over taxation.

"The next thing will be done after the money issue is resolved."

"Yes, Your Highness."

When Bai heard the word "tax bureau," he immediately thought of another problem: "Your Highness, all tax collection work is now done by tax farmers, and the government has no experience in collecting taxes. I am worried that this will cause chaos in tax collection."

At first, Louis XIV handed over the tax collection to tax farmers because the government's tax officials were mediocre and tax evasion was rampant. Tax officials even colluded with taxpayers to collect some bribes and put them in their own pockets so that they didn't have to pay taxes.

After the tax farmer takes over, he will pay a sum of money to the government in advance and will be responsible for his own profits and losses. Therefore, he will not miss a single penny of the taxes that should be collected.

Joseph smiled and said, "I have my own way to solve this problem. You don't need to worry."

For the government in the 18th century, how to avoid tax evasion was definitely a big problem, but Joseph had read the ready-made "textbook" - he only needed to copy the methods used by the US IRS in later generations.

IRS is the Internal Revenue Service of the United States. Some Americans in later generations are not afraid of the police, and some are not afraid of officials, but no one dares to stand up to the IRS. There was once a gangster who killed people and robbed people, and committed many evil deeds, but even the FBI could not do anything to him. In the end, the IRS stepped in and quickly put him in jail, and finally completely eradicated the entire gang.

In addition to the IRS, Joseph has many other tax "weapons" at his disposal, such as the invoice system, personal income tax system, tax reporting system, etc.

In order to increase tax revenue, government tax departments in later generations came up with all kinds of "tricks" that even professional tax evasion accountants in the 21st century could trick them, let alone taxpayers in the 18th century.

Of course, these are all theoretical. Joseph estimates that there will definitely be some turmoil in implementing tax reforms, but for the sake of France's business environment, this is something that must be done.

Moreover, if the tax farmer system could be abolished, the tens of millions of francs in taxes that fell into the hands of the tax farmers every year could greatly improve France's finances, which would be killing two birds with one stone, and it would be worth taking some risks.

Afterwards, Bailly submitted a report on the business development of the previous year. The two ministers reported to Joseph on the business and industry of France until late at night, and only at the suggestion of Emmanuel did they leave with a sense of reluctance.

The clock had already pointed to half past eleven. Joseph was still in the study, reading the report in his hand, taking a sip from the teacup on the table from time to time. Last year, France's total trade volume reached an astonishing 11 billion francs, which was even close to Britain's 10 million pounds, or 4900 billion francs.

However, France's profits from foreign trade are far less than those of Britain. After all, the vast majority of France's trade volume comes from surrounding European countries, so it must lower prices to compete with these countries' own products.

However, Britain was able to exploit its colonies, buying raw materials at low prices and selling industrial products at high prices without having to worry about competition, and its tariffs were close to zero.

Even the United States, France's nominal ally, was a British colony in the past, so all its industries and commerce were built to support Britain, and it is extremely dependent on Britain. Although it is now independent, its trade contribution to Britain is only slightly lower than in the colonial era.

In short, France's annual profit from trade is only about half of that of the British, but it has to feed a population more than three times that of the British - currently, the population of the UK is less than 1 million, while that of France is 3 million.

This was the result of Joseph's continuous promotion. Historically, the French industry had begun to collapse in 1790, and only wine still had some sales, until Napoleon used cannons to open up the European market and kicked out British products.

Joseph knew that France, as the most powerful country on the European continent, could face the threat of war from Britain, which adhered to the continental balance policy, at any time.

The so-called continental balance policy means that Britain will never allow the emergence of a powerful country on the European continent that can suppress all other countries and dominate the world, so as to ensure Britain's absolute influence on the European continent.

In terms of specific implementation, he will lead other countries to fight against whoever is the strongest in Europe.

The emergence of the anti-French alliance in history was ostensibly due to the outbreak of the Great Revolution in France, which chopped off the heads of the royal family and aroused the common hatred of other kings.

But the root cause was that Prussia and Austria were always somewhat weak, allowing France to stand out on the European continent, which aroused the British's fear.

Otherwise, Britain was the first country to have a revolution and behead a king, and is still ruled by Parliament. Why are you joining other kings to make things difficult for France? In fact, Britain just wants to weaken France through war.

Therefore, after basically resolving the revolutionary crisis at home, Joseph's current strategic focus is to prepare to deal with the "Continental Balance" stick that the British will inevitably use.

In the era of the Industrial Revolution, if one wanted to challenge Britain, one must first catch up in industry and trade.

Joseph looked at the world map on the wall next to him. Those vast British colonies from India to North America and from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean really made him feel stressed.

But soon, his eyes flashed with determination and confidence. He would definitely be able to lead France to catch up in industry and commerce. By then, he would build a powerful fleet, defeat the British navy that they were proud of, and completely remove the curse that restricted France's development and growth, thus achieving a feat that Napoleon had not been able to accomplish in his lifetime.

To win, we have to win against Britain!
Of course, you have to eat the meal one bite at a time.

At present, the first thing to do is to complete various domestic reforms and lay a solid foundation, and then to stabilize the market won from Germany and expand the territory in North Africa as much as possible to pave the way for the industrial revolution.

(End of this chapter)