I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 512: Gather Hot Money First

Yes, after Charles's loan of 1 million francs arrived, the High Court lifted the investigation ban on Charles Borden Bank.

From the perspective of others, this was just an ordinary investigation that lasted for seven or eight days. Banks in this era often engaged in illegal operations, and it was normal to be sued and investigated, but no one knew that Charles almost lost half of his wealth because of this.

Ford motioned for everyone to be quiet and continued:
"At present, the government has the conditions to cancel the tax package system. However, we have not completely failed!"

He looked at the British banker next to him:
"Next, we will implement Mr. Goldmid's suggestion and use the tax documents as bargaining chips to try to get the salt tax, liquor tax, tobacco tax and market tax."

The taxes he mentioned are basically the most profitable ones. Although the amount of market tax is not high, it can make it convenient to sell some shady things in the name of the tax collector.

Hope immediately nodded and agreed, "You are right, as long as we all work together, we can definitely get the government to give us these taxes.

“So now we need to centralize as many tax documents as possible here at the headquarters.”

He then looked at the middle-aged man with burn marks on his face and said, "Mr. Lafayette, the tax documents that Charles was previously responsible for will now be handed over to you to sort out."

"Yes, Mr. Hope."

Under the encouragement of Ford and Hope, everyone felt that there was still room for tax-packing business next year, so they put aside their previous dejection and began to discuss how to distribute the limited tax-packing share.

Unlike the confident tax farming giants, thousands of other grassroots tax farmers in France - especially those who have only tens of thousands or even thousands of dollars in funds and rely on fundraising to obtain the right to farm taxes - are in panic and anxiety.

Because the tax contractors always assured them that they could reach an agreement with the government and continue to provide tax contractors next year, they kept the money in hand, ready to pay the tax contractors once the tax contractor agreement was reached.

However, the news that Charles suddenly publicly supported tax reform and loaned all his tax money to the French government caused an uproar.

The action of this association leader clearly shows that the government's decision to abolish the tax package system is irreversible.

Those small tax farmers basically have no investment experience. They used to put their money in tax baskets and get the returns every year.

Now that there is suddenly talk of tax reform, they are immediately in a panic - but no one told them that the Head of State is preparing to take a gamble with the tax documents - even most independent tax farmers at Lavoisier's level, who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in capital, don't know about this. After all, the more people who know, the harder it is to keep it secret.

As the end of the year is approaching, the General Association has not yet notified the amount of this year's tax package agreement, so the small tax packagers have begun to find their own way out.

In fact, the only options left for them are to buy government bonds, deposit money in banks or buy land.

But the benefits of these are much lower than the tax package. Especially when buying land, it will take a while to find a suitable plot of land, and after buying it, you have to manage it yourself, otherwise you may even lose money.

Sylvie Finaud was one such tax farmer.

In fact, his main business was running a glass shop, and he could only invest 7 francs each year, including taxes.

At this time, he was gathering in a cafe in the west of the city with seven or eight partners - they pooled their money to pay a quarter of the city's business tax - to discuss plans for next year.

"I think the only option is to buy government bonds. I heard that the interest rate on government bonds will be lower next year, so it would be more cost-effective to buy before the end of the year."

Someone immediately shook his head: "The interest rate of government bonds is too low. Unless you buy bonds with a term of more than 10 years, but if you need money urgently during that period..." Feno sighed: "It would be great if you could buy the Industrial Development Fund. I heard that the return this year can reach 13%."

The partner next to him looked distressed. "It's a pity that the Industrial Development Fund no longer accepts small subscriptions. We can't raise 20 francs. It would have been better if we had bought it last year when the subscription was opened. At that time, we could buy it for 1 francs."

"Those big shots in the General Assembly are really killing us!" Someone complained, "Last month, Old Yasen asked me to invest in his textile factory, but I rejected him because I was waiting for the tax package agreement."

Just as they were at a loss, the door of the cafe was pushed open, and a middle-aged man with brown curly hair walked towards them, waving a newspaper in his hand:
"Gentlemen, have you seen the government notice?"

"Eric, you're late." Fenor greeted him, "What announcement?"

Eric pushed away everyone's coffee cups and spread the newspaper on the table: "This morning's news, the government has set up a 'Tax System Change Fund' to compensate the losses of tax farmers."

He pointed to the newspaper and said, "It can only be subscribed by the tax farmer, and the amount cannot exceed the tax farmer's amount."

Fenno immediately asked the key question: "What about the interest?"

"It's the same as a ten-year treasury bond. And if the government's tax revenue is good next year, you can get dividends! Oh, and this fund can be redeemed in as little as six months."

When Feno and others heard this, their eyes suddenly lit up.

I didn't expect the government to be so considerate! Although the income of this fund is far less than the tax-inclusive fund, it is the best investment project they can find at the moment.

The gentleman standing next to him hurriedly stood up and said, "We have to hurry up! Look, there is a limit on the quantity. If we go too late, it might be sold out."

Upon hearing this, everyone left their coffee money and hurried to the bank where the fund was held as the newspaper said.

Of course, this tax change fund is Joseph's means of attracting hot money from tax farmers.

He was well aware that the giants in the Tax Farmers Association only accounted for 40% of the total tax funds, and the remaining 60% of the tax farmers would likely have nowhere to put their funds after the tax farming system was abolished.

The returns of this fund are higher than those of common projects on the market, but much lower than the interest rates of loans to chaebols.

As for the "only for tax-payers" and "limited amount", they are just references to the "hunger marketing" method. The French government is in urgent need of money now. If someone really wants to subscribe for a large amount, there will naturally be "insiders" who will show up and help them through the back door.

And just as Joseph expected, after the tax change fund was launched, it sold 10 million francs in just 3 days.

This is only the result of sales in Paris and surrounding provinces. As news reaches more distant provinces, this number will inevitably increase rapidly.

……

While tax reform was in full swing in Paris, the election for provincial council members in Corsica also kicked off.

Completely different from the previous situation where the restoration faction led by Poly dominated the election, this time there were four very powerful factions participating in the competition.

(End of this chapter)