I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 552: A New Outlook for France
Rouen, northwest France.

The first job that Banel received after returning to the City Hall was to prepare an announcement to stop collecting city entry taxes and to cancel the toll points on the three main roads in and out of Rouen.

He looked at the administrative document signed and sealed by the municipal commissioner in his hand, and looked at his boss in surprise:

"Mr. Deppen, why are you stopping the city tax?!

"Oh, I mean, will this put a strain on the city hall's finances?"

Although he had studied relevant courses at the University of Public Administration, when he encountered practical problems at this time, he still subconsciously thought based on his experience.

The assistant municipal commissioner spread his hands helplessly:
"It was Baron Vaillant who decided. Although I expressed my disapproval, he still insisted on doing so, saying that the experience learned from the Management University in Paris would enable Rouen to achieve better development..."

Yes, Municipal Commissioner Vayan is also a "student" who just graduated from the School of Public Administration, and his grades are even better than Banel's.

He was also a very smart person. Upon returning to Rouen, he noticed that many city hall officials had been sent to the building opposite the city hall and became "auxiliary administrators."

He hurriedly inquired about the so-called auxiliary administrative duties, and found that they only received basic salaries and had nothing important to do. In short, they had left the center of power.

After repeated thinking, Baron Vaillant soon thought of the common point of those people - when they were in the Administrative University, they all expressed dissatisfaction with the new policies recently planned by the Palace of Versailles.

He immediately set about avoiding risks, such as quickly implementing the policies recommended by the Palace of Versailles to abolish the city entry tax, stop collecting tolls, and allow foreign craftsmen to enter.

These policies have been promoted by the cabinet for many years, but have all been met with resistance or delays from local governments - these are important sources of local fiscal revenue, and no one wants to see a sharp drop in their fiscal revenue.

But this time the situation is different.

The most stubborn and conservative officials were kicked out to the old building across the street, and they were replaced by younger officials who were more open to new things. However, due to the limited number of graduates from the Administrative University, many positions were even vacant.

Still, that was enough to significantly reduce resistance to the new policies, and Vaillant, who was also concerned that he would be relocated to the old building across the street, quickly signed them.

Of course, this is also because the Palace of Versailles allocated more than 20 francs of funding to Rouen, and the taxes collected by the newly established Rouen Tax Bureau will also be provided to the City Hall in the future.

This money is basically enough to keep the city hall running, so canceling the city entry tax is not unacceptable.

Banel then remembered what he had learned at the Management University and nodded:

“It seems that it can increase the circulation of goods between different places and promote trade.”

Depuin, the second-in-command of Rouen City, sighed:
"It is said that local tariffs and the commodity access certificate system will be abolished soon. If this continues, Mr. Daniel will probably go crazy."

Daniel was treasurer of Rouen.

De Puen then waved his hand and said:

"Well, I'm going to the Administrative University for further studies next month, so I'll leave Rouen to you. God bless Rouen."

While heading to the office, Banel explained to his boss:

“You see, if all cities abolished their entry taxes and customs duties, although foreign goods would flow into Rouen, our products would also be sold more to other places, and the ‘goods tax’ would increase significantly.

"Now that there are no tax farmers, these taxes will stay in Rouen..."

Southeast of Rouen. Chabain, the manager of the Ruby Mirror Workshop, looked through the carriage window toward Evreux and suddenly felt very happy. He couldn't help but hum a tune softly:
"Ah! Everything will be fine, everything will be fine..."

No wonder he was so happy. He encountered only one toll on his delivery trip to Evreux—just outside a small town at a bend in the Seine—which saved him a lot of money.

Even when entering the city of Evreux, no one collected the city entrance tax!
The whole transaction went very smoothly - he delivered a truckload of mirrors to the store that placed the order, and only paid 4 francs in customs duty and 9 sous in stamp duty.

You know, before doing the same business, he had to pay various tolls and miscellaneous taxes, totaling more than 13 francs!

According to this trend, the "Ruby" workshop will earn nearly 50 francs more per month in the future.

And according to that customer, even the tariffs might be cancelled starting next month!

Life is full of hope. The smile on Shabaan's face became wider, and his humming turned into singing:
"Robespierre and Duport singing in the café. Ah! All will be well..."

The coachman and the driver were infected by his cheerful mood and started singing along:

"…Everything will be fine, everything will be fine! Let us look forward to the good days to come!"

After the master and servant finished singing, Xia Baan couldn't help but shout out the window:

"Thank you, His Royal Highness the Dauphin! Oh, and Count Fulcaut, Mr. Robespierre! Long live the tax office!"

The car quickly entered Rouen. When it approached the Rue du Horloge, it heard a commotion ahead:

"No, you took too much!"

"Right! We don't make much money, so we won't pay taxes!"

"Go back quickly, don't even think about taking a penny from us today..."

When the carriage got closer, Xia Baan finally saw clearly that dozens of vendors setting up stalls on this street were confronting four tax officials.

Rue du Gros-Horloge is the most prosperous commercial district in Rouen and an important place for collecting market taxes.

"Look at these guys," the guy next to Shabaan said disdainfully, "When the tax farmers came with sticks and whips to collect taxes, they were as obedient as sheep."

Xia Baan glanced at the pistol on the tax officer's waist and shook his head.

"We can't be too polite to these profiteers, but tax officials rarely use force..."

"The tax rate now is much lower than before. I think we should give them a good beating! Let's see if they still pay taxes!"

Robespierre was a bit too extreme. In order to create an image that was completely different from the previous tax farmers, he asked his subordinates to speak in a friendly manner and try not to use force.

This led to high praise for the tax bureau across the country, but at the same time some unscrupulous businessmen and unscrupulous people were no longer afraid of them and began to openly act like scoundrels.

When Xia Baan finally returned to his workshop, before he got out of the car, he saw the workshop's accountant jogging over and whispered to him:

"Manager, I just saw the tax collector's carriage on Rue Jourmand. It should be here soon.

(End of this chapter)