I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 553 I also know a little bit about economics

Hearing this, Xia Baan frowned slightly and asked, "Have the goods we sold to Le Havre been loaded?"

"It's almost done," said the accountant. "Pierre was injured yesterday, otherwise it would have been installed long ago."

"Have you settled all the accounts?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Manager, there will be no problem."

"That's good." Xia Baan nodded and instructed, "Take the tax officer to check the accounts first, and delay as much as possible. Michelle and I will help load the car and then sneak out through the back door."

"The back door will probably be blocked by tax officials as well."

"It's okay. I'll send an empty car to lure them away first."

Xia Baan said, waving to the guys on the car: "Hurry, follow me to load the goods!"

Not long after, the coachman who had just returned from Evreux drove his carriage out of the back door. The tax collector waiting there blew his whistle and chased after him.

Immediately afterwards, Xia Baan directed another carriage loaded with mirrors to appear stealthily. After confirming that there was no one there, he quickly turned into an alley not far away.

An hour later, several tax officials left the "Ruby" mirror workshop empty-handed.

Today, France implements a "goods tax" system, which means that when you sell a batch of goods, you have to pay a tax. Of course, for goods such as cigarettes, alcohol, and tea, you may have to pay twice.

Therefore, tax officials must always keep an eye on factories and estates, and once they find that they are about to ship goods, they must immediately step forward to collect taxes.

If the tax officials do not notice that the goods have been shipped away, it will be difficult to recover the tax later - factories almost always cook the books and no trace of the goods can be found.

Thus, producers and tax collectors played a cat-and-mouse game. In the past, if tax farmers suspected that a workshop had secretly transported goods, they would even torture their employees to force them to tell the truth.

At dusk, Chabaan's car had already driven out of Rouen city.

He smiled and hummed a little tune.

Today, he successfully escaped from under the nose of the tax collector, allowing him to pay 8 francs less in taxes.

Ah, life is really getting better and better! He sighed in his heart.

……

Second floor of the Tuileries Palace.

Fulcot, the director of the General Taxation Bureau, glanced at Robespierre beside him and exhaled:
"Your Highness, I suggest that tax collectors be equipped with whips and given the authority to shoot when they encounter violent resistance to taxation. Otherwise, the tax collection situation next month may still be...ah, not ideal."

Joseph also frowned as he looked at the January tax report.

In the first month after the tax bureau took over the tax collection, the total tax revenue in the country was only 3 million francs. Not only did it fail to achieve the expected target of 4 million francs, it was even less than the tax farmers would always pay.

“So, it is the massive tax evasion that has led to the failure to achieve the tax revenue target?”

"I'm afraid that's the case, Your Highness." Fulko nodded.

In the past month, there have been countless cases like Chabaan's across France, and the tax officials, who lack experience and cannot use force, have been fooled by them.

Joseph looked at him and said, "Do you think that the only way to solve this problem is to have the tax collectors use more force?"

"I think it should be possible..."

Fulcot was interrupted by Robespierre before he finished speaking:
"Your Highness, you are creating a brand new taxation system, and you have won the respect and praise of the people for it. If we use the whip to collect taxes again, what is the difference between us and tax farmers?"

Fulco glanced at him with dissatisfaction and said, "The difference is that the national finances will not collapse because of the shamelessness and cunning of the untouchables! Your Excellency the Ombudsman, your good heart cannot collect taxes." "The tax collector's gun should not be pointed at civilians, Count! It will only bring hatred and opposition."

Joseph rubbed his brows. Although he was mentally prepared for the quality of the people of this era, he did not expect that he had overestimated it.

Without the exploitation of tax farmers, and with their own tax reforms, which cut many unreasonable taxes, the people had already paid much less, but they became even more greedy.

Is it only by using sticks and whips that we can make them pay their taxes?

He was not opposed to using violence appropriately, especially against those who violated the law and resisted taxation. Sometimes deterrence was indeed effective. Tax farmers could not only collect all taxes, but even collect a lot more, because most of the tax collectors were gangsters. If you dared not to pay taxes, they would immediately take action.

Fulco raised his voice a lot: "Mr. Robespierre, do you have any good suggestions to complete your taxation task?"

"I will increase the training of tax officials to make them more experienced..."

Joseph stopped the argument and looked at Robespierre: "Can you tell me more about it?"

"Yes, Your Highness," Robespierre said, "When I interrogated those tax farmers, I learned that they knew exactly when the factories would sell goods. They didn't have to keep an eye on them like our tax officials did, so they wouldn't miss any tax payments."

"Watch?" Joseph was a little confused. "Where are you watching?"

"Of course, it's the factories, estates or shops that need to pay taxes."

"Oh? How do I keep an eye on you?"

“It means sending people to wander around and check and collect taxes at any time.”

"..."

Joseph always felt something was wrong, and after asking in detail, he finally understood the clumsy taxation model of that era.

No wonder so many people evade taxes. Unless you, the tax officer, can install surveillance cameras all over the streets, people will always find ways to avoid you.

Or, like the tax farmers, they used violence to intimidate the people so that they would not dare not pay.

He looked at Fulco and was about to say "Do as you say", but was suddenly stunned.

I've been confused by the noise they're making.

Why must we continue to use this clumsy tax model?

There will be ready-made solutions in later generations, and the problem can be solved by just copying them.

For example, value-added tax, plus the powerful weapon of invoice.

Joseph quickly sorted out his thoughts and said to the two heads of the tax bureau:
"What if we change the approach and let taxpayers themselves monitor other people's tax payments?"

Fulco is an expert in economics. He smiled and said, "Your Highness, with all due respect, this is impossible."

Joseph also smiled at him and said, “I have heard of a way of taxation.

“Only when the price of goods increases, we tax the increase. For example, a shop buys goods for 10 francs and sells them for 15 francs. We tax the extra 5 francs.”

Fulco blinked and said carefully: "Your Highness, this doesn't seem to have any effect..."

"Please listen patiently. In this way, everyone has to prove their purchase price in order to pay less tax." Joseph said, "How to prove the purchase price? The seller must provide proof."

(End of this chapter)