I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 554: Lottery, tax reduction, there is always one suitable for you

Joseph continued: “When sellers purchase raw materials, they also need to ask suppliers for price certification documents.

"Oh, this kind of document has a name, it's called 'invoice'.

“When a factory or store issues an invoice, it must be in triplicate, with one copy for the buyer, one for the seller, and one for the tax bureau.

"In this way, tax officials can simply learn about the seller's sales based on the seller's invoice records, and determine how much VAT should be collected based on the corresponding purchase price - which can also be found on their purchase invoices."

Robespierre's brain was working rapidly, and he blurted out:
"Your Highness, what if the seller hides his sales invoice for record?"

Joseph said slowly: "Invoices must be collected by merchants from the tax bureau. Each invoice has a number, and the quantity and number collected are recorded. If they issue invoices to buyers, there must be corresponding records. Otherwise, the number on the invoice book will be missing. In that case, the tax bureau can fine him - the fine will definitely be much more than the value-added tax."

Robespierre nodded suddenly and immediately asked:
"Your Highness, how can we ensure that shops or factories will ask for invoices from sellers when they purchase goods?"

This time, before Joseph could speak, Fulco said with an expression that said, "I don't understand this."
“Without a purchase invoice, the purchase price will be calculated based on the lowest market price, and the store will have to pay extremely high value-added tax.

“They can even be punished for suspected smuggling.”

Robespierre's eyes lit up immediately: "As Your Highness said, this tax collection method allows buyers to supervise sellers, and tax officials only need to check the invoices to avoid tax evasion."

As he was speaking, he suddenly discovered the "blind spot" again and looked at Joseph and said:

“Your Highness, but for the final buyers of the goods, such as farmers, they do not need invoices at all.

"So there is no motivation to ask for an invoice, and if they don't ask for an invoice when they buy something, there will be no record in the store's invoice book..."

"You have noticed a very important issue." Joseph nodded.

In fact, the fact that ordinary people do not want invoices is also a headache for tax authorities in the 21st century. Many businesses have missed paying a lot of taxes because of this.

However, precisely because of this, tax authorities in later generations have come up with many ways to deal with it.

"We can use some means to encourage people to ask for invoices," Joseph said with a smile. "For example, all government departments and employees must use invoices when reimbursing expenses. No reimbursement will be made without invoices."

The expenditure of government departments is not a small amount, and if government officials take the lead in asking for invoices, it can also play a guiding role in French society.

"Secondly, we can also hold an invoice lottery. Every used invoice number will have a chance to win the lottery, and the tax bureau will announce the lottery results every month. The prize amount does not need to be too high, 3 sous to 1 franc is enough, the key is to have a large number of winners. If 10 winners are drawn every month, the total prize money will only be 1 to 2 francs, which can attract many people to ask for invoices."

The effect of the invoice lottery method is not very significant in the 21st century, mainly because people in that era lived at such a fast pace that everyone was too lazy to waste time or save invoices.

But in the 18th century, people had plenty of time. For a few sous in bonuses, there were definitely plenty of people willing to "argue" with sellers. And keeping receipts was one of the basic duties of housewives in this era.

Joseph continued: "Even the tax bureau can implement policies so that ordinary people can use invoices to deduct personal taxes. If you buy more things, you can pay less tax, which can also stimulate business.

"Of course, we need to set a ceiling, such as a maximum deduction of 3 francs per person per month, to prevent the rich from evading taxes." Robespierre and Fulcot nodded repeatedly. Let alone 3 francs, even if they could save 3 sous in taxes, ordinary people in France would go crazy asking for invoices when buying things.

But His Royal Highness the Crown Prince still showed no intention of stopping: "The last and most important means is propaganda.

“We need to make common people aware of the importance of asking for invoices.

"It's not that invoices are a guarantee of national taxation. Instead, we tell them directly that invoices are the only way to prevent rich people like factory owners and shop owners from evading taxes. If rich people evade taxes too much, the government will have to raise the tax rate to ensure national financial stability. Ordinary people will then have to pay more taxes."

The two tax bureau bosses had the same thought in their minds at this moment - His Royal Highness the Crown Prince really understands human nature!

Ordinary people have more or less hatred towards the rich - even if they don't do something to pay less tax themselves, if it can make the rich pay more taxes, they will definitely do it very actively.

With this series of measures, France will soon see a craze for requesting invoices.

Robespierre said excitedly: "Your Highness's VAT plan is simply perfect! From now on, tax officials only need to focus on invoices to eliminate most tax evasion."

Fulco nodded in agreement: "And it is foreseeable that the number of tax collectors needed will also decrease. The tax bureau is currently short-staffed, so this will solve a big problem!"

Over the next few days, Joseph and senior tax officials discussed in detail the plans for implementing the value-added tax and invoice system, and later the editor-in-chief of Paris Business Daily, Denico, also joined in.

Towards the end of the month, as Paris Business Daily published a front-page news article titled "Shock! They are quietly devouring your wallet, what can you do?", the tax authorities announced the plan to replace the goods tax with value-added tax with extremely high efficiency.

The Royal Printing Factory of Paris also fully cooperated to ensure that all invoice printing work was completed within one month.

Subsequently, long queues formed in front of tax offices across France, starting a craze for collecting invoice books.

What Joseph did not expect was that the national treasury had already gained a huge amount of money before the value-added tax was officially launched - in just half a month, the National Tax Bureau collected invoice fees alone, which amounted to 320 million francs.

At the same time, Robespierre's original plan to increase the training of tax officials was not delayed. All tax bureaus received one and a half hours of training every day. In addition, at Joseph's request, people from the Notary Investigation Bureau were invited to give lectures at the tax bureau from time to time.

……

Western Baltic Sea.

Kattegat.

Although the British Royal Navy's fourth-class battleship "Polyphemus" only raised half of its sails, it was still extremely fast with the help of the ocean currents.

At the current speed, it will reach its destination, Riga Port, in three days.

In the senior officers' dining room, British Foreign Secretary Lord Grenville looked at the plate in front of him and smiled at the Duke of Leeds opposite him:
"You won't have to suffer through this awful food tomorrow. I envy you."

(End of this chapter)