Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

This method is still progressive taxation, but with fewer levels.

Although the Ministry of Revenue still felt that this tax collection method was inconvenient and too troublesome to calculate, it was much easier than the previous method of one level per hundred acres.

Bi Ziyan and others did not continue to oppose, but most of the ministers in the court were against it. It can even be said that they were the main force against the property tax.

These people have been officials for so many years, and generally own more than one thousand acres of land under their names.

The emperor levied property taxes and limited land and rent, which could almost be said to be targeting them.

Because of this, after Zhu Youjian proposed the property tax in the court and was widely opposed, he handed the property tax to the Zhuolu District Council for discussion. Finally, with the support of designated councilors and small and medium-sized industrialists, the property tax and land and rent restrictions were passed.

This also triggered a wave of requests for the establishment of a parliament, and many gentry in the society were willing to support these two policies in exchange for the establishment of a parliament.

Officials in the court could no longer openly oppose this public opinion, but they still tried their best to hinder the implementation of the property tax.

Zhu Youjian also got a little angry after listening to these people's remarks. Today, he repeatedly gave in, just to reach a compromise with the ministers without causing violent conflicts.

I didn’t expect that some people are still not satisfied and are even thinking about overturning the resolution of the parliament.

This made his face turn pale, and he said coldly:
"I think the parliament should have one more power, which is to supervise taxation."

"Not only should officials and voters monitor whether legislators are evading taxes, legislators should also conduct self-examination and self-correction to monitor officials and the public."

"All the taxes, corvées, and exemptions set by the court must be supervised and strictly enforced by the councillors."

This hit the officials' vital point, because they got so much land by relying on preferential treatment and exemption.

Zhu Youjian had long been dissatisfied with this, and now, by establishing a parliament, he decided to let the members of parliament supervise these things.

He also warned Bi Ziyan and other officials of the Ministry of Revenue:
"From now on, the Ministry of Revenue's revenue and expenditure must be reported to Congress."

"Every year when the National Assembly meets, it reviews the budget and final accounts of the Ministry of Revenue."

"If a councillor raises an objection, the Ministry of Revenue must provide an explanation."

"Local tax authorities, speak to your local council."

“All MPs can check their tax and expenditure records and raise objections if they have any questions.”

"The tax authorities must respond, and the parties being questioned must also give answers."

This series of orders made the officials realize that the emperor was really angry, so angry that he wanted to hand over the tax supervision power to the parliament and let the people supervise them.

Thinking of the wave of requests for the establishment of parliaments that had swept across the country, many officials finally realized that the emperor was using the power of the people to check and balance them, the ministers in the court.

This made some officials secretly regret that they should not have listened to Liu Zongzhou's proposal to hold a national congress.

Before, they only thought that the establishment of Congress could restrain the emperor, but they did not expect that the emperor could also use Congress and parliament to restrain the power of officials.

It can be said that Congress and Parliament are a double-edged sword. This gathered civil power can be used to restrain imperial power, and it can also be used to restrain the power of officials.

Although this new force has just been born, it has demonstrated its power under the huge public opinion.

Previously, officials did not have enough understanding of Congress, and the emperor manipulated the proportion of members to seize control of the Zhuolu District Council.

Having the members of the Zhuolu District Council mainly composed of civil and military officials and small and medium-sized producers who were dependent on the emperor was quite disadvantageous to these ministers who had many industries.

"If I had known this, I wouldn't have set up a parliament."

"Now that those peasants have a place to speak, how can we control them in the future?"

When some officials thought of this, they looked at Qian Qianyi, who was keeping his head down and not saying anything.

I think it was his theory of permanent property that caused this situation.

Before, they thought that "On Permanent Property" was just Qian Qianyi's personal idea, and the emperor had no intention of promoting it, and the court would not execute it.

Unexpectedly, everything was ambushed in the parliament. The emperor increased the proportion of permanent property owners in parliament and limited the proportion of super property owners in parliament, so that these big landowners could not dominate the parliament.

Today, these congressmen, as representatives of the people, have passed property taxes and land and rent restrictions to restrict super-property owners.

It can be said that now they want to stop the property tax, and they are not only facing the emperor -

Instead, the emperor and the people united to target them.

This left many officials silent and they didn't know what to do.

In the past, they could represent the people and confidently advise the emperor in the court not to compete with the people for profit.

Now the people had their own representative institutions, which were even used by the emperor to check and balance officials.

This made them not know how to deal with this situation and what other methods they could use to prevent the property tax.

Faced with the silence of the court ministers, Zhu Youjian's voice became louder and louder.

He stared at the ministers with sharp eyes and asked:
“Who else is against the property tax?”

"Stand up and explain in detail."

"As long as what you say makes sense, I will listen carefully."

After waiting for a long time, no one came forward.

Zhu Youjian asked the officials who opposed to raise their hands, but no one raised their hands.

At this point, the tax rate for land subject to property tax was determined according to his proposal.

He then proposed to impose corresponding property taxes on super wealthy people whose properties exceed a certain area.

Because it was inconvenient to collect taxes from ordinary people and small households, Zhu Youjian set the threshold for property tax relatively high, stipulating that property tax would only be levied on families who owned more than one mu of real estate in the city or more than five mu of real estate outside the city.

The amount collected each year is not much, just one percent of the property value.

However, the same progressive tax rates and property restrictions were applied, with a percentage increase for every ten acres.

For land of more than 10 mu, whether inside or outside the city, a 2% property tax is required; for land of more than 20 mu, a 3% property tax is required... and so on, for land of more than 90 mu, a 10% property tax is required.

If one owns a property of more than 100 acres, one must have a title.

This policy was obviously aimed at wealthy families, because only they had the financial resources to build huge manors.

Especially officials from Jiangnan, after hearing the property tax regulations, quickly realized that the price of gardens in Jiangnan would suffer a devastating blow.

For example, if the 78-acre Humble Administrator's Garden was taxed at the rate set by the emperor, it would have to pay 8% of the garden's value every year. Even if they set the garden's value lower, it would still be a large sum.

The already impoverished Xu family would probably rather give away the Humble Administrator's Garden than pay property taxes.

In comparison, the north is much better. They just like to build large courtyards, and the area of ​​most houses does not exceed five mu.

You can also build walls to separate households and easily avoid property taxes.

The people who had the greatest influence were actually the ministers in the court.

Ordinary officials needed to live in official residences, and in order to maintain the dignity of their ministers, many of them owned houses of more than one acre.

The Ming Dynasty Code stipulated that "no one is allowed to buy land or houses in the place where they are in office", but this was almost meaningless to them.

Faced with this situation, Zhu Youjian said:
"Officials are not required to pay property taxes for their granted residences, and they are treated like aristocratic residences."

"But the properties purchased by officials and nobles themselves must comply with legal regulations and pay taxes according to the law."

"You also need to explain the source of the property you used to buy the property and report it to the Independent Commission Against Corruption."

This rule made some officials lament, while the nobles who attended the court meeting were shocked.

They didn't expect that the property tax would affect them, and they were somewhat unhappy about it.

As noble families with a long history, they generally owned other houses besides the houses they were initially granted, and were required to pay property taxes.

If these properties do not change owners, they will be taxed in the future.

But after changing the owner, you have to bear the risk of being robbed by others -

If you let relatives put their names on the property, they will probably treat it as their own.

If a slave were allowed to be listed as an emperor, the emperor would probably not recognize it.

They will have a lot of trouble with real estate in the future.

Some people have already planned to request the emperor to convert the houses they own into granted houses.

Or you can sell some properties to avoid paying more property taxes.

But no matter what, property tax is only a concern for a small number of people, and most people are not eligible to pay property tax at all.

So this tax was also passed, and then Zhu Youjian proposed the asset tax:
"There are permanent property owners and super property owners in agriculture, and there should be some in industry and commerce as well." "Tell me, how much assets do you have to be considered a permanent property owner in industry and commerce?"

“How much assets do people have to own before an asset tax is imposed on the super wealthy?”

This is more troublesome, because most people believe in not showing off their wealth. Outsiders have no idea how much assets a family has.

The Ministry of Revenue pointed out the difficulties of levying asset tax, and the wealthy officials in the court even opposed the levy of asset tax in a roundabout way.

Regarding this situation, Zhu Youjian pushed forward:
"It's difficult for the Ministry of Revenue to collect the money, so just let them pay voluntarily."

"I will set the threshold for asset tax at 10,000 taels."

"A family with total assets valued at no more than 10,000 taels of silver, as long as the area of ​​land owned does not exceed 100 mu, can be considered a permanent property owner and does not have to pay this tax."

"If it's more than 10,000 taels, you need to report it to the tax authorities. Otherwise, it's tax evasion and your citizenship will be revoked."

This regulation made some officials think that the emperor was daydreaming, while others were secretly delighted.

Because there are so many things that can be done, they can use various methods to evade this asset tax.

Bi Ziyan, the Minister of Revenue, thought that this regulation was too crude and that it would be difficult for the Ministry of Revenue to assess the assets of each family:

"The family assets are 10,000 taels. What does it include?"

"If someone has some calligraphy and paintings and collectibles, and thinks they are worth less than 10,000 taels, they won't take the initiative to declare the asset tax."

"But some people say that his paintings and calligraphy are worth more than 10,000 taels, and report him for tax evasion. How should such a case be judged?"

Zhu Youjian frowned when he heard this, and thought of the auction house he had set up, and said:
"For things like calligraphy and paintings, refer to the prices of similar items at auction houses."

“The corresponding value is estimated based on the average price of the transaction price.”

"I need the Ministry of Revenue to complete these specific details."

"Instead of the Ministry of Revenue constantly raising difficulties and asking me to find a way to solve them."

These words made Bi Ziyan's face turn red, because he mainly talked about difficulties when facing the emperor.

But the emperor appointed him as the Minister of Revenue to help him solve the problem of expenditure. So what he needed was to find a way to collect more taxes instead of constantly raising difficulties.

After the Minister of Revenue was dismissed, many ministers still raised the issue of asset tax collection, mainly focusing on how to value assets.

Zhu Youjian became a little impatient and said:
“The Ministry of Revenue and the National Assembly jointly formulated asset valuation methods and established an asset valuation committee to price the assets that needed to be evaluated.”

"If anyone disagrees, they can raise their opinions then."

Let the Ministry of Revenue first develop a simple asset valuation method based on classifications such as fixed assets and current assets.

At the same time, it is clearly stipulated that for super-rich persons with assets of more than 12,000 taels, if their assets increase after paying taxes according to law, 10% of the increase in assets in that year will be levied as asset tax.

A 20% tax will be levied on all amounts above 100,000 taels, a 30% tax will be levied on amounts above 1 million taels, a 40% tax will be levied on amounts above 10 million taels, and a 50% tax will be levied on amounts above 10 million taels.

At the same time, the imperial court would send officials to supervise families with assets of more than 10 million taels, regardless of their status.

At the same time, 60% of 200 million taels was levied, 70% of 400 million taels, 80% of 600 million taels, and 90% of 800 million taels. All the increased assets were levied as asset tax until 100 million taels.

The same goes for inheritance tax. For families with an inheritance of more than 10,000 taels, 10% of the total value of the inheritance will be levied as inheritance tax. The highest is also when it reaches 100 million taels, the entire inheritance will be levied as inheritance tax.

When the ministers heard this, they didn't know what to say. They thought the emperor was really crazy and thought so far -

Whether there are millionaires in the Ming Dynasty now is a matter of debate. The emperor actually thought that someone had a fortune of 100 million taels and wanted to confiscate all of it.

According to the calculation that one tael of silver is equivalent to one thousand coins, one hundred million taels of silver is equivalent to one trillion coins. They simply cannot imagine who can have so much wealth.
Some people thought the emperor might be crazy, but they didn't know that Zhu Youjian had seen trillionaires in later generations, and there might be consortiums and families with more assets but hidden. Some people even proposed the concept of the final product, believing that the final product would appear in the end.

In order to limit the expansion of super-property owners, Zhu Youjian decided to establish a system now to impose taxes on them.

If someone could expand his assets to one hundred million under such a high tax rate, Zhu Youjian could only express his admiration and then levy all the taxes.

However, he estimated that it was unlikely, as 37500 million taels of silver would be tons. The total amount of silver that the Ming Dynasty currently possessed might not reach this number.

If silver is used as the unit of account, it represents a huge amount of assets. The people of the entire Ming Dynasty would have to save for several years without eating or drinking to accumulate this wealth.

(The GDP at the end of the Ming Dynasty was estimated at about 2.6 million taels of silver, and it would take four years to accumulate million taels of wealth)
It was only because Zhu Youjian understood concepts such as gross domestic product that he was able to make a rough estimate.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty had no idea about this at all and could not imagine that someone could have so much money.

Moreover, there are too many problems with the collection of inheritance tax. Dong Yingju, the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, asked what to do if the household is divided in advance:
“If there is no death, how can inheritance tax be collected?”

"Your Majesty has allowed the early division of households. How should the divided property be taxed?"

Zhu Youjian frowned and thought of a tax type, which is often mentioned together with the inheritance tax as a supplementary tax type.

So he responded:
"Early division of households is considered a gift and a separate gift tax is levied."

"When parents give their children a total of more than 10,000 taels of property, gift tax is required."

This is still a bit rough, Dong Yingju asked:
"What if a family offers a betrothal gift of more than 10,000 taels and asks the woman to give it to her son as a dowry?"

“When the households are divided like this, how can the dowry be taxed?”

Facing this complicated situation, Zhu Youjian looked at Liu Zongzhou and asked:
"Sir, when you remade the rituals and music, have you considered the situation of betrothal gifts and dowries?"

“How should the betrothal gift and dowry be determined?”

Liu Zongzhou had not yet begun to formulate the etiquette for the wedding, but now that the emperor asked him about it, he said:
"I think the betrothal gift and dowry should be equal, not too high or too low."

"And according to the old system of the Tang and Song dynasties, the dowry belonged to the woman, but the wife's family could not ask for it back."

"If a woman is divorced or widowed and remarries, she cannot take her property with her."

This statement made Zhu Youjian nod thoughtfully and ordered:

"Dowry and betrothal gifts should indeed be equal, with a fluctuation range of less than 20%."

"The value should be limited to 10,000 taels. If it exceeds 10,000 taels, a gift tax will be levied."

"The nature of the dowry is the common property of the couple, but the right to control it belongs to the woman."

"If a woman is divorced or widowed and has children, she should give at least half of her dowry to her children. If she does not have children, she should negotiate with her husband's family to resolve the issue. In principle, each party should give half."

After setting this rule, Zhu Youjian continued:
“And this gift tax is more than just a supplement to the estate tax.”

“Gifts worth large amounts should also be taxed.”

"My opinion is that anything below ten taels is considered a favor and the Ministry of Revenue does not need to levy taxes."

"However, if more than 10 taels are given or received at one time, or more than 100 taels in a year, both parties are required to pay gift tax at the same time."

"Gift tax needs to be reported proactively, and is also progressively increased on a decimal basis, with the highest tax collected in full. For those who fail to pay within the deadline, the tax authorities will impose a fine."

"Especially when officials receive gifts exceeding this amount, they should declare it and pay taxes proactively."

"Otherwise it will be treated as bribery and tax evasion will be investigated."

"The Ministry of Revenue will send someone to the Censorate's Integrity Bureau to collect this tax."

This regulation left many officials dumbfounded, as they never expected that the gift tax would affect them.

There was no official in the Ming Dynasty who could not receive several hundred taels of silver. If even this had to be taxed, then it would be truly difficult for the officials to make a living.

Are we going to let them survive in the expensive capital city on a meager salary?

In fact, Zhu Youjian set the gift tax at 100 taels per year based on this situation. Receiving 100 taels of silver in gifts a year was enough to sustain one's survival in the capital.

If we strictly follow Taizu's regulations, then accepting 80 strings of cash in bribes would result in death by hanging.

Many officials knew about this rule, and because of this they did not dare to oppose the gift tax set by the emperor.

If the emperor gets angry like he did before with opposition to property tax, he will probably formulate more stringent policies, and even define officials accepting gifts as bribery.

Especially Liu Zongzhou and others, after hearing the emperor's rule, they strongly supported the emperor's limit on the value of gifts.

People like them who are content with poverty hate receiving generous gifts from others the most.

Refusing would seem inhumane, but accepting would be against their character.

With this rule, they have a reason to refuse gifts. They can just say that this year's gift quota of 100 taels has been reached and they can no longer accept gifts.

With the support of these officials, Zhu Youjian asked Liu Zongzhou to formulate the details of the gift tax, and let the Censorate supervise it, and the Ministry of Revenue sent people to collect the tax.

He also asked Liu Zongzhou to bring the previously formulated land tax, property tax, asset tax, inheritance tax and other taxes to the parliament for careful discussion, so that the parliamentarians could discuss how to more effectively tax the super-property owners.

It can be said that Zhu Youjian used the property tax to its full potential. He took advantage of the public support at that time and expanded it to many areas. (End of this chapter)