Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1675 Fiscal and Taxation Reform II
In the second half of March and throughout April, the main functional departments of the imperial court were intensively formulating a new tax framework.

Yes, it's just the "framework", not the details.Because this is a huge project, it takes a long time to perfect.For now, it's good to have a general framework.

At the end of April, Du Xiao, Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, submitted a copy of the Tax Rules.

Shao Shude opened it to have a look, then pondered for a long time.

"Du Qingguo has a big plan." Shao Shude suddenly smiled, and said, "You suggest restoring the system of the prime minister's sentence to three divisions. Do you know what this means?"

"I'm dedicated to serving the public, and don't do what others think." Du Xiao replied.

Shao Shude nodded slightly, he believed Du Xiao was telling the truth.The brothers of the Du family are also considered veterans, and their status is not that low.

The so-called prime minister sentenced to three divisions was a system that emerged during the financial crisis of the Tang Dynasty.

The three departments, namely the Ministry of Households, Salt and Iron, and Duzhi, the first two are for money, and the latter is for spending money.

In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, due to frequent rebellions and huge expenditures, finances became more and more critical to the court, so a prime minister was ordered to "sentence three divisions" to specialize in financial management.Since then, these three departments, which are not under the control of each other, have been directly led by the prime minister with the title of "Sansi", and have in fact become an independent financial revenue and expenditure agency.

At the time of the melee at the end of the Tang Dynasty, the finances of the Shuofang Army were managed by the military envoy Yamen, and military control was implemented.

After the founding of the country, it was gradually transferred back to the Ministry of Accounts.

Now, Du Xiao, who is the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, suggests that, following the practice of the Tang Dynasty during the financial crisis, a special tax collection and cashier agency should be established, directly under the leadership of the prime minister, so as to improve its status.

There is no doubt that it is not easy to strip away one's own power.

Of course, then again.As a veteran in the officialdom, Du Xiao is very clear about who his power comes from. Of course, he will be scolded by the Ministry of Households for making such a suggestion, but so what?It is enough for the saint to remember his goodness.

"The name of Zuyongshi is not good, let's change it to tax envoy." Shao Shude said again: "The two tax laws have passed for 140 years, and it is not the era of rent and mediocrity adjustment. The position of tax envoy is related to the national economy and the people's livelihood, so you can enter the political affairs hall with this position For phase."

"Your Majesty is wise." Du Xiao praised.

Shao Shude continued to read the "Tax Rules".

Court taxation can be roughly divided into two categories: land tax and commercial tax.

As the name suggests, land tax is levied on farmers. There are two types of household tax and land tax. Except for a small amount of cash, most of them are in kind, and the local government is responsible for collecting them.

Most of the land tax, such as grain, will not necessarily be delivered to the central government, because long-distance transshipment consumes too much, and it is generally stored in local warehouses unless necessary.

Counties have county treasuries, prefectures have state treasuries, and state-owned treasuries. The household department will regularly send personnel to inspect and reconcile accounts.

The supervisory censor also has the power to inspect.

Relatively high-value or light items, such as cloth, leather, copper coins, etc., have a much higher proportion of transshipment to the central government.When wars are frequent, even a little bit cannot be left in the local area, and all of them will be sent to Beijing.

"During the separatist regime of the former Tang Dynasty, the principle of two taxes and three points was established. What does Du Qing think?" Shao Shude asked, looking at the land tax.

Two taxes and three points means that one third of the household tax and land tax collected will be kept in the state, one third will be sent to envoys (jiedu envoys), and one third will be offered to the government (sent to the imperial court). The ratio is quite clear.

"I think that the situations of different Taos are different, so we can't generalize them." Du Xiao said.

That's smart people.

The sage proposed the reform of the tax-sharing system, isn't it just to determine how to divide the profits of various land taxes?

According to the traditional principle of two taxes and three points, it will definitely not work.

In that case, the land tax left in the local area will reach two-thirds, and the imperial court will only get one-third.There are sufficient resources for construction in the local area, and the court has lost a large amount of income out of thin air, so it is naturally unhappy.

To put it bluntly, it is a matter of competition for resources between the central and local governments.

Moreover, the situation of the various ways is indeed different.

In places like Anxi, Yunnan, and Liaodong, it is reasonable to leave two-thirds of the land tax in the locality.

Take Anxi Road as an example. The area is still fighting, and a large number of troops have been stationed there. The food produced by itself is still not enough, and it still needs to be imported from the outside world. what?

The current local implementation is actually the policy of keeping all land taxes in the channel and the state.

In areas where there is no war, or where the land tax is relatively abundant, the proportion can be increased appropriately, and the imperial court can take half or even more.

"That's what I also mean." Shao Shude said: "All the rivers and rivers are peaceful and peaceful, and they have the reputation of being a land of fish and rice. Hebei is vast and fertile, and I think more than half of it can be used for the offering, or even more. The specific ratio, you Discuss again."

"I obey the order." Du Xiao felt the pressure. This matter is not so easy to handle. No matter how you adjust the ratio, you will be scolded.

If the sage wants to collect [-]% of the land tax from Jiangnan, and all the Anxi Taoist land tax stays there, will the people of Jiangnan be happy?This is not bad, but in actual implementation, it is very likely that Anxi Road will be subsidized, which means that their own land tax is not enough, and they need to transfer it from other places...

Use the wealth from the south of the Yangtze River to support the strong soldiers in the north.This is the keynote proposed by the sage, and it is indeed very vivid.

"Now let's talk about commercial taxes." Shao Shude called Du Xiao to sit beside him, pointed to the column of taxation, and said, "It's very good that you suggest abolishing some taxes. You can't collect much money a year, but it's messy." Flying dogs jump, the people are uneasy, it is true that the levy should be stopped, it is very good."

There are dozens of types of taxes, No. 1 receives several million yuan a year, and the last one receives hundreds of yuan a year.

Although the income is small, it still disturbs the people and increases disgust. It may not be able to cover the cost of taxation, so it is better to cancel it.

By the way, the tax is collected directly by the court and has nothing to do with the locality.

For example, tea money can be understood as a consumption tax on tea as a commodity.

There are [-] categories of commodities in China in later generations, such as tobacco and wine, firecrackers and fireworks, high-end cosmetics, jewelry and jade, refined oil, etc., which have consumption tax, but other categories do not.

At this time, a few commodities such as salt, tea, lacquer, iron, and coal were taxable, but most of them were not.

After the mid-Tang Dynasty, the imperial court sent salt envoys to collect salt tax, and iron envoys to collect iron tax.

When there were only these two types of taxes at the beginning, the imperial court specially set up a salt and iron envoy to collect these taxes.

The Salt and Iron Envoy has branches in various towns, specializing in tax collection.

Later, tea tax, lacquer tax, etc. were added, but the name was not changed, and the salt and iron envoy was still in charge.

These tax collection agencies directly under the imperial court have nothing to do with the local feudal towns in theory, and the feudal towns have no right to interfere with their work.When difficulties were encountered in tax collection, the supervising troops sent by the imperial court to the towns also urged Jiedu envoys to assist in tax collection and transfer.

It can be said that taxation is the lifeblood of the imperial court's finances, because it is a tax that belongs exclusively to the imperial court and does not need to share profits with the local government-in theory, the actual situation is more complicated.

"Is it appropriate to reduce or exempt more than [-] yuan for all kinds of miscellaneous goods, and then increase the price for wine?" Shao Shude asked.

"Your Majesty, the ministers think that the miscellaneous wine has been abolished, and the disturbance to the common people has been reduced, so it is no big problem to only charge one more price for wine now." Du Xiao said.

After speaking, he explained in detail.

Miscellaneous could not receive much money, but the tax collectors came to the door, arrogant and disturbing the people.

If you reduce one miscellaneous question, the people will suffer one less nuisance.

In this way, a dozen miscellaneous officials were dismissed, and the lives of the common people—mainly businessmen engaged in the industry—are much easier, and they feel relieved.

In this case, it is really nothing to levy an additional wine fee.

"When was the last time Tang Dynasty collected wine money, and how much did you get?" Shao Shude asked.

"Tang Wenzong Taihe eight years (834), received more than 156 million strings."

"This more than 100 million yuan, doesn't it include Hebei?"

"Mainly Guanzhong, Henan, Jiangnan and other places."

"How much wine money Guochao can charge, have you estimated it?"

"No less than 300 million min."

"Liquor tax is not easy to collect." Shao Shude said: "It's not without reason that the former Tang Dynasty paid for alcohol from time to time."

Simply put, winemaking is not high technology.

Ordinary people can make their own wine at home, so they don't necessarily need to go to wine shops to buy expensive wine that equals the cost of wine tax.

This problem was encountered during the expropriation in the Tang Dynasty.

At the beginning, the government set a tax rate of 250 Wen for a bucket of wine, but later found that it was impossible to implement because people did not come to buy it.In the end, they can only find their own way.

For example, the Chang'an government came to each door one by one, requiring wine shops and wine brewers to pay a monthly fee, which is equivalent to collecting a fixed amount of tax, and the previously set tax rate is useless.

Some places try to control the trading of distiller's yeast, and it's really clever to start taxation from this perspective.

In some places, in order to complete the amount of liquor price set by the imperial court, it is simply apportioned to the land tax and collected from all households.

The imperial court saw the frequent occurrence of chaos, so they banned it, so as not to exhaust the water and fish.

Only when you are really short of money, you can temporarily "take a breath" and stop the collection immediately after you recover, because this kind of tax is really disturbing the people and destroying the foundation of the court.

"Forget about the money for the wine." After thinking for a long time, Shao Shude finally decided to give up. He only heard him say: "If you don't receive a lot of money, it will damage the prestige of the imperial court. Shengxing, a horse money, annual income of one million pieces of silk, is worth the money for wine."

Having said that, I have to mention the chaotic currency system, which is a real pitfall.

Due to historical reasons, since the era of the Shuofang Army, the price of horse buying and selling has been priced in silk—not copper coins, not silver dollars, but silk.

The price of silk varies, the cheap one is two or three hundred yuan a piece, the medium one is 500-800 yuan, and the expensive one is tens of thousands of yuan. It is very troublesome to trade and collect taxes, but there is no better way at present.We can only find a way to make merchants gradually change to silver bill transactions. In this way, pricing, transactions, and tax collection are all more convenient.

"I obey the decree." After hearing that the sage didn't intend to charge for the wine, Du Xiao made a note of it, and was going to cross it out when he went back.

At the same time, I also have some admiration that the sage can create new types of taxes without disturbing the people, and make people pay willingly-if there is no large number of horse transactions, there is no way to collect horse money.

In addition, with the widespread use of coal, the cost of coal has grown by leaps and bounds, and the growth rate is astounding. From the initial tens of thousands of mints, to the current level of about 60 mints, it has stabilized slightly.

Talking about alkali money, I received more than [-] yuan last year.This is still collected at a very low tax rate. In order to encourage grassland brine and alkali to enter the Central Plains, tax exemption or only a very low tax will be levied. It will definitely increase slowly in the future.

But coal and halogen alkali are already inseparable. The former can be used for cooking and heating, which is more cost-effective than buying firewood. The latter is related to wool degreasing, which is urgently needed in production and life.

The sage seized the taxation of horses, coal, and halogen alkali, which is indeed a stroke of genius.

"Taxation is the most important thing. With an annual income of more than [-] million, there is no need to share profits with the local government. It is a money bag in the hands of the court." Shao Shude said again: "After you go back, you can think about it with others. Miscellaneous things that disturb the people Discussion will be exempted. Others will be collected as usual, and you can discuss the tax rate. The tax rate of halogen alkali can be slightly increased, but not too much. The fur can start to collect tax, and the tax should not be set too high first, so as not to scare Bad guy. In short, let’s make it better, and when everything is settled, I will hold a meeting to observe the wind, and then people from the Eastern Palace, the Lifan Court, and the Privy Council will come.”

"I obey the order." Du Xiao responded.

After another conversation, he quickly backed away.

Shao Shude called Wang Yanfan and said, "Call the King of Qi to the audience."

Qi Wang Shao Guancheng also returned to Beijing and participated in this tax reform.

Shao Shude assigned him the task of perfecting the details of another major component of commercial taxation (tariffs and removal of money).

The former is his old business, and the latter needs to be coordinated with other departments. It has been nearly a month, and it is time to check the progress.

(End of this chapter)