Lord Harland.

The advancement of textile technology has affected the meat supply in Harland's territory, causing some people to become rich through hunting and breeding.

Li Cha will not pay too much attention to such small things.He is not the kind of stingy lord who forbids the people to hunt and cut down trees, wishing to grab all the coins in his hands.

After entering April, Rogge found Richard and decided to talk to him about taxes.

Generally speaking, the Harland Territory temporarily implements a light tax policy, and the land tax of free citizens is only about 30%.

Although it is far inferior to the thirty taxes of Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty, the territory of Harland does not collect small taxes, does not require free people to serve corvee, and there are no messy taxes. The actual living standard has surpassed that of the people of the Han Dynasty during Emperor Wen.

The free citizens of Harland's territory are already richer than the citizens of the royal capital.

Because the taxes were set at a low level and the tax types were very simple, only 3,500 gold coins of land tax revenue could be collected from the 14,000 free people every year.

Compared with the expenditure of the territory, this money is far from enough.

The main income of the Harland territory is not taxation, but commercial income from various monopolized commodities. Together with the income from the exploitation of indentured servants, these two incomes are the bulk of the territory's finances.

Rogge was the civil affairs officer of the Harland Territory. He carefully studied the expenditure of the territory and felt that the taxation policy of the territory could not continue like this, so he came to talk to Richard, hoping to persuade the lord to formulate new taxes.

According to the laws of the Kingdom of Grant, noble lords do not need to pay taxes to the kingdom, but they have the obligation to organize an army and fight for the kingdom.

Although they do not pay taxes to the king, they need to pay tithes to the Church of the Seven Gods.

It's okay if you don't hand it over, but there are no priests of the Church of the Seven Gods stationed in the territory, and the army also has no priests of the church to cooperate in the battle.

Without the healing of priests, the combat effectiveness of the lord's army is also greatly reduced.In conflicts with other nobles, they are often not opponents.

Moreover, if you don’t pay the tithe, you will be blacklisted by the church. When you have an injury or illness that requires treatment, the pastor will not provide help.

Therefore, the vast majority of lords paid tithes.

The situation in northern Xinjiang is special, and war breaks out every three to five years.

Because of the years of war and the pressure of raising an army, most of the lords had a heavy financial burden and were really unable to pay taxes to the Church of the Seven Gods.

But in the war between humans and orcs, the Church of the Seven Gods must still provide help.

Orcs don't believe in the Seven Gods.

If a large area of ​​territory is annexed by orcs, the power of faith will be greatly weakened. Not only will the church's income and influence be reduced, but it will also affect the recovery of the gods' injuries.

After the Seven Gods fell into a deep sleep, the operation of the Kingdom of God and the artifacts depended entirely on the power of faith.

Resisting the invasion of the orc empire is another responsibility that the Church of the Seven Gods must undertake.

Therefore, the church reduced or exempted the tithes in all war zones where the orcs were at war.

Even the powerful Duke of Edward and the Duke of Jonathan don't need to pay tithes to the church.

In the Kingdom of Grant, the aristocratic lords have great authority. They can not only organize the army, formulate laws, but also formulate taxes.

For this reason, neighboring territories often have different tax rates.

A qualified lord needs to formulate a tax policy that is in line with the development of the territory.

Rogge is Richard's eldest brother-in-law. He speaks more casually than ordinary officials. When he found Li Cha, he cut to the chase and said, "I think it's time to expand tax sources and collect new taxes."

"Do you have any idea?"

"There are now more than 14,000 free people in the territory. Last year's tax was 3,500 gold coins, averaging three silver coins per free citizen. Compared to other lords, the tax burden is relatively light.

If the tax system is not changed and the population is not increased, in a few years all the indentured slaves will become free citizens, and the tax collected in the territory will only be about gold coins.

Fifteen thousand gold coins, compared to the territory's population of more than 60,000, taxation is at a low level.

The territory's current income relies heavily on various new products, which is dangerous and unstable.

I heard that Viscount Cisse has started brewing white wine, and a small amount of white wine is on the market.

Once serious problems arise in the sales of liquor and steel, it will be difficult to balance the territory's revenue and expenditure. "

Rogge's words touched Richard's heart. In fact, starting from this year, Richard had the idea of ​​​​tax reform.

In January of this year, the Viscount of Xisai accidentally found out how to brew liquor by sending spies. In March, the Viscount of Xisai had already started selling liquor to compete with the liquor produced by the Harland family.

Although Li Cha has formulated strict confidentiality rules, the process of distilling baijiu is too simple. Beijiang already has a mature fermentation technology, and adding a distillation process can produce baijiu. It is easy to restore the process after a little inquiring about the details .

The leakage of the liquor brewing process has become inevitable.Li Cha thought he could keep it secret for ten years and monopolize the liquor income, but he didn't expect that something went wrong in the third year.

The income from liquor is a very important profit in the Harland territory. The annual income of more than 10,000 gold coins is enough for Richard to provoke a war among the lords.

But the Kingdom of Grant is still a stable kingdom, and Viscount Richard and Viscount Xisai are in two provinces.

Even if Richard wanted to attack Viscount Cisse, he would have to pass through the lands of seven or eight lords along the way, and it would be very difficult to launch a lord war.

Since it is not an adjacent lord, it is difficult to destroy Viscount Xisai violently, so Richard can only face the competition of liquor.

Because it has just started to brew liquor, its craftsmanship is not as mature as that of Harland.

The baijiu brewed by Viscount Cisse has a mediocre taste, and it is still unable to compete with Harland Ling baijiu on a large scale, and the baijiu monopoly market can last for a year or two.

In a year or two, Richard will choose to sell at a lower price, reducing the profit of the wine industry and sinking the market.

As a result, the profits of the wine business may fall significantly.

The territory invented hemostatic ointment, captured flame spiders, and the new industry can bring four thousand gold coins in revenue every year.

Once the profit of drinks drops on a large scale, it may not be able to fill the gap.

"How are you going to collect taxes?"

"Since the lord has promised the free people to collect % of the land tax, we will not find a solution from the land tax, but add new taxes. I think the property tax is the most appropriate.

There are currently about 3,400 freemen households in the territory. Each household is charged a gold coin for the property tax, and the tax is equal to the land tax. When all indentured servants become free citizens, property tax plus land tax will be enough for us to maintain a balance of revenue and expenditure in the territory. "

Hearing Rogge's thoughts, Li Cha shook his head and said: "One gold coin is not enough, the burden is still too heavy. Besides, there are still some free people who are still paying their mortgages, and the tax is so heavy that it will kill people.

I think property tax can be levied, and it can be levied at ten copper coins per house.

The standard yard we built was charged one silver coin for a total of three houses, which was neither light nor heavy for a family.

Although property taxes cannot make up for the shortfall, we can use other methods to increase finances, such as salt and iron franchises. In addition, customs duties and business taxes can also be levied. Any store opened on the street will levy a gold coin business tax on each store, and the customs duty will be 10% of the value of the goods. "

After listening to Li Cha's advice, Rogge calculated carefully, and said, "If you do the calculations this way, you can only increase the tax collection by six or seven hundred gold coins this year. It's still a drop in the bucket."

"Just wait a moment, taxes will gradually improve."