The Sun King's Evidence

After chatting with his wife for a while, after dinner, it started to rain outside the passenger ship. The early winter rain always brings a feeling of coldness that penetrates into the bone marrow. Ryan held his son Devin Hill and taught him how to read and speak. The little guy was very close to his father. He kissed his father on the face and then laughed. Lidya Su stayed with the father and son and just watched Ryan and Devon Hill playing around tenderly without saying a word. Female Knight In fact, she doesn't like her son to be too close to her. She hopes that Devon Hill can also kiss Ryan, because she has been influenced by the teaching and influence of chivalry since she was a child. Sulia always feels that if the boy stays in a pile of makeup and powder all day, He will not become a powerful knight in the future.

After playing for a while, Devon Hill felt sleepy and wanted to sleep. Sylvia took the initiative to take him away, and Ryan said to Sulia: "Sulia, you take a rest first, I'll go to the deck to walk around." One turn.”

"It's raining outside, are you going out?" Lidya Su said casually.

"I heard that rainy days are better for hanging out!" Ryan said with a smile: "I saw Kalad and Afu passing by in the corridor chatting about something. Let's go out and take a look."

"Well, you go ahead." Lidya Su didn't say anything else. She signaled Ryan to go and come back early: "We'll talk later when Devon Hill goes to sleep."

Ryan came out of the room and was greeted by rainy weather. The sky over the Rick River had been shrouded in clouds and mist. Thunder was rolling in the sky, and the pattering raindrops hit the river and the land on both sides of the river bank, and also hit the land on both sides of the river. The rain that hit the sides and hull of the ship was not very heavy, but very dense. Ryan raised his head and looked at the gloomy sky, and walked along the corridor toward the outside.

There were a large number of towns and outposts built on both sides of the Rick River. There were many ships on the river. Many ships were soaked by the heavy rain and had to temporarily stop on the shore. When they saw Ryan coming out, the old guard who was standing guard at the door immediately saluted. : "Duke!"

"Thank you for your hard work." Ryan patted the two old guards on the shoulders affirmatively: "Where is Bertrand?"

"Sir Bertrand is resting in his room." An old guard replied loudly.

"Well, nothing happened?" Ryan asked casually.

"Nothing happened." The old guard saluted again: "Except for the damn weather!"

"Haha~" Ryan smiled. He walked out along the corridor and exited the cabin. The cold wind outside was blowing, causing Ryan's long black hair to fly in the air. When he walked onto the corridor on the second floor At that time, I found Alfred and Kalad standing here looking at the scenery. The divine champion of the Lake Fairy immediately walked over: "Afu, Kalad, you are so interested, come out and look at the scenery at this time. ?Aren’t you afraid of being hit by a wave?”

"The cabin is too stuffy, and it smells bad." Kalad was wearing a dress of the Count of Brittany, and the cold wind was blowing his brown hair. The Grand Knight of the Holy Grail was helpless. He shook his head: "The smell of copper."

"Yes, there are disgusting transactions everywhere." Alfred looked a little indignant. He shook his head: "Just inside the cabin, the group of businessmen were sitting together, talking about gold coins and gold. .”

This time Ryan returned to Britannia not only his group and the army of knights brought by Kalad, but also a large number of Nuer merchants and even many small nobles boarded the passenger ship to Britannia. After Ryan's guarantee, everyone was willing to try their luck in Britannia, especially Mousilon. The business opportunities contained in the rejuvenated Kingdom of Knights made these Nuer people smell the smell of blood. Sharks come uninvited.

Ryan also expressed his welcome. He had no reason not to welcome these people. There were many ways to revive Musilon, and large investments were definitely the fastest.

"Normally, it is human nature to pursue profit, or the nature of businessmen." Ryan took a few steps, stretched out his hand to touch the railings that had been wet by the rain, and said with a smile: "Just like the pursuit of glory is the nature of a knight, the pursuit of glory is the nature of a knight. Piety is the nature of a priest."

"I know this." Kalad took the initiative to speak. The strong man from the sanctuary walked to Ryan's side. He looked at the rain curtain and felt a little sad: "Your Excellency Ryan, you told me that a businessman's pursuit of gold is the same as the pursuit of gold. The knight’s pursuit of the Holy Grail is the same.”

"Yes, I have no right to stop businessmen from pursuing interests, just like I have no right to stop knights from pursuing the Holy Grail." Ryan closed his eyes and enjoyed the cool breeze blowing in his face: "In that case, what else do you have to worry about? What about?"

"I'm just a little unhappy." Kalad's tone was hard. He took two steps laterally, and then quickly walked to Ryan: "Sir Ryan, do you know what those businessmen are talking about?"

"What are you talking about?" Ryan asked.

"They were chatting, saying that now it's better. There are no physical taxes in Britannia, only transit taxes and city entry taxes. Now they can make a lot of money!" Alfred said very depressedly: " What a group of (harmonious) profiteers! They chatted enthusiastically when they thought about Britannia's low taxes, especially the young Sir Krupp. He was very excited, saying that he could finally be freed from Noor's high business taxes. .”

"Hahaha! Did he also say that as long as conditions permit, he can even move all the family's properties in Nuer to Mousilon?" Ryan burst out laughing: "I dare say, if he really dares to do that, Then it will be a matter of time before he goes to Noor's gallows, and Emilia will not let him go."

"That's not true." Alfred couldn't help but laugh after hearing this. After laughing, he shook his head: "So, Ryan, sometimes I wonder, are these rich people going too far? Are they going too far? Obviously they have made so much money, and there are obviously so many poor people struggling with hunger, why can't they take the initiative to help the poor?"

"How much money do rich people donate to the church?" Ryan disagreed with this point. He shook his head: "Just for the little Sir Krupp you mentioned, he has donated no less than RMB 50,000 to the Justice Church in the past ten years. 10,000 gold marks. For this Nuer Battle, he and his father, Old Krupp, jointly donated another 25,000 gold marks. For this reason alone, we cannot ask for more."

Neither Alfred nor Callard had anything to say about this, and the new Patriarch of the Diocese of Western Britannia had to spread his hands: "Well, maybe this little Sir Krupp is indeed generous, but he is not generous. Not every businessman is like this. I saw many businessmen in Noor who only care about making money for themselves and are indifferent to people. I can’t say that they will go to the gallows if they do this. But..."

"Ha, Ah Fu, you have grown up." Ryan nodded and said with a smile: "I want to praise you for not rushing up and blowing their heads off."

"I have long passed the age of impulsiveness. If it were more than ten years ago, I would have been about the same time as you when we arrived at Marienburg." Alfred shrugged: "The laws of the empire stipulate that citizens' property is sacred and free. I just want to say, Is there no way to punish these rich people? For example, tax more? For example, limit their excessive expansion?"

"I also think we can't let these profiteers find it too easy to make money." Callard also agreed.

"Don't be ridiculous, Afu, Kalad." Ryan looked at the water of the Reik River and the heavy rain, and sighed: "Imposing heavy taxes on the rich? In fact, the richer the people, the more difficult it is to collect taxes, for example. , Francois is my father-in-law and Sulia’s father. Everyone in Britannia knows that he and his Duchy of Winford are the richest. He has several vineyards and only trades in wine every year. The profit is just over 50,000 gold crowns, so who of you dares to tell him that you made too much on wine and we must impose heavy taxes on you?"

Francois is the Grand Knight of the Holy Grail of the Holy Realm. He has money and food, noble blood, and has a strong influence in the kingdom. He also owns an elite force, the "Brotherhood of Champion Knights of Quinaris". "After thinking about it for a moment, Alfred and Kalad could only shake their heads with a wry smile.

If this one is not handled well it will be a war.

"The richer and more powerful the person, the harder it is to levy taxes. Alfred, you should have a deeper understanding of this." Ryan began to talk about the differences in the tax system. He looked at the cold rain in early winter: "Businessman Not to mention the heavy taxes faced by the nobles, even if they are ordinary taxes, they will either find ways to avoid taxes, or they will move the tax burden downwards. For example, if Emilia imposes heavy taxes on the Krupp family, the outcome will be the entire struggle. The price of goods and the price of muskets and artillery rose together."

Alfred and Kalad's faces became serious now, and they knew that Ryan had something to say.

There are roughly three methods of taxing individuals, namely poll tax, proportional tax and excessive progressive tax.

The poll tax seems to be the fairest, but in fact it is the most unfair and has many disadvantages. The poor are the hardest hit, while the rich are basically unaffected. We will not discuss it here.

A proportional tax would be better and seems fair, but in fact it is not. For example, a poor peasant with an annual income of three gold crowns can barely support his family. A tithe tax would simply kill him. For example, a craftsman with an annual income of three gold crowns can barely support his family. Ten gold crowns and a tithe would also make him feel uncomfortable, but for a small nobleman with an annual income of three hundred gold crowns, a thirty gold crown tax might not be a big deal.

And for the tax of thirty gold crowns alone, it would be good if the tax officer could actually collect fifteen gold crowns, because the stewards of the minor nobles would help with the accounting, and there were so many minor nobles that there were many ways to avoid collection.

Finally, there is the super progressive tax. This kind of tax is very similar to the dynasty in Ryan's previous life. That is, the poor pay no tax, the middle class pays less tax, and the rich pay more tax. This kind of tax is actually unfair, but most people think that This is the fairest.

However, the rich will not be willing to be slaughtered. They have many methods. For example, in Ryan's previous life, a certain Li Chaoren suddenly transformed into the British Sir Alex Li, and his nationality became a Maple Leaf Country person. Another example is that a certain rich man directly If you give yourself an annual salary of one dollar, you will be further away from the starting point than anyone else.

What's even more cruel is that France once levied a 75% rich tax on wealthy people with an annual salary of more than 1 million euros. Is this tax heavy enough? When this tax was first introduced, it won the support of 80% of the people. Many people were happy to drink and celebrate. However, in the first year of the tax, prices soared by nearly 25%. The poor were the ones who suffered the most. More than 10,000 rich people became nationals of other countries and had huge capital. The outflow has a devastating impact on the entire country's economy, with the poor and middle class ultimately footing the bill.

Having said that, Lane briefly explained some of the issues, which made Alfred and Kalad break into cold sweats. Lane finally concluded: "Fairness and justice cannot agree on this issue. Furthermore, Just like Afu said, citizens’ sacred financial freedom is protected by imperial law, and when businessmen make large donations to the church and request notarization, the church will also assume the responsibility of protecting the businessmen. We cannot forcibly confiscate their funds. Property, right?”

Alfred said helplessly and frantically: "Then there is no way to make all nobles and businessmen pay taxes normally?"

"Yes." Ryan still had a smile on his face. He glanced down at the Holy Grail Knight Commander's badge on his chest, then at Kalad's, and said playfully: "At least there is one in Britannia. Not only did all the knights and nobles pay taxes, but they also never dared to evade, avoid or play taxes. Everyone paid the full amount honestly and often even paid more. This is how Britannia has stood for thousands of years. Despite all the problems and darkness, the core still stands.”

Kalad already understood, and Count Garament nodded repeatedly: "That's right, no one dares not to pay this kind of tax."

"Then, what kind of tax has such magical power?" Alfred asked curiously.

"That is……"

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