Emperor Ming Dynasty

Chapter 642 Finance and Remedy

"Half and half?"

The emperor laughed lightly, and then shook his head: "Although the land tax is three to seven, the commercial tax is half and half. This is not a small sum."

Wang Yingxiong said in a deep voice: "But there are too many people who eat in the county government. There are so many officials, which is unprecedented in ancient times. I'm afraid it's a disaster to support officials with all the people's power!"

"Hmph!" Hearing this, Zhu Yixi was furious: "Are you trying to say that there are many officials and few people, ten sheep and nine shepherds?"

It has been his persistence to expand the ranks of officials for many years, and he was naturally upset when he was pushed by others.

"Wei Chen dare not!"

Wang Yingxiong repeatedly apologized, but judging by his tone and expression, he lacked sincerity.

"When I was in the Ministry of Officials, I calculated that there are about [-] people in the Beijing officials, and there are nearly [-] people in the local area."

"In the early years of Hongwu, there were only [-] people in the whole country. Now the people are like the early years of the country, but the number of officials is several times that. Isn't it absurd?"

"That's because during the Taizu period, subordinate officials were not counted, and there were no three elders."

Zhu Yixi's expression was displeased, and the words of retort came to his lips: "Times have changed, how can we generalize?"

There is always a rumor on the Internet about how strong the local control was during the Qin and Han Dynasties, but it is actually nonsense.

At most, it's just Guanzhong Liqiang, which has been in business for hundreds of years. When it spreads to the whole country, it will immediately pale in comparison.

A small country with few people, coupled with the governance of Qin State for hundreds of years, there are ghosts if it is not strong. Even Zhao State, after being murdered by 400,000 people, can still raise 200,000 troops to fight against Yan State. It can be said that its mobilization ability is not good. powerful?
Taking the Han Dynasty as an example, there were only a few dozen chief officials in a county, including fighting officials.

The three elders, the head of the village, and the head of the pavilion are all local snakes appointed and dismissed by the county magistrate, such as Liu Bang at the end of Qin Dynasty. He was the biggest gangster in Pei County and was ordered to be safe.

How is this different from the gentry in the Ming and Qing Dynasties?
Therefore, during the Han Dynasty, the ratio of civilians to officials reached an exaggerated 2927:1. In the Tang Dynasty, it was 2299:1; in the Ming Dynasty, it was 911:1; in the Qing Dynasty, it was [-]:[-].

As time goes by, the central government's control over the localities will become stronger, and there will naturally be more officials.

Even the 20 million people in the United States have nearly [-] million civil servants, [-] to [-].

"But--"

"Nothing but."

Zhu Yixi interrupted his speech, and said coldly: "You are the Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs, have you forgotten all your proprieties?"

"My humble minister, my humble minister—"

Wang Yingxiong trembled all over. The emperor's words made him feel cold from the bottom of his heart.

"Okay, how much do you know about business tax?"

Zhu Yixi waved his hand, thinking about his age of 62, his heart softened for a while: "Give me a seat."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." Wang Yingxiong wiped off his cold sweat and said:
"Nowadays the business tax is split fifty-fifth with the local government. As far as I know, each county has as much as more than [-] yuan a year, and as little as more than [-] yuan, and so on."

"For Jiangnan and other places, these officials are naturally more than enough to deal with it now, but in provinces such as Guizhou, Yunnan, Gansu, and Shaanxi, there are fewer merchants and lack of land taxes. The deficit is inevitable."

"It's a loss!"

Zhu Yixi sighed.

The local yamen were short-lived, and their salaries were either stopped or temporarily withheld from the taxes handed over to the court.

This is very harmful to finances.

"Although the business tax is good, it is mostly a steady flow of water. The prosperity of the place varies, and the merchants are uneven. For some places, it is not as good as the land tax..."

"I know!"

The emperor was silent.

The prosperity of the commodity economy is only effective in the plain areas, but it has no effect on those mountainous areas.

"The Ministry of Households sorts it out. The prefectures and counties in the world are no longer divided according to the payment of grain, but converted into silver dollars."

Zhu Yixi waved his hands and tried to remedy the situation: "Up to county three seven, in middle county four or six, down county five five, according to this, the Ministry of Household Affairs must do a good job."

After the Ming Dynasty, the grading of counties was no longer based on household registration, but on the basis of the amount of money and grain paid. The upper county was under 10 shi, the middle county was under 6 shi, and the lower county was under 3 shi.

Now it is natural to re-book and sort out the states and counties.

"Yes!" Having achieved his goal, Wang Yingxiong was quite happy: "Then, what about the business tax?"

"Business tax is the same as before, it is still five-five."

Zhu Yixi hesitated for a moment, but did not change the ratio.

Although Sanqi in the upper county can increase the revenue of the central government, it is not conducive to the prosperity of business and affects the initiative of the local government.

After all, where business is prosperous, governance will become more difficult, and money will be needed to maintain it.

"Your Majesty, now that the Department of Commerce and Taxation has been established, why not dismiss the Department of Taxation?"

Sitting in the position of Minister of the Household Department, Wang Yingxiong decided to abolish the officials, and said directly: "Letting them receive two salaries is really a waste."

"No, the taxes are heavy. I asked them to receive two salaries, and that was done on purpose."

The emperor flatly refused.

As early as the early Ming Dynasty, under the Thirteenth Cleaning Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs, the Yicang Branch and the Cang Branch set up a tax department to be responsible for commercial tax collection.

The imperial court set up a tax bureau in the county, and a tax department in the government, collectively known as the tax bureau.

It's just that the status is quite low, only from the ninth rank.

During the shogunate period, the commercial and taxation department was set up to control the taxation department of the county government in the first place.

Therefore, this is why the Department of Commerce and Taxation is so powerful in collecting taxes in a short period of time, because people are readily available.

"Then, Your Majesty, the banknote customs is a tax, and it belongs to the commercial tax. If it is still collected by the General Administration of Customs, it may be inappropriate!"

Hearing this, Zhu Yixi blushed.

"Back then, it was words, and there was a ten-year transition period for banknotes."

"I didn't expect the customs to be so prosperous."

Wang Yingxiong shook his head and smiled wryly, he was really careless at the time.

Commercial tax is mainly divided into overtax and residential tax, and overtax can be called checkpoint tax.

Every ferry, checkpoint, there must be tax.

During the shogunate period, tax clearance was sorted out, checkpoints and ferries were merged, and goods were divided into three classes.

The first class is salt, and the monopoly system is implemented.

The second class is expensive consumer goods such as tea, wine, silk, etc., and a heavy tax system is implemented, that is, ten taxes and three taxes.

The third class is ordinary goods, with a tax of [-], such as buying and selling cattle, grain, etc.

There are mainly eight kinds of residential tax. Time has changed, such as store tax and collapsed house tax were abolished.

That is, city tax, dental tax, deed tax, and miscellaneous taxes such as iron, wine, vinegar and tea.

The city tax is business tax; tooth tax is levied on tooth people; deed tax is the tax on the transfer of ownership of land and houses.

Residential tax is different from over-tax. Due to its large scale and detailed nature, it is impossible to draw points, so most of them can only choose a fixed amount.

Compared with the other three items, miscellaneous taxes are the mainstream of commercial taxes. The lowest tax is one out of ten, and the highest is three out of ten. Iron, wine, tea, and vinegar are a kind of daily consumption, and the consumption is huge.

"The slavery has not been destroyed, and the army spends a lot of money, and the Forbidden City is still being rebuilt, and the internal funds are not enough. Let's wait ten years before speaking!"

Zhu Yixi spoke righteously and quickly changed the subject.

"By the way, Suiyuan, Ningxia, Gansu and other provinces are newly established. Henan and Shaanxi have suffered from wars and turmoil. There are no places left in ten places. I intend to establish a new immigration department to be responsible for the relocation of people."

(End of this chapter)