I am Da Song

Chapter 163 Officially determine the amount of tax collection, [-] million!

Yang Shi said to Zhao Huan: "Since the tax law, the imperial court has always lived within its means. Once the expenditure is insufficient, it will impose additional taxes. If it is transferred to the people, it will be various exorbitant taxes. For example, cow leather tendons for bows and arrows for soldiers. Corner tax, the silver silk used to pay the yearly currency, and there are also branch and foot money, board account money, monthly pile money, boss money, etc. In addition, there are a series of corvee taxes such as more money and labor money."

"All of this is because the imperial court's taxation is frivolous and arbitrary. It can be named cleverly, and it is cumbersome and tiresome. Therefore, I think that if the government wants to reform taxation, it should cut off all trivial matters with the most resolute sharp edge. Take a firm stand. The court only Levy a tax! Any official who dares to re-levy will be executed immediately! The whole family will be exiled to Lingnan, and three generations will be imprisoned from official duties."

"Using this tradition of living within one's means to live within one's means!"

What is the most poisonous thing in feudal society to the common people?There is no doubt that it is all kinds of exorbitant taxes.

Whether Confucius' tyranny is fiercer than a tiger or "The Snake Catcher Says", they all feel heartbroken for all kinds of harsh taxes.

And if under Zhao Huan's reforms, the Great Song Dynasty cut all the levies and miscellaneous taxes, it would undoubtedly be the greatest benevolent government since ancient times.

It's just that we suddenly want to reverse the thousands of years of bad habits and change the tradition of living within our means to living within our means.Zhao Huan was confused and asked, "How much tax should the court collect to meet financial needs? Especially now that the country has just quelled the rebellion and has no clear control over the situation. How should this number be determined? And how should it be distributed to the people? "

Yang Shi was confident, and said: "Our wealth in the Yan and Song dynasties surpasses the past and the present. At the peak, the tax revenue was about 6000 million stone taels!"

"Because the collection is mainly in kind, so the string, stone, horse, and two are money, grain, silk, and silver respectively. The sum of the four is 6000 million."

"If all the money is converted into silver coins, then the figure will be between 7000 million and [-] million guan. In fact, the revenue of pure silver money was at its peak during the reign of Taishang Zhenghe, and the fiscal revenue was [-] to [-] million guan."

There was a flash of light in Zhao Huan's eyes, and he probably understood what Yang Shi said.6000 million guan stone taels, this is the wealth collected from all the exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes of the Song Dynasty, the state's regular taxes, taxes and corvees, and so on.Because the main collection is in kind, of which copper coins are about 7000 million guan, and the rest are grain, silk, silver and so on.

This is the tax at its peak, and there is no higher tax figure in Song Dynasty.The grain, stone, cloth, and silver are all priced in copper coins, and the tax that the Song Dynasty can receive in a year is about [-] million to [-] million guan.

If the court implements living within its means, it will definitely choose the data at its peak as a reference, thus leaving a certain amount of redundancy for fiscal expenditure.

Yang Shi said: "Let's set the total expenditure for the first year to be [-] million guan, distribute the [-] million guan to the common people, and collect them all at once."

"[-] million..." Zhao Huan pondered, this number was truly unprecedented, and it seemed that it was going to crush the people to their bones.

Although it is known that this is a one-time collection of all head taxes, land taxes, remuneration, corvee, and exorbitant taxes accumulated over the past dynasties.

Zhao Huan still had lingering fears.This number is really shocking.If the Song Dynasty can spend [-] million yuan in financial expenditures, it can easily kill all powerful enemies and foreign troubles with piles of money.

"Is this number too much?" Zhao Huan asked cautiously.

Yang Shi raised his eyebrows, and said firmly: "How could it be? If it is possible to collect taxes like this, it would be a blessing that the people of the Central Plains have cultivated for thousands of years. Since three generations, there has been no benevolent government that is more light on labor than this. "

4000 million? [-] billion money!Return the benevolent government with the lightest corvee and labor for three generations?
When Zhao Huan stared at Yang, I felt that you were bragging, but there was no proof.

Seeing the questioning expression on Zhao Huan's face, Yang Shi said with a smile: "The minister will settle an account for His Majesty. The country implements the law of equal taxation of square land, and collects silver by mu. The [-] million yuan is divided into one billion mu equally. For fertile land, you only need to pay [-] yuan per mu of fertile land.”

"In the seventh year of Shenzong Xining (AD 1047), the three divisions were clearly ordered to charge one thousand dollars per stone for the above-grade stalk rice. In the reign of Taishang Zhenghe, due to the continuous war, the price of grain rose to two thousand five to three thousand. A thousand dollars."

"It means that the yield per mu is two stones, and the income can be as little as [-] yuan and as much as [-] yuan."

"Xiangzhe's salary for the imperial army is the lowest in the world, so that most of the imperial army is poor, and their wives are exposed to hunger and cold. Some wives and daughters of the imperial army have to smear rouge and laugh at the door. But even so, the monthly salary of the imperial army is 1000 Two hundred dollars."

"As for ordinary people in Tokyo, their monthly income is often more than three times."

Zhao Huan looked solemn.Consolidation of taxes and collection of silver per mu is the core of the Ming Dynasty's whip method.

If Yang Shi's calculations are correct, then his set of reforms is really worthy of his praise, and it is the reform with the lowest tax reduction in three generations.

Yang Shi said: "According to the holy pilgrimage's one billion land and [-] million population, each talent is divided into ten acres of land equally, and he has to pay four pennies a year. The four pennies can be paid by ordinary people working in Tokyo for one month. If you live in the countryside Farming, according to the minimum standard of two stones per mu, only needs two mu of land to pay."

"The tax rate is less than a tithe!" Yang Shi made a comparison and said: "The Han Dynasty was named Thirty Tax One, but in fact it was ten tax five, so hunger was everywhere, and the people did not have a living. In the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the tax was six or seven. In the Song Dynasty, taxes and services were dozens of times higher than those in the Han and Tang Dynasties. Now the tax has been reduced to one tenth, which can be called a benevolent government."

Zhao Huan nodded slightly, already somewhat convinced, and continued to ask: "Compared with the previous generation, this is indeed the case. Compared with the taxation before me, how is the pressure from the people?"

Yang Shi said solemnly: "In the Han Dynasty, the land tax was [-] and [-]. In my court, the tax was heavy, and the land tax was one stone per mu, and the official lost one bucket. The land tax alone was as high as one ten taxes."

"The minister will raise a few miscellaneous taxes for the officials. Among them, in the Jiangnan area, childbirth is not allowed, and infanticide is common. This is because the Dingfu in Jiangnan is extremely harsh. In Zhejiang, there are as many as [-] Dingqian."

"Another example is the exempt husband's money set by the Labor Law, and the people pay the money to be exempted from corvee. Taking Jingdong Road as an example, 6000 men were sent along the Jingdong Road, and the money was more than 25. On average, each commoner only paid exempt Husband's money has as many as sixteen strings."

"Only these two items have nearly [-] pennies. In addition to these two items, there are dozens of kinds of money such as bent money, cowhide money, salt money, shoe money, foot money, and public money."

Zhao Huan waved his hands with a pale face, only feeling heartbroken. He knew that the feudal people were suffering, but he didn't expect the people to be oppressed to such an extent by exorbitant taxes.The common people worked hard for a year, and at the end of the year, they still couldn't pay the government taxes, and finally had to sell their children and daughters. That's how they came about.

Yang Shi said with a serious face: "If the country can consolidate taxes and collect silver by mu, it will not only save the people's taxes, but also reduce various exorbitant taxes. Taxes will drop from tens of dollars per person per year to hundreds of dollars. money. Even the poor and homeless don’t have to pay any taxes.”

"My minister affirms that if the officials can finally carry out this benevolent government, they will definitely surpass Yao and Shun and other previous kings. Since the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, no benevolent king can compare with your majesty. My Great Song Dynasty will open up a new era, bright and virtuous!"

(End of this chapter)