My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 435 Tax

In the second year of Emperor Rong Xinyuan's reign, on the first day of the ninth month in autumn.

Today is the new moon and full moon.

The imperial examination is over, and only the results are left to be announced.

Although the final results have not yet been announced, important officials in the court and nobles with connections have basically found out the situation.

In particular, the twenty or so people who had received private attention from Liu Rong and had the right relationship with the emperor and his subjects had become the focus of attention of the entire court and beyond.

However, the sensation and public opinion brought about by the imperial examination ultimately became a small episode in the busy court at the end of the year.

——The imperial examination was like the Chinese football world in later generations, producing a group of young players who were worthy of being sculpted.

There is attention and exposure;
But for the "adult national team" of Chaotang, the real focus is still international competitions including the World Cup and the Asian Cup.

To be more precise, for the court in Chang'an, compared with the important and urgent matters at the moment, this imperial examination could only and was destined to become an episode.

——The autumn harvest is over;
The current focus of the Chang'an court is undoubtedly the complicated affairs after the autumn harvest.

The collection of agricultural taxes and head taxes, as well as the introduction of tax policies for this year by the Chang'an court, are the primary priorities.

Immediately following this, a month later, on the first day of the tenth month of winter, the first day of the third year of Liu Rong's new reign, a series of reforms were about to take place in the Chang'an court...

"I intend that the agricultural tax this year be reduced by half, to one in thirty."

"The same is true for the head tax - three heads counted, forty coins per person per year."

"Do you have any objections?"

On the imperial couch, Liu Rong sat upright and spoke in a deep voice, officially starting the agenda process of this New Moon and Full Moon Dynasty.

After Liu Rong finished speaking, all the ministers and officials stood up, bowed deeply to Liu Rong, and said: Your Majesty's virtue has benefited the people and animals, and we, the ministers, would like to congratulate you on behalf of the whole world...

This is different from the impression of most people in later generations: the agricultural tax was halved and the head tax was one-third, which was not a custom of the Han Dynasty.

According to the statutory tax rates set by Emperor Taizu Liu Bang, the statutory proportions of taxes and levies in the current Han Dynasty are 15% of the agricultural tax and 1% of the head tax per person per year, which is 120 coins.

The agricultural tax was reduced by half to one-thirty cents, and the head tax was reduced by two-thirds to 40 cents per person per year, but these were not statutory exemptions. Instead, they were reduced or exempted at the discretion of the Han emperors at the end of each year and after the autumn harvest.

In official terms, it means: agricultural tax is one-fifteenth of the total tax, and the head tax is one-tenth of the total tax, which is a legal obligation;

The reduction of agricultural taxes by half and head taxes by two-thirds were the emperor's personal obligations and gifts to the people.

As for later generations, the reason why they have the stereotype that "the agricultural tax in the Han Dynasty was one in thirty, and the personal tax was 40 coins per person per year" is because during the reign of Emperor Wen and Emperor Jing in history, that is, during the reigns of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xiaojing, the Han emperor issued an imperial decree to reduce the agricultural tax by half and the personal tax by two-thirds almost every year.

——Emperor Taizong reigned for twenty-seven years, and this was the case for a full twenty-five years.

The late Emperor Xiaojing reigned for sixteen years in history, and issued edicts to reduce taxes and levies for fifteen of those years.

This is why both later generations and people of the time subconsciously mistakenly believed that the agricultural tax of 1% of the tax rate and the annual head tax of 40 coins per person were the statutory tax rates of the Han Dynasty.

But in fact, the reason why Emperor Taizong did not reduce taxes for two years during his 27 years of reign, and the reason why Emperor Xiaojing did not reduce taxes for one year during his 16 years of reign, was to remind the people of the world: Don’t really think that the agricultural tax of 1/30 and the head tax of 40 coins per person per year are the legal tax rates of our Han Dynasty;
The agricultural tax is 1/15 and the head tax is 120 coins per person per year. This is the legal tax rate!
As for tax reductions, they are the gifts I have promised to you, the people.

Don't take the gift for granted!
Liu Rong is more in favor of this approach of intermittent non-face-to-face taxation to remind people of the world that "reduction or exemption is a favor, not reducing or exempting is a duty."

Because Liu Rong clearly knows that it is really difficult for the grassroots people to judge for themselves what is their legal obligation.

Or it should be said that if any legal obligation is not implemented for three to five consecutive years due to certain special reasons, the norm during these three to five years will become the "new legal obligation" in the public's perception.

Just like taxes and levies;

Every eight or ten years, if we do not reduce taxes and restore the statutory tax rate of 1/15 of the agricultural tax and 120 coins per person per year, the common people will be able to recall it again and again: Oh~
That’s right;

This is the normal tax and levy ratio.

But what if the agricultural tax is halved and the head tax is taken as one third for fifteen, twenty, or even thirty consecutive years?

During these thirty years, it is very likely that the new generation of farmers and common people, from the age when they can remember, have formed the stereotype that "the agricultural tax should be one in thirty, and the head tax should be 40 coins per person per year."

In this way, when the Chang'an court restores the statutory tax rate due to objective needs, it will inevitably arouse their strong dissatisfaction.

——One out of fifteen agricultural taxes?

The agricultural tax is doubled, right?

Are we old farmers still allowed to work?

Are there any kings, princes, generals or ministers who are born with the ability to bear warnings?

——The annual tax for each person is one hundred and twenty coins?

Damn it, triple it!
You, the Liu family, are sitting too comfortably on top of the world, aren't you?!

In order to avoid this situation, during the 27 years of Emperor Taizong Xiaowen's reign, the tax and levy rates of the Han Dynasty were extremely regular: the statutory tax rate was restored every ten years.

That is, in the tenth and twentieth years of Emperor Taizong's reign, the agricultural tax was one-fifteenth of the total, and the head tax was 120 coins per person per year.

Historically, Emperor Xiaojing reigned for sixteen years, and it was around the eighth year of Emperor Xiaojing's reign that the statutory tax rate was restored.

At other times, the Han emperor was like Liu Rong today - he would "discuss" once a year without getting tired of it, and issue an edict of tax reduction and exemption every year;

The content of the edict also repeatedly emphasized that the original tax rate was not like this.
The agricultural tax of 1/15 and the head tax of 120 coins per person per year were the ancestral system set by Emperor Taizu Gao.
However, the present generation is kindhearted and cannot bear to see people suffering, so they risk being reprimanded by Emperor Taizu for "not following the ancestral system" a hundred years later and reduce taxes and levies for the people of the world.
Everyone should be grateful~
And so on.

This year's taxes and levies are slightly different from those in the past few decades, especially during the 33 years of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Xiaojing.

Because this year marks the fifth year that the Han people have promoted winter wheat planting in Guanzhong.

That year, in order to smoothly promote the planting of winter wheat, Prince Regent Liu Rong took the initiative to exempt all agricultural taxes for the winter wheat planted by the people of Guanzhong.

Now, the tax exemption period has expired.

How to collect taxes on winter wheat has become an urgent matter that the Chang'an court must resolve this autumn...

"For millet, the agricultural tax shall follow the old rules, and one-thirtieth of it shall be collected;"

"Do you have any suggestions on the tax on wheat?"

This time, Liu Rong was not in a hurry to "make a dictatorial decision", but instead threw the problem to the court officials.

——Should agricultural tax be levied on winter wheat?
The answer is yes.

Because the planting of millet and winter wheat cannot be completely seamless. It is like a farmer who plants millet in the spring and harvests it in the autumn.

After the harvest, we have to rush to replant winter wheat. Although there is still time, it is very rushed.

By the next year, winter wheat will have to wait until the turn of spring and summer to mature, but millet needs to be planted at the beginning of spring.

In other words, by the time the winter wheat grows and is harvested, it is already past the time to sow millet.

There is no other choice but to replant the crops, but the yield cannot be guaranteed.

Moreover, the loss of soil fertility caused by the continuous planting of different crops cannot be ignored.

——Originally, we planted in spring and harvested in autumn, and rested in winter, so that the fertility of the land could be slightly restored, that is, we could "take a break" and "take a breath";
Now the work has become non-stop. Winter wheat is planted right after the millet is harvested, leaving the fields no time to rest and recover their fertility.

If things go on like this, the fertility of the soil will inevitably decline significantly, so that the upper fields will become middle fields, the middle fields will become lower fields, and the lower fields will directly become wasteland.

What are upper, middle and lower fields?
According to the generally accepted view in Chang'an area today: in the best fields, the millet yield can reach more than three and a half stones per mu, and there is no need to leave the land fallow, and it can be cultivated continuously indefinitely.

For medium-sized fields, the millet yield per mu should reach more than three stones. In theory, the field should be left fallow for one year after every three years of cultivation.

If you want to avoid fallow, you need to collect silt from around the riverbed after the autumn harvest and before the spring ploughing every year to supplement the fertility.

Working in the fields is the worst - the millet yield per acre does not exceed two stone and six dou, and the fields must be left fallow for one year every two years!
If you insist on continuing to cultivate the land, the yield in the third year will probably fall below two stones, and there is a high probability that most of the fertility will be lost, turning it into wasteland!
To save it, the original soil must be completely replaced with silt and rotten grass and kept moist all year round.

Combining all of the above, over the past few years, the people of Guanzhong have gradually developed a set of theories and methods for growing millet and winter wheat.

——If you want to work non-stop and plant crops continuously, you must go to the fields!

Moreover, Ueda will degenerate into Nakata within a few years!

Therefore, even in the upper fields, only two crops can be grown in three years.

That is, plant millet in the spring of this year, plant winter wheat after harvesting in the autumn, and plant millet again at the turn of spring and summer next year;

After the autumn harvest next year, winter wheat will be replanted in the winter - allowing the fields to rest for a winter.

As for Zhongtian, the situation is even more embarrassing - continuous rotation and continuous cropping. Every time the three crops of millet-wheat-millet are planted in a row, they have to rest for two consecutive seasons, that is, a whole year.

Working in the fields is usually the worst: millet and wheat are planted consecutively, and then the fields are left fallow for a whole year.

As for the fields, they have always been the exclusive property of the wealthy and powerful - or at least of a few skilled farmers.

For the vast majority of ordinary farmers, half of their fields are medium-sized fields and half are small-sized fields.

So, they came up with the most cost-effective solution.

——Just stop planting millet!
From planting millet every year, ploughing in spring and harvesting in autumn, we directly changed to planting only winter wheat, ploughing in autumn, and harvesting in spring and summer.

Because they found that if they only planted millet, the annual yield would be about three dan per mu, which was worth about one hundred coins.

If only winter wheat is planted, the yield per mu can reach more than three shi, and the monetary value can be as high as more than 160 coins.

1.5 times the return, why not?
As for planting both millet and winter wheat, some people have tried it.

Without considering the loss of soil fertility and the resulting decline in land asset value, this is not a cost-effective deal just looking at the output.

——If you plant both, it only takes one year, and starting from the second year, the yields of millet and winter wheat will drop by one stone!
Because after the millet is harvested, winter wheat must be planted quickly;
When winter wheat is harvested, it is already past the farming season for millet, so it can only be planted later.

The output of one stone of each is worth less than one hundred coins - after all the hard work, the profit is not even as good as that of purebred millet!

Therefore, in the past few years, a large number of farmer families in the Guanzhong region have completely abandoned millet and focused on growing wheat.

With this objective reality, let’s return to the topic Liu Rong just discussed.

——Should agricultural tax be levied on winter wheat?
Liu Rong’s answer was: If it is not collected, the Han Dynasty in the Guanzhong area may never be able to collect agricultural taxes again.

Moreover, over time, winter wheat was gradually spread to Bashu, Guandong, and even the whole world.

If the tax is not collected by then, the agricultural tax revenue of the Han Dynasty will quickly fall to zero.

Of course;
For Liu Rong, what is important is not this agricultural tax.

Even without agricultural tax revenue, Liu Rong could ensure that the Han Dynasty would not be troubled by "lack of money".

But there is one thing that Liu Rong cannot ignore.

——Collecting agricultural tax on millet but not on winter wheat will inevitably lead the people to take the wrong path of only planting winter wheat and not planting millet at all.

In this way, the winter wheat developed by Liu Rong would no longer be "finding the second staple food for the Han people", but would become: finding a new staple food to replace millet.

The coexistence of two staple foods - especially the out-of-season staple foods - is the most important and valuable achievement of Liu Rong in developing staple wheat flour.

If they had winter wheat but lost millet, Liu Rong would not have worked in vain, but at least he had used up all his efforts and ended up taking off his pants to fart - a waste of effort.

Therefore, if we want to ensure that millet and wheat exist at the same time, we cannot excessively favor one of them from a tax perspective, so that the other one completely falls out of favor.

It is like the maternity leave for women in later generations.

——If women are not to be burdened by maternity leave, men should also take maternity leave;

Only in this way can women avoid discrimination in the workplace.

The same logic applies: if we want to prevent millet from being abandoned by farmers due to agricultural taxes, we must also collect agricultural taxes on winter wheat.

At the same time, in order to promote wheat, which requires more intensive cultivation, the agricultural tax on winter wheat must be lower than that on millet.

How to strike this balance was the difficulty that Liu Rong threw to the people inside and outside the court.

"One out of thirty?"

In the silence, a hesitant murmur was heard, causing everyone in the hall to look at him sideways.

Then, a sixty-year-old man with gray hair and wearing the robes of a 400-stone official stood up from the back of the court.
He bowed slightly to Liu Rong and said, "It can be decided to take one out of thirty."

"If the agricultural tax is halved, we can take one out of sixty."

"In this way, we will not impose heavy taxes on the people and farmers, and we will also prevent the people from abandoning millet and buying old wheat because they do not have to pay agricultural taxes..."

(End of this chapter)