When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

Chapter 625 Customs Stamps and Tax Invoices
Throwing aside the topic of Black Snake Bay and Lightning Furnace, Horn quickly got the conversation back on track.

Horn knocked on the table and cleared his throat: "First of all, I make a budget not because I like to plan everything, but to ensure that every penny is spent wisely.

Without a budget, we will fall into disorderly spending - local lords, orders, and even ourselves may waste funds on duplicative, ineffective, and corrupt projects.

If this continues, no matter how much income we have, it will be eaten up.”

He paused for a moment, glanced at Meliati, and continued, "The core of the budget is to spend money on what really matters."

Horn picked up a draft budget priority list from his desk: "I will not dictate how to spend the money, but will set a priority, starting with the most important: military spending, government and administrative spending, infrastructure construction."

"Translate, translate." Meliati twirled the quill on her fingertips.

"Military spending is the top priority." Horn's tone became serious, "Three years later at the latest, the Kingdom of Leia will attack with an army of at least 50,000 and at most 70,000, while we only have 20,000 troops at most.

We need to expand our army, train, equip, and even build border forts. All of this requires money, much-needed money, don't you agree?"

"agree."

He paused, then continued, "Second, the formation of a government and administrative expenditures. You know how large our armies are relative to the population within the empire. Without an efficient government, these armies may even collapse internally."

“But their income should not be too high, otherwise it will squeeze the interests of the army.” Meliati reminded.

"Don't worry, I know what's going on." Horn patted his chest, signaling Meliati to rest assured, "Third, infrastructure will make it easier for us to convey government orders and trade, and it will also make it easier for the army to mobilize."

"Building roads and dams is expensive. Are you sure the income is enough?" Meliati touched her chin.

Horn coughed lightly and softened his tone a little, "But local taxes alone are not enough, we also need a completely new form of taxation."

Meliati raised an eyebrow: "What do you mean?"

"Tariffs. We need to collect tariffs in a unified way. We can no longer allow local lords to set up checkpoints and collect taxes along the way." Horn continued, "Checkpoints and border tax offices must be set up at the entrance of every major road and waterway."

"Is this any different from a local lord setting up a checkpoint to collect taxes?" Meliati crossed her legs. "The lord has to pay taxes to us anyway."

"You remember when we attacked Xialuo City (Fei Liu Fort) by water, it took us three days to get from the Detention Dock to Xialuo City. But why did it take seven or eight days to get from Zhend'Arc Fort to Rapid City, which is almost the same water route?"

Meliati's childish face wrinkled slightly, like a big tiger with a kitten's head thinking: "Because I have to transfer...ah, I understand."

I have to say, unlike when Horn had to explain everything in Prague, this capable person understands things quickly.

The biggest problem with the lords setting up checkpoints along the way is not double taxation, but hindering circulation!
Taking Sechinger’s pig selling as an example, every checkpoint has to be checked. If there are many people, they may have to queue or even stay overnight.

By the time they pass the inspection all the way to Jeanne d'Arc, even a real fat pig would be starved to death.

Along the way from Jeanne d'Arc to Grand Rapids, a large number of low bridges were built, making it impossible for ships to pass. Merchants had to disembark and transfer, and only after paying customs duties were they allowed to leave with the goods.

This is also the reason why Horn's boat trip to Rapids City was so slow. On the contrary, in the Hotam County area, the church was powerful enough to suppress the nobles and force merchants to pay a bridge tax once at Feiliu Castle.

"Regarding tariffs, my suggestion is to set up a dedicated independent department to manage them."

"A dedicated independent department? Is it necessary?"

"Tariffs are very important," Horn said to Melia seriously, "They are the cornerstone of a unified country."

"Why? Isn't this just an ordinary tax?" Meliati leaned back in her chair and took a sip of black tea with disdain.

"Tariffs are to turn local bridge and road taxes into unified taxes collected at the border, which involves a question: this is public revenue, who will manage and distribute the tax?"

Meliati smelled the scent of power and immediately sat up straight: "I'll do it."

"Can you make it?" Horn had to smile bitterly, "Do you have enough talents under you? Do you have so many tax officials and accountants?" "Damn it, give me some." Meliati supported the table with one hand, turned in front of Horn, and hugged his head, "You have so many people, can you give me some?"

"You have your talent pool of nobles." Horn's head was swollen from the pressure, and he struggled to speak, "Those noble second sons who returned to secular life and children of minor nobles are all your talent pool."

"It's okay for them to fight bandits, build roads, and manage agriculture, but if we really want them to be in charge of taxation..." Meliati shook her head in disdain.

"That's why I proposed joint management." Horn stood up from under Meliati's buttocks, "But I demand that the customs duties of Langsand County be completely under my jurisdiction. This is a political issue. You know what I mean."

"I understand." After realizing the core of the Customs Union, Meliati reacted quickly.

Horn was preparing to quietly make Black Snake Bay a part of them.

"But the question is, how can we regulate smuggling?" Meliati became serious after realizing the importance of tariffs. "Should we build a wall on the border?"

"No, no, no, it is enough to build border tax stations on important roads. My opinion is that the people should supervise it on their own and pass the costs on to the traders themselves."

Horn pulled out a document titled "Tax and Stamp Tax Trial Bill" and handed it to Meliati.

The plan is simple.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

Suppose there is a seller named Tom who brings 50 barrels of wine worth 50 gold pounds into the country. He first registers the quantity, value and ship of the goods at the border tax office, pays a tariff of 5 gold pounds, and then receives three tax invoices and certificates.

Whenever he docked, the tax officer at the dock would check his tax bills and receipts, and if they were missing, he would have to pay the additional taxes.

During the transaction, the seller must staple one of the three original tax stamps and the premium tax stamp together and give it to the buyer, keep one copy for himself, and give one copy to the tax official.

Suppose Tom sells 50 barrels of wine to the local seller Jerry for 60 gold pounds (a premium of 5 gold pounds). Jerry will definitely ask Tom, the previous seller, to produce the tax invoice and receipt.

If after the transaction is concluded, it is discovered that there is no tax invoice, the tax to be paid is not 10% of the premium (i.e. 0.5 pounds), but 5.5 pounds.

If Jerry fails to fulfill his supervisory responsibilities towards his upstream employer, he will have to pay the taxes for that employer!
Similarly, Jerry's next employer will make similar requests, otherwise he will have to bear an additional tax of up to 6 pounds.

When it comes to the retail stage, assuming Jerry is a liquor wholesaler in a city, he has to exchange the tax invoice for stamps.

Only stamped liquor is legal. If a pub buys liquor from Jerry and finds it has no stamp, it can report it.

The whistleblower will receive 20%-35% of the tax evasion. At the same time, through a retrospective investigation of the account books, all pubs that purchased unstamped liquor must also pay the tax.

Of course, this is not a perfect process, but a process with dynamic gaming.

If the amount is small, naturally no one will offend the distributor for such a small amount of money; but if the amount is large, at most the money will be used to exchange for living in a different city.

Inevitably, some people would smuggle a small amount of smuggled goods, but compared to the huge amount of taxes, Horn turned a blind eye to the smuggled part.

After all, the tax cost of this part is greater than the tax revenue, and he will not do business at a loss.

"I generally agree with this budget." Meliati unconsciously exchanged seats with Horn and sat on the report seat opposite Horn. "But there are still many areas that have not yet achieved the 100-household district system. What are you going to do?"

"Old areas use the old method, new areas use new methods." Horn spread his hands, "Anyway, by next summer, the entire Thousand River Valley should have passed the perpetual lease."

"What about tomorrow's finance meeting?"

"It's the same old story. I'll lower the price first, and you won't accept it. Then we'll have an argument, and you'll leave in anger, and I'll leave too. Catherine will invite me, and Jeanne will invite you. How do you do that?"

“I think those old guys must be terrified.” Meliati couldn’t help laughing. “The dwarven mine owners and workshop owners of the Iron Guild are counting on your farm tool orders.”

(End of this chapter)