Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

"The first thing we want to talk about is the tax game between the central and local governments."

"If you want to explain clearly the construction of the two-level tax system of central tax and local tax, you must make it clear."

"What is central tax?"

"What is land tax?"

"Why should central tax and local tax be separated? Why is it necessary?"

"Using history as a mirror, we can see the ups and downs!" Jiang Xinghuo said calmly: "If you directly instill concepts, you will neither understand nor be willing to listen. I will ask you a question first. As long as you answer this question, you will understand What is the tax game between the central and local governments, and why is it necessary to separate central and local taxes?"

"Mr. Jiang, please speak."

Xia Yuanji and Zhu Gaoxu said at the same time.

"Anyone who has read some history books knows that the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms were ruled by those with strong soldiers and horses. Then you should know that it was precisely because the vassal towns in the late Tang Dynasty had tax autonomy and money bags in hand, so they cooperated with the sword handle Only you can do this.”

Hearing this, the two nodded slightly.

The era when Wu Fu ruled the country was the craziest era of local separatism in history.

The emperor changes every year, and the emperor is inspected.

Jiang Xinghuo asked again: "Excuse me, who knows why the local taxation autonomy of the feudal towns is completely independent from the taxation of the central government of the Tang Dynasty?"

This question made the two of them think for a moment.

Zhu Gaoxu was just pretending, his mind was empty.

Xia Yuanji is really thinking, recalling and thinking about the history of the reform of the tax system.

——————

In the secret room.

Jian Yi was once again named by the emperor.

"What does Minister Jian think of this matter?"

How else to watch? Of course, look back at the history books.

Jian Yi would not be troubled by this, he said.

"The reform of the tax system in the Tang Dynasty began with the Salt Law. In the first year of Qianyuan, salt-iron coins were cast, which led to the beginning of Wuqi's change to the Salt Law. Salt courtyards were set up near salt wells and salt ponds all over the world, and the vagrants who had previously made scattered salt were all They were recruited to be responsible for making salt for the imperial court and exempted from corvee service, but if there were any thieves, they would be severely punished."

"On the fifth day, when Qi was the envoy of all the states to discuss salt and iron, he was discussing all the salt in the world. At that time, it was said that 'if the price of a fight is a hundred yuan, it will be a hundred and ten yuan.'"

Ru Jin added: "This is the path followed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, salt official camp, prohibiting illicit salt, and using the salt law to enrich the national treasury."

"What happened next?" Zhu Di continued to ask noncommittally.

"Later, there was too much backlash among the people, salt prices skyrocketed, and armed salt trafficking continued to be banned. When Liu Yan was in power, the Salt Law was further discussed, and the relationship between the government, private merchants, and salt households was adjusted. Special salt offices were set up in salt-producing towns. Officials collect salt from pavilion households and sell it to merchants for resale. There are no salt officials in other prefectures and counties. In distant prefectures and counties, 'Changping Salt' is set up."

"In this way, the government received huge profits, but the people did not feel that the price of salt was expensive. The official patent was replaced by the official and business profits, which promoted the development of the salt industry and greatly increased the salt tax revenue. When Liu Yan began to discuss salt, the annual salt profit income 400,000 min, which later reached 6 million. At that time, it was called 'the endowment of the world. More than half of the salt profit'."

Zhu Di tapped the armrest and asked in a dull voice.

"Then what does this have to do with the local tax autonomy of the feudal town?"

"There is a relationship, and it's a big relationship."

Jian Yidao: "Whether it was Wu Qi or Liu Yan, their purpose of reforming the Salt Law was to ensure the tax sources of the central government of the Tang Dynasty. However, as the land annexation intensified, the foundation of the equal land system was completely destroyed, and a large number of private households Fleeing, the land tax will not come in, and the salt law alone will not help."

——————

Xia Yuanji said: "If we talk about the tax autonomy of the feudal towns, the source still lies in the Anshi Rebellion."

"The An-Shi Rebellion separated the whole country, and households fled due to wars and corvées. The land equalization system was severely corrupted in almost half of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, the vassal towns began to gradually expand, which led to the The central government of the Tang Dynasty had to bear the expenses of the entire world, but its income was far lower than before, so it was imperative to change the tax system."

"The "Old Book of Tang" records that Tang Dezong came to the throne and discussed the appointment of prime ministers. Yang Yan used literary instruments and paid homage to Dr. Yinqing Guanglu, his servant, and Tongping Zhangshi. Yang Yan began to change the two tax laws."

"Previously, the tax system adopted by the central government of the Tang Dynasty was a rent-yong modulation based on the land equalization system."

"Rent, that is, land rent, requires a tax of two dan per hundred acres of land per year, because this is the country's land, and the land equalization system is to grant land instead of giving land, so land rent must be paid to the country."

"Yong means corvee. You have to serve the government for twenty days every year. In leap years, it is twenty-two days. This part of the corvee can be offset by paying a high amount in kind."

"Tiao, which means household adjustment, is calculated based on local specialties. Generally, you need to pay two feet of silk and three liang of cotton. Or two feet and five feet of cloth and three pounds of hemp."

Xia Yuanji sighed and said: "But these regulations of renting Yongdiao are actually based on the situation in the early Tang Dynasty after the household registration was greatly reduced due to the war in the late Sui Dynasty. From the early Tang Dynasty to the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the household registration doubled. Originally, the household registration doubled. There are too many people, too little land, and not enough products. It is very difficult for the people to pay. In the early Tang Dynasty, households even had time to go to Zhechong Mansion for training. But later, after the whole family worked hard for a year and paid the rent, they could barely survive. The state of immortality.”

"Involution."

Looking at Jiang Xinghuo who suddenly spoke, Xia Yuanji asked, "What does this word mean?"

Zhu Gaoxu vaguely felt that he had heard Mr. Jiang say this word.

Oh, yes, I mentioned it when I was talking about the law of dynastic cycles. I thought it would be included in "On National Destiny", but it was never mentioned again.

"Involution means that farmers who are also farming, as time goes by, farmers have to work harder and harder than in the past to achieve a slight increase in field output, but everyone is working hard and cultivating intensively. Judging from the results, I have indeed worked several times harder than before, but the rewards are not as great as before.”

"Why?" Zhu Gaoxu asked.

"There are two reasons. One is because the person who takes the lead in involution will reap more benefits. For example, in the same village, I take care of the crops two more hours a day than you. During the autumn harvest last year, I harvested more food. So I can sell it for 30% more than you; but as this secret was discovered, everyone started to take care of the crops for two more hours every day from this year. During the autumn harvest this year, because everyone collectively increased production, the price of food dropped this year. We all put in two hours of hard work, but everyone’s gains have not increased but decreased, or only increased a little, and this is completely unable to match their efforts throughout the year.”

Well, so the ones who took the lead in the involution were scabs.

"The second reason is because, boss, no, when the government sees you working so hard, it will increase the tax amount or directly ask for more payment, so your efforts have actually been done by the government officials. Wedding dress. Moreover, as time goes by, you will bear more and more responsibilities, marry a wife and have a baby, which requires you to work harder than others."

“In this way, in order to surpass others and live a better life, people begin to engage in involution competition.”

After saying this, Jiang Xinghuo was suddenly startled.

Involution?

Now that his suggestions can be directly watched by the top brass of the Ming Empire.

So why not move that policy out?

Isn’t it unethical to let the common people get involved every day?

Is it okay if I ask the officials to take a roll this time?

After suppressing his reverie, Jiang Xinghuo motioned to Mr. Qiu to continue.

Xia Yuanji continued: "After the Anshi Rebellion and the Great Rebellion, although there were fewer people, the households that stayed in the local area had to pay full taxes on behalf of the households that fled. This resulted in..."

Zhu Gaoxu then asked, "Have the households that were left behind also escaped?"

"Well, that's it."

Xia Yuanji was a little sad.

"The old man walked over the wall, and the old woman went out to see."

Jiang Xinghuo also read a line of poetry, and then couldn't read any more.

The reason why the poet is a poet is because of this compassion and truth.

How many people dream that they have traveled through time and become kings and emperors, have beauties in the harem, and become famous generals and advisers?

But based on Jiang Xinghuo's eight-life time-travel experience, the fact is that there is a high probability that the time-traveler will not become Tang Xuanzong, who enjoys Yang Guifei and the Tang Dynasty.

On the contrary, the probability of becoming an involved farmer, an old man walking over a wall, or a soldier guarding a city is greater.

Otherwise, if you are not reincarnated as a child of a noble family, but when it is your turn to time travel, what is the one-in-a-million chance that you will be able to pass through your soul directly?

Therefore, instead of empathizing with the landlords and gentry, it is better to imagine how you would be able to survive with your whole family if you were one of the thousands of peasant households in time travel, facing military disasters, corvee labor, and taxes.

After a moment of silence, Xia Yuanji continued.

"There is nothing we can do about it, so the two tax laws will be introduced sooner or later. The tax base has completely collapsed. The number of customers (special word: people with registered residence in other places) across the country even accounts for more than half of the number of registered residents."

Ever since Jiang Xinghuo learned that he was being noticed by the top brass of the Ming Empire, his words had become even more unscrupulous than before.

"So-called clients." Jiang Xinghuo smiled narrowly: "To put it bluntly, they are illegally leaving their hometown without knowing the general situation of the imperial court and disregarding the overall interests of the country, right?"

The word "illegal departure from home" made Xia Yuanji stunned for a moment, but he soon understood and smiled bitterly.

Chinese cultural tradition, resettlement.

As long as there is a slight possibility of continuing to live well in the place where you have lived for half your life, who would abandon your home and career and move to another place?

Is the collapse of the tax base the fault of households who left their hometowns illegally, or the fault of the Anshi rebels who caused the collapse of the world?

Or is it Tang Ting's fault?

"The two-tax law means that everyone needs to pay taxes regardless of landowners and customers. Family members also need to pay taxes. The specific tax amount is based on the number of acres of land. Then there are household taxes, local taxes and miscellaneous taxes. The taxes are also divided into two taxes and paid together, that is, the summer tax not exceeding June and the autumn tax not exceeding November.”

"Of course, the most important point of the two-tax law is to live within our means and collect this year's taxes based on the country's financial needs next year."

Hearing this, even Zhu Gaoxu felt something was wrong.

"Sounds good." Zhu Gaoxu scratched his beard, "But firstly, if we live within our means, the court's expenses will definitely be more and more, not less, and won't the burden on the people be getting heavier year by year? Secondly, Aristocratic families also need to pay taxes. Before the Huangchao Rebellion, this was probably not possible. Even emperors like Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty could not defeat the aristocratic families. In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the power of the Tang Dynasty was weak, let alone incompetent."

“And the shortcomings of the two-tax law don’t stop there.”

Xia Yuanji said with a sigh: "The quotas of the Two Taxes Law were initially based on the year with the heaviest age in the past as the standard. Moreover, the two taxes were merged into the two taxes, not just household taxes, local taxes, and handymen, etc. Regular taxes also include supplying the army, announcing suo, paying tribute, etc."

"The burden on the common people is too heavy."

Zhu Gaoxu stroked his beard and said: "What we have paid is the heaviest tax in history, and the court will continue to increase taxes according to expenses. I'm afraid these two tax laws will not last long, right?"

"That's it. Therefore, the result of the reform of the two tax laws and tax systems only had an effect at the beginning. In the end, it fell on the people."

At this point, Jiang Xinghuo just took over the words.

"The two tax laws can no longer be implemented, so the Tang Ting Center is thinking of continuing to change the tax system."

“So there’s the two-thirds tax rule.”

Zhu Gaoxu asked: "I understand the two taxes, but what is three points?"

"Three points means paying tribute, two points means sending envoys, and three points means staying in the state."

"In other words, the focus of the two-tax-three-thirds rule is not on how to collect taxes, but on handling the fiscal distribution relationship between the central and local governments in the distribution link. Among these three fiscal levels, the central finance of the Tang Dynasty passed The finances of the local Jiedushi envoys are obtained through the "Sending envoys" (i.e. sending Jiedushi) to the prefectures under their jurisdiction. The state finances are obtained by deducting the "Shanggong" and "Sending envoys", and the remaining "Liuzhou" Share composition.”

"sounds good."

Zhu Gaoxu commented.

"Sounds good." Jiang Xinghuo smiled, "After the Anshi Rebellion, the 'highly centralized, unified revenue and expenditure' fiscal and taxation system in the early Tang Dynasty was impacted. The powers delegated to the local governments by the central government of the Tang Dynasty, especially the financial rights, were unable to take back. Taking advantage of the opportunity to cleverly set up names and recruit violently, as recorded in the history books: Henan, Shandong, Jingxiang, and Jiannan have heavy military units, all of which are self-supporting, and the king's tax does not come in much. The names of official positions are assigned according to the people; the thickness of the salary depends on the person. In order to reverse this situation, the central government of the Tang Dynasty adopted the two-tax-three-thirds rule and the budget quota management system, transforming the fiscal and taxation system of "highly centralized, unified revenue and expenditure" into "based on expenditure to determine revenue, central and local governments" The fiscal and taxation system that divides revenue and expenditure."

"Guess what?"

Zhu Gaoxu scratched his beard and did not expect the answer.

"For the feudal town."

Jiang Xinghuo's five fingers turned into claws and he grasped the void.

"——I want them all!"

"What about paying tribute, staying in the state, and the two-tax-three-thirds rule has opened up. In the past, vassal towns collected taxes with no real name, but now even the "name" has been given to the Tang court. From now on, all taxes will be "sent to envoys"!

Zhu Gaoxu was stunned.