Chapter 593 Constituent Assembly (Part 2)
“First of all, of the 170,000 gold pounds, Lord Norn’s 27,000 gold pounds, I can only repay 7,000 gold pounds in interest, and extend it for about half a year.< br>
This year, due to the continuous wars and the destruction of Prince Condé’s Lancers and Puccilio, the food production will definitely decrease. , there will be a money shortage to a certain extent.
Among the nine counties in the Qianhe River Valley, I am afraid that only Langsander County has not delayed spring plowing and can receive sufficient taxes.
According to the previous agreement, The tax revenue of Langsand County belongs entirely to the Patriarch, and in order to resume agriculture next year, tax and rent reductions must be made this year
Therefore, the taxes of the remaining eight counties may have to be cut in half, which is about 60,000 gold pounds. There is still a gap of 90,000 gold pounds. His Royal Highness the Patriarch and His Excellency Catherine are willing to fill it with 10,000 gold pounds each.
With the remaining 70,000 gold pounds, I don’t want your taxes. I will auction part of the church property and fill it with the gold pounds stored by the Holy See.
But in exchange, you must cooperate with the work of the local county chief and chief priest. "
Hearing that they didn’t have to pay out of their own pockets, the representatives on the right breathed a sigh of relief. However, Clovin felt something was wrong. He immediately stood up and asked: "Cooperating with the work of the county magistrate, won’t it be? Carry out land registration? "
"No, it is a population survey. After the population is determined, it is compiled into 100-household districts and tax reforms are carried out in order to obtain sufficient and stable fiscal revenue. ”
"If you want to have enough tax revenue, the first is to expand the tax base, and the second is to reduce waste." Horn raised two fingers. "Expanding the tax base will take a long time to develop. The Baihu District tax system reform has done The goal is to reduce the number and length of tax chains. ”
According to the current situation in Qianhe River Valley, there are three main tax chains.
The first is the taxation system of the kingdom. Peasants and tenant farmers pay rent and labor to the steward, village head, or small lord. Lower-level landowners pay tribute, exemption tax, war tax, and share tax to the big lord, and the big lord pays To the king.
The second is the taxation of the church system, which is nothing more than replacing the stewards with bishops at all levels, and selling indulgences by the way.
The third is the taxation of the city system. The royal family or the church allocates taxes to the city every year, and then allocates taxes to various guilds within the city, and then allots them to craftsmen and citizens within the guilds.
Since the three tax chains have too many links and are not unified internally, each link is full of corruption and interception, and a large amount of tax revenue is wasted in meaningless internal consumption.
As for central taxation, especially the taxation of large lords, they are basically based on poll tax, while the small lords' own manor is often based on land tax.
For the small lord, he lives in the manor and never goes anywhere. He knows exactly how many fields there are, and it is very convenient to collect taxes according to the fields.
For the big lords, the number of fields is opaque. It is impossible for them to go to each manor to measure it on site, and the definition of field output is an unsolvable problem.
The fields are difficult to measure, but the heads are easy to count.
Therefore, they demanded tribute from the small lords based on the number of adult men in the territory, while concealing the population and the amount of land directly under the manor from the more senior lords.
Horn really had been a farmer. The land rent he paid to Barnett and Durdafo was 50 dinars, and he had to pay an additional 5 dinars in head tax.
Theoretically speaking, this poll tax is what the superior lords ask from the lower lords, so it changes every year.
But the problem is that Horn cannot go to the superior lord and ask: How much poll tax did you collect this year?
Although the church has land tax account books, the higher-level lords cannot trace the church tax books across the system, and the local bishops and lower-level lords have the same interests.
Therefore, lower-level lords and minor bishops can accurately harvest farmers, and then be accurately harvested by foreign merchants.
Because the output of their manors is scattered, if you don’t sell it, others will sell it. Foreign businessmen with background can lower the price to the extreme.
The nobles exchanged the output of these estates for precious metal currencies, and then purchased large quantities of luxury goods and maintained the "respect" of their status.
Of course, when the money was in the hands of the big lord, he also used it to buy silks, jewelry and female slaves, spend time and money, and build palaces.
The Kingdom of France became rich by cooperating with merchants and cities and accurately harvesting noble lords.
Compared to the nobles who are all shady, the church is just corrupt.
Although the church cannot audit the accounts beyond the next level, it is still feasible to audit the accounts only to the next level. Therefore, the church can collect taxes in Qianhe River Valley that far exceed those of the royal family.
“So the significance of the census and the Hundred Household District is that I will take over and sort out the church’s tax system, and then replace these three tax chains with the tax system of the Order of the Holy Arms. Specifically, for example, a The manor was organized into a hundred-household district, with the knight or steward serving as the head of the hundred households. Before the disaster, it was shown that 30% of the land rent income was 30 gold pounds.
The total rent and taxes were required not to exceed 35%, so it was 25% of the ground rent of 25 gold pounds. At the same time, the church account books showed that it was collected last year. A poll tax of 5 gold pounds to the superior lord
At the same time, knights must either pass the assessment to join the despot's army, or they must pay an annual tax exemption of 5 gold pounds.
Then the knight will have to pay 20 gold pounds to the Order of Priests, and he can keep 15 gold pounds.
If there are no knights, it is an estate owned by the church or an armed farmer, then the hundred-household district will elect a hundred-household chief on its own, but the land rent will not be collected. On the basis of the tithe, an equal proportion of head tax will be charged. and tax exemption.
Assuming 70 100-household districts for a priestly order, that is 1,400 gold pounds, leaving 20% as grassroots administrative expenses, and the remaining 80%, about 1,100 gold pounds, is sent to the county chief.
Take Kasha County as an example. Under ideal circumstances, you can get an income of 25,000 gold pounds without municipal tax. ”
The great lords lowered their heads and began to think, and soon they all smiled and even clapped and bowed to Horn.
Because if this method is followed, the knights will not be able to conceal the population and land at all levels, and they will be able to earn more income than before!
Moreover, with this method, there is no need to conduct annual inspections or send envoys to monitor everywhere. This eliminates expenses that overlap with church functions and saves a lot of expenses.
The knight representatives on the right seat, especially the small nobles from Pingyuan County, seemed as if the sky had fallen.
The mountain knights joined Meliati's army by default, but they did not, which meant that their income dropped by nearly half.
"Your Majesty the Despot, this is not possible. Our expenses are too great. Although we no longer have to go to the battlefield, how can we live with 15 gold pounds?"
"Yes, Your Majesty, 15 gold pounds." You can't afford to live in pounds!"
"Don't fart." Meliati glared at them, "His Excellency the Patriarch gave me an investigation report just yesterday, showing that you only have 40 to 50% of your income. Yu family I exempted only 10% of the expenses for war horses and equipment. The remaining 40% were abnormal expenses.
A knight with an annual income of 20 gold pounds would spend 8 gold pounds on purchases every year. Spices, fine clothes, high-end furniture, porcelain and messy knick-knacks."
"That's a work of art..." A little knight buried his head low and couldn't help complaining.
"You mean that my wild boar can't eat fine chaff?" Meliati's iron fist hit the table hard, "I'm telling you, I'm still a wild boar! I have to use my gold pounds wisely!
In the next three years, all tariffs on these items will be increased by 10%. I take the lead in rejecting luxury and waste, and no one who meets me is allowed to wear silk clothes!"
"What about the income of us earls? Your Majesty, you didn't say where the poll tax goes." wailed. Amidst the sound, a knight among the representatives on the right seat shouted.
Mliarty's eyes swept over: "You have two choices. The first is to come to Xialu City, and I will give you an annuity according to the head tax. The second is to stay in the place and get the same amount as the head tax. Industrial and commercial tax exemption quota."
"Huh?" The previously smiling lords were shocked, "Isn't it given to us?"
"The fewer links the tax goes through, the better. It will cause a lot of loss and waste before it is distributed to you by the county chief."
"But..."
"But what? ? You didn’t receive so much tax in the first place, so you’re not happy to give it to me for free?” Meliati took out the paper. He made a list, "I only want the fields on the church's tax accounts. I don't want your estates and people hidden outside the church's tax system. That's kind enough." After returning home, the representatives in the middle seats began to celebrate, hug and cheer.
But amid the cheers, noise came from the representatives again. This time it was none other than Meliaty's titled knight Heman.
"His Excellency the Patriarch's idea is certainly very good." Herman's voice was slow, overpowering everyone's discussions or cheers, "But the problem is that there are still many nobles and knights in the local area who don't listen to us. How are you going to implement it?" What?”
(End of this chapter)