Chapter 466: If you want to win, you must win Britain (please vote for me at the end of the month!)
If France had as good a financial situation as Britain, it could issue special government bonds to last for half a year.
However, in order to cope with the debt of more than 2 billion, the French government has long exhausted the market that can subscribe for national debt. Now even if the interest rate on national debt is raised to 12%, it may be difficult to sell much.
Joseph also nodded solemnly. According to an estimate of the French government's annual fiscal revenue of 500 million francs, at least 250 million must be raised at one time to start the reform of abolishing the tax subsidy system. This money will be used to support the first half of the year, and the first half of the year will be used to collect funds in the second half of the year. The taxes paid were maintained.
However, if you want to be safer, you may need 300 million francs.
Joseph quickly recalled the cases of raising funds in later generations. There should be some cards to play in banking, insurance, securities and other fields.
He initially selected a few backups and said to Mirabeau: "I will find a way to deal with financial matters. Tax reform must be promoted as soon as possible.
"You can first contact the forces that support the reform and spread the word in advance to build momentum. I will propose the establishment of a tax bureau at the next cabinet meeting as the beginning of the government taking over taxation.
"We have to wait until the money issue is resolved before continuing."
"Yes, Your Highness."
When Bai heard "Taxation Bureau", he immediately thought of another question: "Your Highness, all taxation work is now done by tax collectors, and the government does not have any tax collection experience. I am worried that this will make the tax collection difficult." There is confusion.”
At the beginning, the reason why Louis XIV wanted to hand over tax collection to tax collectors was because the government's tax officials were mediocre and tax evasion was everywhere. Even tax officials collude with taxpayers to collect some benefits and put them in their own pockets, so they don't have to pay taxes.
After the tax collector took over, he handed over a sum of money to the government in advance and was responsible for the profits and losses thereafter, so he would never let go of the tax collected.
Joseph smiled: "I have a way to solve this, you don't need to worry."
For the government in the 18th century, how to avoid tax evasion was definitely a big problem, but Joseph had read the ready-made "textbooks" - just copy the methods of the American IRS in later generations.
IRS is the United States Internal Revenue Service. Some Americans in later generations are not afraid of the police, and some are not afraid of officials, but no one dares to stab the IRS in front of them. There once was a gangster who committed many crimes, including murder and robbery, but not even the FBI could do anything about him. In the end, the IRS took action and quickly put him in jail. Finally, the entire gang was completely eradicated.
In addition to the IRS, there are many tax "weapons" that Joseph can use, such as the invoice system, the personal tax system, the tax filing system, etc.
In order to raise taxes, the government tax departments of later generations came up with all kinds of "tricks" that even the accountants who specialize in tax avoidance in the 21st century can do it, let alone the taxpayers in the 18th century.
Of course, these are all theoretical. Joseph estimates that there will definitely be some disturbances when implementing tax reform, but for the sake of France's business environment, this is what must be done.
Moreover, if the tax collector system can be abolished, the tens of millions of francs in taxes that fall into the hands of tax collectors every year can significantly improve France's finances. This can be said to kill two birds with one stone, and it is worth taking some risks.
Subsequently, Bai Yi submitted last year's business development report. The two ministers reported to Joseph on French industrial and commercial matters until late at night, and then, under Eman's hint, they left without saying anything.
The clock has pointed to 11:30. Joseph was still looking at the report in his hand in the study, and from time to time he picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip. Last year, France's total trade volume reached an astonishing 1 billion francs, even close to the UK's 49 million pounds, which is 1.22 billion francs.
However, France's profits from foreign trade are far less than those of the United Kingdom. After all, the vast majority of France's trade volume comes from surrounding European countries, so it must lower prices to compete with these countries' own products.
However, Britain was able to squeeze out its colonies, buy raw materials at low prices, and sell industrial products at high prices. There was no need to worry about competition, and the tariffs were close to zero.
Even France's nominal ally, the United States, has always been a British colony. As a result, all industry and commerce are built to be supporting the British, and they are extremely dependent on the British. At present, although it is independent, its contribution to British trade is only slightly lower than during the colonial era.
In short, France's annual profit from trade is only about half of that of the British, but it has to feed more than three times the British population - currently, the British population is less than 10 million, while France's is 30 million .
This is still the result of Joseph's continuous promotion. Historically, the French industry had begun to collapse in 1790, and there was still some sales of wine until Napoleon opened up the European market with artillery and kicked out British products.
Joseph knew that France, as the most powerful country on the European continent, would face the threat of war at any time from Britain, which adhered to the continental balance policy.
The so-called continental balance policy means that the United Kingdom will never allow a single powerful country in Europe to overpower all other countries to ensure Britain's absolute influence on the continent.
In terms of specific implementation, whoever is the strongest in Europe will lead other countries to fight against him.
The emergence of the anti-French alliance in history was ostensibly due to the outbreak of the Great Revolution in France, which chopped off the heads of the royal family and aroused the same hatred of other kings.
But the root cause is that Prussia and Austria have always been weak, which makes France stand out in Europe, which arouses the fear of the British.
Otherwise, if you think about it, you, the UK, were the first country to have a revolution and behead the king, and the parliament is still in power, but you are empathizing with other kings to make things difficult for France? In fact, Britain just wanted to use the war to weaken France.
Therefore, after basically resolving the domestic revolutionary crisis, Joseph's current strategic focus is to prepare for the "continental balance" stick that the British will surely fall upon.
In the era of the Industrial Revolution, if you want to challenge the United Kingdom, you must first catch up in industry and trade.
Joseph looked at the world map on the wall next to him. The large British colonies from India to North America and from the Pacific to the Atlantic really made him stressed.
But soon, perseverance and confidence flashed in his eyes, and he would definitely be able to lead France to complete its industrial and commercial catch-up. By then, a powerful fleet will be built to defeat the British navy, which the British are proud of, completely lift the curse that restricts France's development and growth, and achieve a feat that the Emperor failed to complete in his lifetime.
If you want to win, you have to win Britain!
Of course, you have to eat one bite at a time.
At present, we must first complete various domestic reforms and lay a solid foundation, and then stabilize the market gained from Germany and expand the territory of North Africa as much as possible to pave the way for the industrial revolution.
(End of chapter)