Chapter 487 The essence of this administrative system
“Actually, there are not many. In addition to agricultural taxes, we also have consumption taxes and various tariffs.”
As for the income of the Imperial Cardinal, the Holy Treasury actually has Overestimate.
The central government of the Papal States must have an annual income of 50,000 gold pounds in order to ensure a balanced financial balance.
Although Horne has been promoting the concept of healthy deficits, the most advanced concepts of this era only believe that one should balance expenditures and live within one's means.
Although the power of the Pope is unlimited, Horne still tries to use this authority as little as possible to forcibly persuade.
Every time he uses his personal authority, it is a loss of government authority.
It can be used at critical moments, but it is better to use less in non-critical places.
As for the central government’s revenue, in addition to agricultural taxes, it also comes from several other sources.
The first one is the palace-run workshop. Regarding the workshop industry left by the previous wealthy merchants and lords, Horn adopted two strategies.
Or, according to the original tribute system, a portion of the profits will be given to the Salvation Army every year, but the Salvation Army will participate in the operation.
Or redeem it, collect a lump sum of money to the Salvation Army, and buy out the ownership of this workshop.
The main purpose of both is to raise military spending.
Especially the latter point, many city stewards of lords became workshop owners, and it also turned many small rural landowners into workshop owners.
The second one is customs duty, stamp duty and consumption tax.
This has to mention the upcoming supervision of markets and urban business districts.
At this time, people were exchanging materials. Unlike in later generations, there were no specialized merchants who went to the countryside to collect the goods, and then sold them in the vegetable market or supermarket.
But there is a special market in a certain area of the countryside, which is not even held every day but every ten days.
Small traders and farmers will bring food, cash crops, and agricultural and sideline products to the market to sell.
The original market was basically controlled by priests and gangsters, and they often had to pay protection fees.
Even if it is a private transaction, firstly, it is not cost-effective to travel so far to sell two eggs, and secondly, there is less fear of being defrauded or cheating.
Horn wants to take advantage of this.
The priestly order must send out night watchmen and skitarii to supervise the market and maintain order with public authority, but must pay consumption tax and stall fees based on the goods admitted.
In urban areas, there are special market streets and commercial areas, and consumption taxes and duties are collected through the supervision of raw materials.
That is, the government provides public services and public security, and provides insurance to merchants, farmers, and vegetable vendors in exchange for their paying consumption tax.
As for bulk goods trading, Horn would set up exchanges in capital cities at the county level such as Fort Joan of Arc.
Stamp duty will also be collected from both parties in the exchange, and will be collected when the transaction is concluded
Horn believes that businessmen will easily accept stamp duty, which is a small amount of money to do a big thing.
Because the Salvation Army government is about to legislate to confirm, any contract without a stamp will not be accepted by the court and can only be mediated out of court by a notary.
Of course, there is also a baptismal consecration tax from alchemical products.
The essence of the baptismal tax is to whitewash the goods on the black market. With the Pope's approval, they can be sold freely.
Since Horn currently only collects urban consumption tax in a few large towns, such as Fort Joan of Arc, Sour Melon Town, and Holy Arms Court.
So they still don’t know how much tax they can get from implementing it in all towns and villages, but according to Sissi’s conservative estimate, with agricultural tax, they can collect more than 10,000 gold pounds a year.
"How should the Hundred Household District operate? I mean, we still don't understand the Holy Treasury in the Hundred Household District." At this time, a representative of the Hundred Household Chiefs stood up and couldn't help but ask.
There is a reason why the head of the household is confused about this matter.
When Horn divided the land, he divided mountains, forests, lakes, and unclaimed wasteland.
However, the use rights of these lands have always been owned by Baihu District and can be used freely by all believers in Baihu District.
Logically speaking, if the villagers make money from the land, it should belong to themselves.
"Let's give a specific example and an analogy... What's your name?" The head of the hundred households pinched his hat nervously: "My name is Gonta Lei, Your Majesty, from Motonne Hundred Houses District”
"Very good, do you have any special land resources there?" Horn asked, snapping his fingers.
"There is a forest in our 100-household area that can produce very good hardwood. Many furniture carpenters will come to buy the hardwood in our 100-household area." Gonta Lei said stuttering.
"Then have you ever thought about opening a sawmill in the Baihu District?" Horn smiled slightly when he saw that Guntare was sweating profusely and didn't know what to say, and then said.
“Suppose we open a sawmill on your land in Baihu District. What should be the first step?
That is to apply to the Congregation of Priests to rent or purchase the land. The right to use it to build the sawmill, the money is shared between the Order and you
Don't be surprised, because building a sawmill in that area may not be a matter for your neighborhood of 100 households, but for the entire priestly order.
Okay, the sawmill is open and we are ready to find wood to saw. Do we need to contract a forest farm?
Who should I contract with? Isn’t that you? All of you in the Baihu District.
You decide how much the contracting fee is. This is the second fund, which belongs entirely to you.
Who does this fund belong to? Do you want to distribute it after splitting it equally?
That is obviously wrong, because for some people this money is a drop in the bucket and is not needed, but for some people it is a life-saving straw.
This money should be put into the holy treasury and shared by everyone. It should be mainly used to help poor families, build water conservancy projects, cultivate fields, build roads, etc. where the money can be distributed to everyone. ”
Looking at Guntare’s look of realization, Horn smiled.
This is just a micro-level action of this plan, which not only gives local governments a certain degree of autonomy but also It ensures the authority of the central government.
As for why this system was established, there are naturally reasons.
Under external military pressure, the confederation or federal system that fits the current era will no longer work.
Horn needs to quickly mobilize resources, focus on developing industries, and equip professional bureaucracy and a standing army to guard against potential war threats.
This means that the power of the representative body (the Senate) is not allowed to overwhelm the power of the Pope. Horn needs to control both executive and legislative powers.
Then if the Salvation Army is formally established, it must be a country with an absolutist bureaucracy, which means that it must be a big government.
But the common problem of big governments is bureaucracy, and bureaucrats become rigid and corrupt faster than the Eight Banners disciples.
Horn does not expect them to be rigid or corrupt. That is the inherent flaw of bureaucracy.
He just asked not to become rigid and corrupt so quickly, and to ensure his survival first.
So Horn must introduce competition and a quasi-market environment, while ensuring the authority of the central government and turning the government into administrative contractors.
When it comes to flexibility and lack of rigidity, who can compare to a contractor?
The various priestly and rural religious orders have become similar to large companies with subsidiaries participating in market competition.
It's just that the indicator of their competition is called political performance, and the profits they get are called power.
Horn issued a task to the general contractor (rural religious order), and the general contractor gave the task to the subcontractor (priestly religious order).
The Pope does not care how they are accomplished, only whether they are accomplished.
In extreme cases, Horn may not even need to give money, but only give decrees and time.
As long as the monks in the order want to make progress, they must use the finances in their hands to get things done.
Horn doesn't even care how the money in their hands is spent. It doesn't matter if they are corrupt, but things must be done well.
Corruption or not only determines whether to be dismissed or hanged after things are not handled well.
"You all understand the specific situation." Horn sorted out some documents in his hand, "If there are no problems, then you will follow the "Plan" to build 23 households near Fort Joan of Arc. The district has started a pilot project.”
The people present looked at each other and found that no one said anything.
Then, under the leadership of Armand, everyone stood up together, bowed in unison and replied: "Yes, Your Majesty."
(End of this chapter)