usatvline Chapter 49 Those who disobey will be killed without mercy!
Chapter 49 Those who disobey will be killed without mercy!
Seeing Zhu Houzhao's serious expression, Zhou Jing hesitated several times, wanting to speak but holding back.
"Your Majesty, the reason why taxes are collected so little is because taxes cannot be collected in many places!"
"The world is so vast, which piece of land isn't part of our Great Ming? How could we not take it over?"
Seeing Zhou Jing's troubled expression, Zhu Houzhao immediately said, "Grand Secretary Zhou, please don't have any reservations. Just tell me the truth!"
Zhou Jing took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, and nodded: "Alright, since that's the case, then I won't hold back anymore; I'll say whatever's on my mind!"
"The main reason why taxes are difficult to collect is that the tax system itself is flawed."
"In the Ming Dynasty, land is divided into different grades, and the taxes paid vary depending on the grade..."
Zhou Jing explained in detail the Ming Dynasty's tax policy to Zhu Houzhao from beginning to end.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Houzhao felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and immediately understood just how many flaws the current tax system had.
Simply put, land in the Ming Dynasty was classified into different grades: imperial land, official land, and private land. The tax rate varied depending on the grade of the land.
Imperial fields were exempt from taxes and were generally owned by the emperor or a prince.
The taxes on government land were light, while those on private land were heavy. The government land with the lighter taxes was mostly in the hands of officials and nobles.
At the same time, the princes of the Ming Dynasty and the officials and nobles of the court also had their own tax exemption privileges.
For more than a century, powerful officials and large landowners have seized vast amounts of land through various means and concealed the extent of their land holdings.
The imperial court received not a single penny of tax from these lands.
At the same time, in order to avoid heavy taxes and corvée labor, ordinary farmers would offer their land to officials and gentry who enjoyed tax-exempt privileges, becoming their tenants.
As a result, taxes on these lands either cannot be collected or become extremely low.
Not only did ordinary people surrender their land to officials and gentry, but officials and gentry would also disperse or falsely report their heavily taxed land under the names of poor households or runaway households in order to evade land taxes.
This led to poor households becoming abscondants due to the unbearable heavy taxes, and these fields became "ownerless fields," from which taxes could not be collected.
It's worth mentioning that capitalists have been using these methods for thousands of years, and they're still using them today.
We now call this a shell company or an offshore tax haven.
At the same time, not only were the princes exempt from taxes, but they also had the privilege of collecting taxes from their own fiefdoms.
In short, the result of these numerous problems was that officials and gentry families who owned tens of thousands of acres of land might only pay a few dozen bushels of taxes.
Poor people with only a few acres of meager land had to pay heavy taxes, amounting to several bushels of grain.
"Your Majesty, look at these figures! They are shocking!"
Zhou Jing placed the memorial in front of Zhu Houzhao, pointed to the lines of numbers, and sighed deeply.
Zhu Houzhao looked at it, but after reading only a few lines, he became furious, his right hand clenching so tightly it cracked.
Xie Qian of Yuyao Prefecture, with 1,269 men, 31,000 mu of land, and a tax of 72 shi.
Ma Wensheng of Junzhou Prefecture, with 2,126 men, 49,000 mu of land, and a tax of 41 shi.
Zhang Heling of Changping County, with 3,489 households, 62,000 mu of land, and a tax of three shi.
Xu Yi of Changping County, a man of four sons, owns seven mu of land and pays a tax of four shi (a unit of dry measure).
Meng Feng of Jinghai County, with five Ding and five mu of land, pays a tax of three shi.
The local princes not only did not pay any taxes, but also took 10,000 shi of rice from the imperial court every year as a stipend for the imperial family.
Looking at the shocking numbers on the memorial, Zhu Houzhao was so angry that his whole body trembled slightly.
Zhang Heling, who owns 60,000 mu of fertile land and has more than 3,000 servants, pays less in taxes in a year than an ordinary farmer with only 7 mu of land and 4 people!
Is there any justice in this world?!
Is there no law left?!
These officials and gentry used every means possible to avoid paying taxes, but all of it was their grain!
Over the years, they have accumulated such a vast fortune that the Ming Dynasty has lost tens of thousands of bushels of grain!
They deserve to die, they all deserve to die!
Zhu Houzhao's murderous intent surged once more.
All the officials and gentry in the land will be killed, and not a single one will escape!
Fortunately, Xie Qian, Ma Wensheng, and Zhang Heling had already been killed to the point of extinction by him.
However, Zhu Houzhao already had a solution to this problem.
That was the land tax reform policy of later generations.
The reason why current tax policies have so many drawbacks is because they are too cumbersome.
They had to collect both land tax and poll tax, and in addition to paying taxes, they also had to perform corvée labor.
At the same time, in order to protect the interests of officials, gentry, and princes, land was divided into different grades.
Meanwhile, the Ming Dynasty had not conducted a nationwide survey of land area for decades.
This resulted in a large amount of already cultivated wasteland being concealed, and a large amount of land registered under the names of runaway households continuing to be cultivated by landlords and officials.
Therefore, Zhu Houzhao's reform plan will be very simple and brutal.
The first step was to conduct a thorough survey of the land area across the country. Zhu Houzhao needed to know exactly how many acres of land the Ming Dynasty had.
The second step was to abolish corvée labor, poll tax, land classification system, and all superfluous regulations.
Taxes are levied only on the amount of land surveyed, and each tax collection, regardless of the amount, is only one-third of the total.
"Liu Jin!"
"Your servant is here!"
Liu Jin approached Zhu Houzhao and respectfully awaited his orders.
"Immediately have the Directorate of Ceremonial draft an edict ordering Grand Secretary Li Dongyang and Minister of Revenue Zhou Jing to be responsible for a new land survey throughout the country."
"Whether it is the land of a vassal king, an official or a gentry, or even my own imperial estates, all must be investigated together."
"Anyone who disobeys, regardless of who they are, will be killed without exception!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Liu Jin was terrified upon hearing this and quickly accepted the order and left.
Zhou Jing, deeply impressed by Zhu Houzhao's decisiveness, knelt on the ground and respectfully kowtowed to Zhu Houzhao: "Your old minister Zhou Jing respectfully obeys Your Majesty's decree!"
"The people of the Ming Dynasty have waited for so many years, and finally they have found their wise and benevolent ruler, Your Majesty!"
Zhou Jing raised his head, tears streaming down his face.
Starting in the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign, he replaced Ye Qi, the former Minister of Revenue who had abolished the open market system and adopted the exchange rate system, and took charge of the Ministry of Revenue.
He repeatedly petitioned the late emperor to reform the tax system, but Ma Wensheng, Liu Jian, Xie Qian, and Li Dongyang all strongly opposed it.
Emperor Xiaozong was helpless against them and could only delay the inevitable.
It wasn't until the eleventh year of the Hongzhi reign that Li Guang, a trusted eunuch of the late emperor, was murdered by Empress Dowager Zhou. Subsequently, the cabinet used this as an excuse to demote all of the late emperor's close associates from the capital.
It was during that incident that Zhou Jing was demoted to Nanjing.
Zhou Jing believed that no one in the world could control the cabinet and those civil officials.
I never expected this! The current emperor is the true Son of Heaven!
Zhou Jing was thoroughly pleased with the execution of those officials yesterday!
Now that His Majesty is going to vigorously promote tax reform, how could Zhou Jing not be excited, how could Zhou Jing not shed tears?!