Chapter 106: Tax System
Upon hearing Zhao Wanrou’s agreement, Su Wen said seriously, “This matter isn’t something that can be accomplished in a day! I’m only talking about an understanding, so it might not have a good effect. So don’t tell His Majesty.”
He said in a low voice, “In the current Great Zhou, those with power are bound to have money. If we rashly act, we will definitely cause a monstrous backlash. At that time, the turmoil will likely surpass our expectations. No one can guarantee what the final outcome will be.”
Zhao Wanrou nodded. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell Father.”
Su Wen sorted out his thoughts and said, “In the Great Zhou Dynasty, there is a huge difference in wealth between the commoners and the influential officials. However, no matter who it is, even His Majesty cannot directly share the money with the commoners. Therefore, I personally think that we should start with the tax system!”
“Tax system?” Zhao Wanrou muttered, “But the taxes of the Great Zhou citizens are already very low. It’s only 3%!”
Su Wen smiled and said, “Who said anything about tax cuts? What we need to do is to classify the tax system and eliminate the privileged taxpayers.”
“Tax classification? Eliminate the privileged taxpayers?”
“That’s right. First of all, the merchants of Great Zhou are considered part of the commoners. However, their taxes are similar to that of agricultural taxes. In this way, the merchants earn more than the commoners, but the hard work they put in is much less. Moreover, many nobles and aristocrats also work together to earn large amounts of wealth through the union of official merchants!”
“The tax system classification is based on this. We can get them to pay taxes according to their income level. For example, those who earn less than ten taels of silver a year have no need to pay taxes.
Those who earn at least ten taels a year will be taxed at a rate of 10%, and those who earn at least twenty taels will pay 30% in taxes. For those who earn at least 40 taels a year, they will have to pay a tax of 50%!”
“This way, the pressure on the lower-class citizens will decrease. At the same time, for those who earn huge sums such as twenty thousand taels a year, or even a million taels a year, the enormous amount of taxation can completely make up for the problem of the lower-class citizens not paying taxes!”
Zhao Wanrou understood. “That’s why we have to abolish the level of privileged taxpayers! For example, the officials of my Great Zhou!”
Su Wen tapped her nose and smiled. “Smart! The officials of our Great Zhou Dynasty and their relatives who don’t have to pay taxes for three generations . My father has taken advantage of this policy to reduce taxes by who knows how much, let alone others. If we don’t cancel this policy, even if the tax system is tiered, it will still be difficult to divide these people’s wealth.”
“When the treasury is full, His Majesty will naturally think of a way to use the money to aid the people. At that time, the lives of the people will get better.”
At this point, Su Wen sighed and said, “But this is just a conjecture. Any reform has to face a lot more real problems. For example, eliminating the privileged taxpayers. The first ones to resist would be the officials of our Great Zhou Dynasty! At that time, will His Majesty be able to withstand this pressure? After the tax system is graded, it will take a lot of effort to regulate and supervise the income of the inspectors!
At the same time, His Majesty will have to establish a new regulatory department to supervise the daily prices of the common people’s daily necessities, set the prices, and not allow any inflated transactions to take place in private! It will prevent those people from transferring their taxes to the commoners! Who knows how many problems will arise in the entire Great Zhou Dynasty!”
Su Wen knew very well that nothing could be resolved with just words.
This was especially the case for the most fundamental national policy. Every move had to be extremely cautious. The slightest mistake could cause problems for the entire country.
This was also why he didn’t want Zhao Wanrou to tell Emperor Zhou about this.
There were too many examples of people doing bad things out of kindness.
However, Su Wen did not know that the two old men next door were already dumbfounded!
As he and Zhao Wanrou discussed and ate, they were almost done.
They soon stood up and left.
However, the two old men were completely immersed in Su Wen’s words and were deep in thought.
Ji Yuchen murmured, “He’s a genius! A heaven shaking genius!”
Liu Mo also nodded and said, “Indeed! From this person’s voice, he’s probably only a youth. It’s already not easy for him to have such knowledge at his age. However, this person can still maintain his rationality and not be anxious in his actions at all. He’s truly impressive!”
Actually, what Su Wen said was merely based on some knowledge from his previous life.
However, in this era, this was already an epoch-making policy!
The two of them finished digesting Su Wen’s words and came back to their senses. Ji Yuchen stood up and walked out, only to realize that Su Wen had already left with Zhao Wanrou!
“Which family’s young master has such foresight?”
Ji Yuchen muttered to himself, “This person is so knowledgeable. He can be said to be the pillar of the country! Yet, I can’t even meet him! This regret is killing me!”
The old fellow’s chest felt stuffy, and it was indescribably uncomfortable.
He seemed to see the hope of the commoners of the Great Zhou leading better lives!
Liu Mo came out and shook his head. “What a pity. Just now, you and I were indulging in this person’s words, but we never came out to meet! However, Brother Yuchen, don’t be anxious. From their conversation just now, one of them is a princess, and the other is definitely a disciple of Great Zhou’s nobility. In the future, they will serve His Majesty!”
Ji Yuchen said with a red face, “Nonsense! Don’t be anxious? How can I not be anxious? How can I not discuss such a national policy in detail? If I offer it to Your Majesty, it might completely improve the situation of the citizens of the Great Zhou! Young people are afraid of trouble, but I’m not afraid of death!”
Liu Mo said with a bitter smile, “Didn’t the youth say that once this plan is used, it will definitely cause a huge commotion? From what I see, not only will this happen, the person who offers this strategy will even offend all the influential officials of Great Zhou!”
Ji Yuchen said disdainfully, “And then? So what if I offend the influential officials? I would rather have my head cut off than live an ignoble life! I’m not Guo Bin, slapped in the mouth by that Su Wen until I didn’t dare to meet anyone! I must find this young man! I will talk to him about the world! Even if I die, I will change the thousand years of weakness of our Great Zhou!”
“Aren’t you afraid that there will be rivers of blood and chaos?” Liu Mo frowned.
Ji Yuchen said coldly, “When I resigned, I felt despair. I was part of the founding members of a country that could last a thousand years, however the commoners lived in misery, but I never knew what to do! Now that the national policy has appeared, so what if there are rivers of blood and chaos in the world? If I don’t have the heart to break my arm, when will this turbulent world be clear and bright? Will the commoners have to slog for another millennium in order to be rich?”
“With the strategy of the age before us, wouldn’t it be a waste if we hesitated?”
Ji Yuchen quickly went to find the waiter to find out Su Wen’s identity and whereabouts. However, it was Su Wen’s first time here and the waiter did not know him.
Ji Yuchen panicked and placed ten taels of silver in front of the waiter!
“You! No matter when you see this Young Master again, you must inform me. At that time, I will reward you heavily!”
The waiter looked at the old man in front of him with his mouth wide open. He could not help but feel a little lost.
Was this person crazy?
You didn’t look for the person when they were eating here just now. Now that they’re gone, you’re acting like this?
However, since someone was giving him money, the waiter quickly accepted it and agreed with a smile!
Ji Yuchen mumbled, “That’s right. That person is right. How should we supervise such a policy? Right now, I gave the waiter ten taels of silver, but no one knows except us. What should we do?”
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