Chongzhen smiled, "So Brother Qin already has a way to raise money?"

Qin Shuhuai looked at Chongzhen's greasy smile, and knew that this kid was premeditated to cry poor with himself.

Speaking of which, the 10 million taels of silver to distribute military salaries, provide relief to disaster victims, repair rivers and make up for the deficit are indeed about to run out.

After a deep groan, Qin Shuhuai said, "Hehe, Brother Huang, what I will talk to you about next is not a way to raise money, but a way to collect money." ”

"Oh, what's the difference?"

"Raising money is a momentary measure, but collecting money is a century-old plan. ”

Chongzhen smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed into a strip, emitting blue light.

"What Brother Qin wants to say is the revolution of the Ming Dynasty? Hehe, I'm listening. ”

Qin Shuhuai chuckled, "Brother Huang Mingjian." Then I'll say the same. ”

"First of all, we should emphasize commercial taxes over agricultural taxes. Among the commercial taxes, there are four taxes on heavy salt, silk, tea and mine. ”

"How should these four taxes be drawn?" Chongzhen asked.

"It's worth fifteen out of a hundred. Qin Shuhuai replied indifferently.

Chongzhen was shocked, "Brother Qin, how can the people bear such a heavy burden? ”

Qin Shuhuai said in his heart, big brother, if you go to a few hundred years from now, you will know that this tax is outrageously light, okay? Any value-added tax will charge you 17%, and it doesn't matter if you make a profit or not.

However, he didn't believe it either.

After a pause, he said, "Your Majesty, do you know how much the Ming Dynasty actually paid to the tenant farmers? ”

Chongzhen was speechless.

Although the agricultural tax was not high on the surface, with the addition of Liaoyu, expropriation, and various apportionments, it must have exceeded 50 percent, and even as high as 70 percent in some areas, and he naturally knew about this situation.

Qin Shuhuai said again, "So, the agricultural tax can't be collected because of this commercial tax? Besides, we only collect half of him, it's not enough to have a conscience?"

"Will that lead to a sharp increase in the price of salt tea and iron silk?" Chongzhen asked worriedly.

"Your Majesty, didn't the ministers tell you before? The reason for the high price of salt is not because of high taxes, but because officials from all over the country have pushed up the price of salt. When the time comes, as long as you raise taxes on the one hand, and at the same time decree the maximum price of these things, whoever exceeds this price will be arrested. Well, this is called the government, oh no, the imperial court guide price. You can rest assured, those who produce and sell salt will not be picked and discouraged because of this, and they don't care if they make so much less money. The same is true of tea, silk, and iron. ”

Chongzhen frowned and thought for a while, and said, "What Brother Qin said is also right, the tenant farmer's tax should be collected, and the merchant's tax should also be collected. It's worth fifteen out of 100, but there's still what they earn. ”

Qin Shuhuai said again, "Not only must it be collected, but it must be collected in accordance with the law, so as to ensure that all of them have to pay taxes obediently, and they can't cheat and cheat." ”

Chongzhen's eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said, "Brother Qin even has a way to do this?"

Tax evasion has been a problem since ancient times, and the ancient tax methods are too simple and full of loopholes, so generally speaking, one or two out of ten businessmen pay taxes normally.

Therefore, when Chongzhen heard that Qin Shuhuai had a way to make every merchant collect taxes, how could he not be surprised and delighted?

Qin Shuhuai raised his neck and drank the glass of wine, and said lightly, "Simple! Let's implement invoices...... Oh no, it would be nice to have a tax deed system. Take salt as an example, the tax department regularly or irregularly inspects salt shops, and the amount of salt sold has to be taken out as many tax deeds, and if you can't get it, you will wait for jail. Where did this tax deed come from? It was from the salt shop from the upper house that bought the goods. That is to say, the big salt merchant has to give him as much tax deed as he sells to the salt shop. So where did the tax deeds of the big salt merchants come from? They were given by the salt farms that produced the salt. In the same way, the salt factory has to pay the big salt merchant as much salt as he sells it. And where did the tax deed of the salt works come from? That was given by the imperial court. He himself reported how much salt he sold, and we gave him as much tax deed as he wanted. ”

Chongzhen was in a trance when he heard this, and muttered to himself, "The salt farm reports it yourself?"

Won't he report it less or omit it if he reports it himself?

But what seems wrong?

Chongzhen pondered for a long time.

After frowning and drinking a few glasses, it finally dawned on me.

He patted his thigh heavily and said, "Wonderful! Wonderful! In this case, in order not to be punished, the owner of the salt shop has to chase the big salt merchant for the tax deed? And the big salt merchant has to chase the salt farm for the tax deed in order not to be punished? And in order to obtain the same amount of tax deed, the salt shop has not to truthfully declare the amount of salt to the imperial court?"

Qin Shuhuai smiled, "The emperor is wise." In this way, the imperial court only needs to inspect those small salt shops and small salt sellers. These people are timid and have few connections, and in order to avoid being severely punished, they will definitely take the initiative to ask the salt merchant for a tax deed. In this way, it will be difficult for the big salt merchants and salt factories above to do tricks. ”

What Qin Shuhuai said is very simple, but it took thousands of years for human society to come up with this method.

This method of tax collection has a resounding name in later generations, called value-added tax.

VAT can be said to be the most cross-era invention in the history of taxation, because its emergence has increased tax efficiency by at least 5 to 10 times!

Of course, no tax method can be perfect, and there will certainly be cases of tax evasion. However, compared to the previous tax method, it is easy to charge 5 times more tax for the same tax rate after adopting this method.

Chongzhen was completely excited.

The eyes were bigger than the brass bells.

Pulling Qin Shuhuai's clothes, he said, "Brother Qin, if you completely use your method to collect it, according to your estimate, how much tax can we pay annually on the salt tax?"

Qin Shuhuai spit out a number lightly.

"It's probably more than 20 million taels!"

"How much?"

"Twenty million taels!"

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the salt production was about 800 million catties, 300 wen per catty, equivalent to 240 million taels of silver. If you draw at 17%, you can ideally receive 40 million taels. However, the ideal state is not easy to achieve, so Qin Shuhuai gave a discount, conservatively estimating 20 million taels.

What is the concept of 20 million taels? It is three times the annual tax of the whole country in the past!

And that's just the salt tax!

Chongzhen's hand holding the wine glass began to shake slightly.

"Brother Qin, are you really joking with me?"

Qin Shuhuai smiled slightly, "Your Majesty, I am talking to you as a minister now." ”

Chongzhen raised his voice again and asked, "Then with Brother Qin's estimate, adding up all the taxes, how much tax can Daming collect in a year?"

Qin Shuhuai said, "Your Majesty, the minister thinks so. Let's get rid of the Tian Fu first, and then cut off the messy salaries and salaries, and then set a small goal, for example, to make it 100 million taels first. ”

"How much?"

"One hundred million taels. ”

This number Qin Shuhuai is not unbelievable.

In the middle and late Qing Dynasty, the national tax was about 50 million taels, not counting the various local apportionments, if the bright and dark were counted, 100 million taels was more.

Some people say that the times are different, and the Ming Dynasty may not be able to collect so many taxes.

In fact, the Ming Dynasty was only more prosperous and open in commercial activities than the Qing Dynasty, and the population was no less than that of the Qing Dynasty.

Of course, these can also be left aside. 10,000 steps back, even if the Qing Dynasty had better social and economic development than the Ming Dynasty because of the later times, it should be emphasized that this is 10,000 steps back, which is not the case.

Then Qin Shuhuai relied on the more advanced concept of "value-added tax", and the efficiency of taxation was at least 5 times more than that of the Qing Dynasty.

Moreover, Qin Shuhuai planned to set up a customs office and open up foreign trade. Referring to some pirates in the late Ming Dynasty, we know that just smuggling, the foreign trade volume of the Ming Dynasty was at least tens of millions of taels of silver. If it's completely open, then the numbers will definitely be more than that. Customs is a place where high taxes can be levied, and taxes on both sides of import and export goods are collected, even if the tax of 30% is considered low - guess how much can be collected this year?

In addition, Qin Shuhuai can also make ideas on the canal, which is another income.

Anything else?

Of course!

At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the commodity economy was unprecedentedly prosperous, and a large number of money and silver accounts appeared?

Not only does it collect taxes, but the imperial court also engages in the issuance of silver bills backed by the credit of the imperial court, ranging from one tael to ten thousand taels. If the imperial court can't do it on its own, it will invite big businessmen from all over the country to participate in the shares, and even give the right to operate in various places to these businessmen, and the court only needs to control the general number - is there a faster way to get money than the central bank printing money?

Qin Shuhuai can come up with countless ways to generate income, so 100 million is really just a small goal.

But Chongzhen is already going crazy, floating, and expanding.

The kid repeated as if stunned, "One hundred million taels...... 100,000,000,000 ......"

After a while, he said with a fluttering eyebrow, "Brother Qin, with this 100 million taels, how can we spend it?"

Qin Shuhuai put away the hippie smiling expression, stood up suddenly, and said ambitiously, "How to spend it? First of all, buy back all the fertile land in the hands of a few feudal kings, and then distribute it to the disaster victims and displaced people who have no land to cultivate! If they are willing to sell, it is fine, and if they refuse to sell, let the storyteller scold him to death! A family occupies hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land, and if they don't plant it themselves, they won't let others plant it, what kind of thing?"

Chongzhen was already drinking at this time, and he blushed and wanted to monkey buttocks.

He slapped the table and shouted, "Well said! When the time comes, not only will the storyteller scold him, but I will also scold him! The rich have thousands of acres of fertile land without ploughing it, and the poor want to have food and clothing but can't do it, it's simply unreasonable! What a thing!"

Qin Shuhuai took off his coat, slammed it to the ground, and continued, "Then let's build guns and run, recruit soldiers and buy horses, fight Mongolian Jiannu in the north, and conquer Yarkand Junggar in the west, whoever doesn't accept it will fuck him!"

Chongzhen also stood up, took off his coat, and fell to the ground in a similar manner.

"Damn, I've been waiting for this day for a long time! When I have money, I'm going to take the royal conquest, and whoever doesn't accept it will fuck him!"

"Also, let's take the money to build a big ship, and the ship is full of cannons, and if we have nothing to do, we will go to Africa, the Americas, and Europe to show off our might! Sign him a hundred or so unequal treaties, force them to open a hundred or so treaty ports, and let them be reduced to a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society if they are unhappy! Damn, let's talk to them well, what justice is only within the range of cannons. ”

"Eh, Brother Qin, what is an unequal treaty, where is Africa, America, and Europe?"

"It's far away, anyway, except for the broken place in Europe, the rest of the place is full of gold, and whoever is ruthless will be whomever will be punished. ”

"And this good thing? It has to be done, it has to be done!"

"! When our fleet runs around the world for so many laps, I'll ask the world a word!"

"What's that?"

"And, yes, who?"

"And ...... Brother Qin, I'm a little dizzy. ”

"And so. Hey, Brother Huang, I'm down again, I'm disappointed!"

Qin Shuhuai ignored Chongzhen, who was already lying on the table, picked up the wine jug and poured a few sips of wine by himself, and then pressed the wine jug on the table with a "snap".

"Just do it!"