allonlinenovel Chapter 1197 Good heavens, you old fool, you really dare to dream!
Chapter 1197 Good heavens, you old fool, you really dare to dream!
The black sesame dumpling, with its neck stiffened, said, "How many times has this happened already?"
"This time, I absolutely cannot let my father get away with this!"
"Tell me, brother-in-law, how should we make fun of Miss Liu Si?"
Yang Shaofeng chuckled twice and said, "I've only heard it from others, but my father-in-law was very fond of Miss Liu Si back then. Even after he became emperor, he still couldn't forget her and even sent the Embroidered Uniform Guard to look for news about her."
Black Sesame Dumpling gave Yang Shaofeng a thumbs up and said, "It's decided then. I'll have someone write an article for the 'Da Ming Daily' as soon as possible."
Yang Shaofeng nodded, and Heizhi Tangyuan continued, "Let's leave Miss Liu's matter as it is for now."
"What about the tax that my brother-in-law mentioned before?"
"I have over 90 points out of 100, you know my methods."
"It's so inspiring to hear that!"
Yang Shaofeng's eyes darted around, and he said, "Let's go, let's not go to Kunning Palace first, let's go find Minister Yang Siyi."
The two left the palace and headed straight for the Ministry of Civil Affairs, located at the southern end of the imperial city, between Hongwu Gate and Chengtian Gate, on the east side of the imperial road.
At this moment, Yang Siyi was surrounded by a sea of abacuses—dozens of clerks each had a large abacus with seven beads and seventeen columns, going back and forth between stacks of account books to do calculations.
When the clattering of the abacus stopped, the head clerk bowed to Yang Siyi and said, "Reporting to Minister Yang, the original estimate of the tax revenue for the eighth year of Hongwu was 30 million strings of cash less than the result we just estimated."
"In other words, as long as the commercial tax is increased from one-thirtieth to one-twentieth, the national treasury can have an additional thirty million strings of cash in commercial tax."
"If it's according to what the prince consort said, I'll get 95 out of 100..."
The clerk unconsciously licked his lips and said, "The national treasury may suddenly have hundreds of thousands of strings of cash in commercial taxes."
Yang Siyi shook his head and said, "I definitely can't do 95 out of 100. If we really collect taxes according to his suggestion, the economy of our Great Ming might collapse."
"Never mind, let's..."
Before Yang Siyi could finish speaking, Heizhi Tangyuan, who had just arrived at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, asked with a curious look, "What is Minister Yang busy with?"
Yang Siyi hurriedly bowed to the black sesame dumplings and said, "Your subject, Yang Siyi, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, concurrently Minister of the Tax Administration and Minister of the Treasury, pays respects to Your Highness the Crown Prince and Your Highness the Prince Consort."
The man with black sesame dumplings returned the greeting with a cupped hand and said, "My brother-in-law and I just arrived and heard Minister Yang talking about the economy of our Great Ming Dynasty. I wonder what it is..."
Yang Siyi smiled and glanced at Yang Shaofeng, saying, "Your Highness, I just had someone estimate the commercial tax for the eighth year of Hongwu."
At this point, Yang Siyi took another deep breath and said seriously, "Just by raising the commercial tax from one-thirtieth to one-twentieth, the commercial tax revenue in the eighth year of Hongwu will increase by more than 30 million strings of cash."
"Just a few days ago, the Prince Consort said that if the tax rate is 100, I will pay 95%... Of course, 95% is impossible. If the commercial tax rate is really raised to 95%, I'm afraid there will be no merchants in the world, and goods will not be able to circulate. Our Ming Dynasty's economy may collapse."
Yang Shaofeng looked at Yang Siyi with a bewildered expression.
One hundred revolutions and I get ninety-five?
I was just joking about Luo the Cripple and Yin Kaka, but you, Yang Siyi, actually dare to make people settle this score?
Good heavens, you old fool, you really dare to dream!
While complaining in his heart, Yang Shaofeng walked to the desk and carefully examined the large abacus in front of the clerk.
The abacus has seven beads, two on top and five on the bottom, for a total of seventeen levels. By simply putting two abacuses together, it can instantly become a large abacus with thirty-four levels. If you put one more on top, it can become a super large abacus with fifty-one levels.
Isn't this just a modular supercomputer the size of a human?
Regardless of how many calculations it can perform per second... anyway, these abacus users in the Ministry of Civil Affairs already represent the highest computing power in the entire world.
If this were used for mining...
Yang Shaofeng unconsciously smacked his lips.
Mining is impossible.
And as for the abacus... I actually know a little bit about it, though not much.
I can still do some basic addition and subtraction, but I've forgotten everything I learned about more complex operations.
What's really infuriating is that the school won't refund the tuition...
Yang Shaofeng's thoughts kept going astray, eventually drifting towards outer space.
Heizhitangyuan called out "Brother-in-law," and after Yang Shaofeng came to his senses, he asked directly, "Brother-in-law, what do you think is the highest the commercial tax can be raised to?"
Yang Shaofeng glanced at the black sesame dumplings and asked, "May I ask Your Highness, do you still remember the luxury tax I once mentioned?"
The black sesame glutinous rice ball nodded.
The concept of luxury tax was proposed by my brother-in-law when he first took charge of the Dengzhou market. It mainly targeted time-consuming and labor-intensive goods such as Suzhou embroidery, Sichuan embroidery, Tangxi swords, and Longquan ink paste, which were unrelated to people's daily livelihoods.
Items like glass cups, which don't affect people's livelihoods but have a large circulation and high trade volume in the market, were also included in the luxury tax category.
Yang Shaofeng scoffed and said, "When we first started implementing the luxury tax, what did you hear those businessmen in the related industries say?"
"Luxury tax is worse than a tiger."
"It's as if collecting more than half of their taxes would kill them."
"and after?"
The black sesame glutinous rice ball nodded again.
When the luxury tax was first introduced, the wealthy merchants in Jiangnan acted as if their parents had died and the sky had fallen.
Later... later, the rate at which luxury taxes were levied couldn't keep up with the rate at which prices were rising.
The Ming Dynasty levied a luxury tax of 10,000 strings of cash on them, and they dared to raise prices by 20,000 strings of cash. In addition to the tax of 10,000 strings of cash, they could actually make more money than before.
Yang Shaofeng sneered again and said, "It is true that in some industries, even a one-cent tax increase can affect people's livelihoods, such as salt, iron, tea, and oil, which are related to people's daily lives."
"However, salt and iron are state-run monopolies, and ordinary merchants have no say in them. Whether taxes are low or high has nothing to do with the merchants. Even if the commercial taxes are high, it's just money being transferred from the pockets of the Salt Transport Commissioner's Office and the Ministry of Industry to the national treasury."
Yang Siyi's eyes lit up immediately.
What a coincidence, isn't it?
I happen to be in charge of the national treasury.
As for the Salt Transport Commissioner's Office and the Ministry of Industry... they have their own chief officials, so you don't need to worry about them!
Thinking of this, Yang Siyi stroked his beard and smiled, looking at the black sesame dumplings and said, "I understand now. What the Prince Consort means is that certain trades can charge high fees, not limited to one-twentieth, three-tenths, or even seven-tenths of the tax."
"Even if some trades can't get 30% tax, they can at least get 10% tax."
"In this way, the national treasury can collect more taxes."
At this point, Yang Siyi turned to the two clerks behind him and instructed them: "Immediately calculate the output, total transaction value, and tax amount of all silk products in the seventh year of Hongwu. Then, according to the silk products in the stages of raw silk, spun silk, dyeing, and finished products, calculate the output, tax amount, and total transaction value of different stages, and calculate the maximum tax rate they can bear!"