The sudden arrival of the tax commissioner not only interrupted the government's interpretation of the law, but also cut off the firewood from under the cauldron, making the officials feel somewhat at a loss.
They really didn't expect such a change to happen. Although they all knew that the court had ordered the establishment of a Taxation Bureau in Hezhong Prefecture, everyone predicted that the Taxation Bureau would not arrive until next year at the earliest and would not be able to operate until the year after. They never thought that it would arrive at the end of this year. When did the court become so efficient
The dispute over the purchase tax was essentially a power game between the government and the imperial court. This was the first time that the government had confronted the imperial court's decree head-on. Although this was not the first time they had a conflict, in the past it was always under Yuan Jiang's manipulation that the government chose to turn "danger" into "opportunity" and use the imperial court's decrees to implement its new policies.
For example, the salt debt was born out of the dispute between the two.
But this approach always made officials feel aggrieved. Although they did not lose much in terms of political achievements, they believed that they had been suppressed by the imperial court in terms of power. However, they were unable to fight back against the imperial court, and they were already holding a grudge in their hearts.
However, the further aggression of the imperial court made them feel that they had reached the point of no return and there was no need to endure it any longer.
So they chose to fight back by imposing taxes.
But man disposes, as planned. The arrival of the Tax Commissioner caused their counterattack to fail in the nick of time.
The fundamental reason is that they have lost the power to impose taxes.
this... .!
It's really embarrassing.
The government has no power to decide whether to implement the shopping tax, so how can it argue with the imperial court? The key is that the tax commissioner directly stated that he wanted to abolish the shopping tax. Regardless of whether they did it intentionally or not, this decision is definitely beneficial to the imperial court.
Because the royal court wanted to ban the purchase tax, but they refused to agree.
In addition, Chen Ming's attitude made officials feel very uncomfortable. They believed that Chen Ming, like the public security, procuratorate and courts, did not belong to the entire bureaucratic system and was relatively independent.
If this is true, it would be a double whammy.
However, everything in the officialdom is based on interpersonal relationships, so they immediately investigated Chen Ming to see which faction he belonged to.
It would have been fine if I hadn't checked, but once I did I was shocked.
It turned out that Chen Ming was a warehouse keeper in the Nei Zang Ku, specializing in serving the emperor's private money. He was recently promoted to tax collector and had nothing to do with the entire bureaucratic system.
This person doesn't belong to any faction, he is the emperor's man.
It seems that the rumor that the Commissioner of Taxation reports directly to the emperor is not groundless.
And Chen Ming really didn't seem to intend to get close to them, or even to establish a colleague friendship with them. He simply put aside the official document from the court and immediately took over the tax collection rights of Hezhong Prefecture.
The first thing Chen Ming had to do was to resolve the imminent lawsuit regarding the purchase tax. After all, he had already taken over the power in this area.
He ignored the game between the government and the imperial court and directly hired Lu Bangxing to file a petition to the imperial court, expressing his dissatisfaction with the imperial court's previous judgment, which was to grant tax exemption to those people.
The reason is that the government has changed and all tax collection matters are now handled by our tax commissioner. Our tax commissioner believes that the royal court's judgment is unfair, so he wants to appeal.
Of course, the royal court accepted it with pleasure.
In fact, whether everyone is convinced by the Royal Court’s judgment is not the key point. It is impossible for every judgment to convince everyone. The key lies in whether everyone accepts the entire set of procedures of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs.
For example, if the government is dissatisfied and chooses to continue to appeal, even if the appeal is successful and Zhang Fei's verdict is overturned, Zhang Fei will still be very supportive, because Zhang Fei is not pursuing the final say, but hopes that everyone will use public security, procuratorial and judicial procedures to solve the problem.
In fact, the government took the right approach this time. This was indeed what Zhang Fei feared the most. He repeatedly ensured that old accounts would not be settled because he was worried that such a thing would happen, but unfortunately, he failed in the end.
Now that the Commissioner of Taxation is willing to resolve the dispute by appealing to the Royal Court, the Royal Court will certainly be willing to give you another chance.
After learning about this, the procuratorate took the opportunity to disgust the government and publicly announced that it would withdraw the lawsuit against the government and would contact the tax commissioner directly.
On the surface, withdrawing the lawsuit against the government seems to be a good thing for the government, but in fact, it tells everyone that the government has lost this power and there is no point in competing with the government.
They are all outdated, and the Commissioner of Taxation is the new upstart in Hezhong Prefecture.
This made Wei Yingfang and the others very angry.
Are we no longer eligible to be sued
Is there still any law
But the fact is that the public security, procuratorial and judicial departments no longer deal with the government, and all choose to hand over to the Commissioner of Taxation.
Royal Court.
"Tax Collector Chen, please take a seat."
"Thank you very much."
Chen Ming bowed and sat down.
Zhang Fei looked at Chen Ming and saw that he had a serious face, which was very similar to Li He, the tax commissioner of Beijing. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "Are all the people in your tax commissioner so serious?"
Chen Ming was stunned at first, then he forced a smile and responded to Zhang Fei.
Zhang Fei couldn't bear to tease him anymore, his expression changed, and he said seriously: "I'm so sorry, the plan can't keep up with the changes, so I have to ask you to come earlier. I don't know how you are prepared?"
Chen Ming said truthfully: "We are still not well prepared. The information we have now can only deter them temporarily. But fortunately, the tax will start next year. We still have at least half a year, so there shouldn't be any problems."
"wrong."
Zhang Fei shook his head and said, "Strictly speaking, you still have about a year to prepare."
Chen Ming looked at Zhang Fei in confusion.
Zhang Fei took out a document and handed it to Chen Ming, and explained: "The government's previous way of collecting taxes was to try to use civilian forces. For example, the purchase tax was collected by merchants and wealthy people, and the two taxes were collected by the heads of households and village heads in the village. This is obviously not suitable for the tax department.
The Commissioner of Taxation collects taxes through voluntary declaration. If they were to be collected separately, it would be impossible with the manpower and resources of the Commissioner of Taxation. At the beginning, many ministers in the capital were not optimistic about the voluntary declaration of the exemption tax, and it was finally completed with difficulty, and it took several months. Therefore, I have formulated a system for the Commissioner of Taxation to unify the taxes.
Of course, this entire tax system must be coordinated with the exemption law, because the existence of the exemption law not only allows taxes to be set at different tax amounts based on different incomes, but also allows all people to be exempted from labor and turn labor into money.
Based on these two points, all taxes can be combined into one, and each household can pay taxes based on their different income each year."
Chen Ming did not question Zhang Fei's proposal, because before he came, Zhao Xu told him that everything should be done according to Zhang Fei's orders, and he just had to execute them. So he just asked: "So the tax commissioner is short of manpower and proposed this method to the government?"
"Yes."
Zhang Fei nodded.
In fact, Zhang Fei had already written to Zhao Xu about this proposal of unifying taxes, but he said that the specific tax rate had not been calculated at that time, but he still won Zhao Xu's approval.
Because of this voluntary declaration, the review is very troublesome. You have to know that most people are illiterate, and someone has to be sent to help them fill out the tax return. If you check two or three types of taxes and fill out the return three or four times a year, where can you find so much manpower and resources? The tax commissioner may not be able to do it even if he works all year round. The key is that the people do not have so much energy.
Combining various taxes into one and then setting different tax rates based on different incomes is a tax collection method that is very consistent with the tax commissioner's method of collecting taxes.
Citizens only need to declare once.
They also only need to investigate one tax.
But if we look at it from a deeper perspective, it is actually about collecting taxes from wealthy households, and this is entirely due to Wang Anshi's exemption law.
Because Wang Anshi's exemption law included everyone, including officials, monks, Taoists, female households, etc. Although his law did not completely abolish their privileges, it still imposed taxes on them, which was very critical.
But this is only one reason. The second reason is that the exemption tax is determined according to different incomes. When taxes are unified, this attribute will be added to all taxes, and rich households will have to pay more money.
This is all based on the law.
If there was no exemption law, Zhang Fei would not be able to do this. The imperial court must abide by the law.
Chen Ming asked again: "Then what do we need to pay attention to?"
"Tax inspection."
Zhang Fei answered simply and clearly: "There will definitely still be people who evade taxes, but now it is different from before. Now it depends on the evidence. The tax commissioner must get solid evidence before he can initiate a lawsuit.
Of course, I will then promulgate new punishments for tax evasion, abolish some of the tortures, and increase the fines. As for the fines, the tax commissioner and the finance department will split the bill 70% to 30%. The government will only keep 30%, and the rest will go to you, the tax commissioner."
Chen Mingdao: "This is used to motivate those people to check taxes."
A gleam of praise flashed in Zhang Fei's eyes, and then he smiled and nodded.
Chen Ming said: "Then they will definitely check the taxes of the rich."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "I didn't say that, and I suggest you don't say that either."
Chen Ming nodded in understanding and said, "We have summoned those who are proficient in various tax collection methods in Hezhong Prefecture to the Taxation Department. Tax inspection should not be a problem, but how should we enforce the law when facing these wealthy people and big landowners?"
Zhang Fei said: "The police station has trained a 500-man, fully armed elite force for the tax commissioner. When your tax commissioner officially opens, the police station will hand over this elite force to the tax commissioner. This elite force is enough to destroy any large farm in Hezhong Prefecture. There is only one type of person you need to pay attention to, and you must report to me first before deciding whether to take action."
Chen Ming said: "What kind of people?"
Zhang Fei said: "Even those military families have experienced soldiers in battle. At present, the tax commissioner may not be able to defeat them, but people like them can be dealt with through political means. In short, when facing the strong, we should overcome the strong with the soft, and when facing the soft, we should suppress the soft with the hard."
Chen Ming nodded and said, "I understand."
Zhang Fei asked again: "Regarding the lawsuit on the purchase tax, do you need me to send someone to assist you?"
Chen Ming shook his head and said, "Thank you for your kindness, President. We can solve this problem."
As he said that, he stood up and said, "If there is nothing else, Chen Ming will take his leave first."
Zhang Fei was stunned for a moment, then stood up. "I don't know much about official etiquette. Should I set up a banquet to welcome Tax Commissioner Chen?"
Chen Ming bowed and said, "Thank you, Grand Judge. I am so grateful to you for your hospitality. Besides, there are still many matters waiting for me to deal with at the taxation department."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Then let's do it next time. I'll take Tax Collector Chen."
"Your Excellency, please excuse me. Good-bye."
Chen Ming bowed again, then turned and left.
Zhang Fei smiled and nodded. After Chen Ming left, he smiled and said, "This is more like a working person. He is much more reliable than those officials. Hmm... It seems that the inner treasury is really full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers!"
In fact, if Wang Anshi and Sima Guang were to take on the position of tax collector, they might not do a good job. These officials, who were Jinshi graduates, only had the world in their eyes and would not care about the tiny profits. However, this was obviously not suitable for the duties of the tax commissioner, and this job had to be done by capable officials.
The Nei Cangku was specifically responsible for helping the emperor manage money and land. If you didn't have the skills, you couldn't enter the Nei Cangku.
As soon as Chen Ming left, Xu Zhiqian came in and said, "Tax Collector Chen left, why didn't you keep him here for a quick meal?"
Zhang Fei sighed: "He is busy making money and doesn't have much time to entertain me."
Xu Zhiqian smiled lightly, as if to say, I don't believe you. Then she asked, "How was your conversation?"
"No talk, I just told him some things."
Zhang Fei suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. "Now that the tax commissioner is here, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief. This is really not easy!"
Xu Zhiqian said: "The tax commissioner is here, what does it have to do with our imperial court?"
Zhang Fei said: "It's a big deal. Without the tax commissioner, the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs will never be able to get on the right track. Because the current conflicts are most likely caused by taxation, and this is something our imperial court cannot handle impartially. Take the purchase tax for example, even a blind man knows that they are collecting taxes illegally, but the best solution our imperial court can give is to let them find a way to reconcile.
The most lawless people are those who collect taxes, but they are making money for the country. This is the most difficult case for our royal court.
Now that the tax commissioner has arrived, they will enforce the laws made by our imperial court. They will collect taxes according to the law, not based on personal preference. Only then can we truly make judgments according to the law. This will greatly reduce the pressure on our imperial court, and those officials will not stare at us every day, but will try to evade the tax commissioner's investigation."
Xu Zhiqian nodded slightly and said, "What you said makes some sense."
Zhang Fei said: "It makes more than a little sense. Without the tax commissioner to rectify the tax system, it would be difficult for the judiciary to develop. Because between money and law, the court will most likely choose money. A starving person will not care about the law. Only when the court realizes that the law can make money, the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs can be considered truly successful."
Xu Zhiqian said: "So the success of justice is based on money, not on injustice."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "If it were you three years ago, I would tell you that justice is based on justice."
Xu Zhiqian asked: "Why?"
Zhang Fei laughed and said, "Because you were still very naive at that time!"
Xu Zhiqian glared at him fiercely and snorted, "I am also very childish now."
Zhang Fei said: "Now you can call it pursuing your ideal, because at least you can accept that justice is based on money."
Xu Zhiqian sighed in frustration, "What can I do if I don't accept it?"
"Look! This is the sign of maturity." Zhang Fei said with a smile.
... ... .
After Chen Ming left, he immediately dealt with the case of the purchase tax. Although the Commissioner of Taxation had appealed to the Royal Court, it was only asking the Royal Court to withdraw its previous judgment. In fact, the Commissioner of Taxation did not intend to sue those purchasers because it would be difficult to win.
Chen Ming still chose to negotiate privately with the households, saying that the government was willing to share the burden with the households, but the households would bear 70% and the government would bear 30%.
As the representative of the pouhu, Li Min also told Chen Ming and the others this truth in a very realistic way, "We cannot accept a 30-70 split in any case. According to the contract signed between my client and the government, the government is always encouraging us to collect more and get more. My client is completely in accordance with the contract with the government. Of course, my client does not want things to come to this point. In the end, we can only accept a 50-50 split, with one party bearing half."
Just as Lu Bangxing was about to refute Li Min, Chen Ming suddenly put down his teacup and said to Li Min, "Go tell those tax payers that the reason we are willing to bear 30% is that our tax department suddenly took over and hopes to resolve the matter as soon as possible, not for any other reason. If you are unwilling to accept our conditions, our tax department can bear all the compensation, but our tax department will investigate those tax payers for tax evasion this year, and we can get more."
Li Min was not afraid of Chen Ming at all, because he had the Imperial Court behind him, so he said very seriously: "You are threatening me, I can sue you in the Imperial Court."
Chen Ming spread his hands: "Who can testify?"
As he said this, he looked at Lu Bangxing very seriously, "Lu Erbi, do you think I am threatening him?"
Lu Bangxing shook his head and said, "I didn't hear anything."
Li Min felt embarrassed and looked down on Lu Bangxing.
Lu Bangxing replied to Li Min with his eyes, I'm not afraid of him, I'm just his spy, do you think I'm on your side
Chen Ming slapped the settlement proposal directly in front of Li Min, "I am very familiar with your methods, so don't play tricks on me. Tell those customers what I said, they will be very willing to sign it."
Facing Chen Ming's aggressiveness, Li Min picked up the settlement proposal and said, "I have also seen the methods of your tax commissioner. My house is just a small door, so there is no need for siege equipment. Goodbye!"
Then he walked out.
Lu Bangxing stood up and asked with a smile, "Tax Collector Chen, how much tax do bookstores like ours have to pay every year?"
Chen Ming answered seriously: "That depends on how much you can earn every year."
Lu Bangxing suddenly felt that there was no business in the world more profitable than collecting taxes.
... ...
After Li Min returned, he showed Jin Dabao and the others the settlement agreement given to them by the Commissioner of Taxation, informed them of Chen Ming's attitude, and told them that if they wanted to sue the Commissioner of Taxation, he was sure to win.
When Jin Dabao and others heard this, they were scared to death.
He didn't care about the compensation at all. He just kept asking Li Min, "How did the tax commissioner know that they were evading taxes? Do they have any evidence? Will they sue us?"
Li Min could only tell them truthfully that she had no idea how much evidence the Tax Commissioner had, but judging from Chen Ming's attitude, as long as they compromised, they would not be held accountable for their previous tax evasion.
Only then did Jin Dabao and the others feel at ease and quickly signed their names on the agreement.
In fact, the compensation was not much, they still made some money, not to mention that the government was willing to bear 30% of the cost.
The lawsuit eventually ended in a settlement.
The government and the buyers paid monetary compensation directly to the plaintiffs, but at the same time the royal court withdrew the tax exemption plan. However, the royal court did not withdraw the ban on the purchase tax. Although Zhang Fei also knew that the tax commissioner would abolish the purchase tax, it has not been abolished yet, so the procedure has to continue.
But in the eyes of the people, this was another great victory for the imperial court. Everyone had seen the attitude of the government before and their refusal to execute the order, but after only a few days, they still obeyed the imperial court's decision.
They did not understand that the Commissioner of Taxation had actually taken over the power to collect taxes, and that this was not a compromise by the government.
This is not important. What is important is that the people understand that they only need to pay taxes according to the law, and any illegal taxation can be resolved through the royal court.
The royal court is the father.
This has raised the prestige of the public security, procuratorial and judicial organs to a higher level.
However, officials nowadays are not in the mood to pay attention to the imperial court or care about their own face. They are more concerned about the Commissioner of Taxation, an office that strikes fear into the hearts of the powerful in the capital.
Coupled with the powerful measures of the Tax Commissioner, the case was resolved in less than three days.
So they invited Chen Ming to the government office again on the pretext of welcoming him, but in fact they wanted to find out how the tax commissioner would collect taxes.
"This banquet is cancelled."
Chen Ming still had that expressionless face, and his tone was very consistent with his face, which was very sharp. "It just so happens that everyone is here. I am planning to inform you of the tax collection principles of our tax department. This also requires the cooperation of the government."
Cai Yanqing hurriedly asked, "I wonder how Tax Commissioner Chen needs us to cooperate?"
Chen Ming said: "It's very simple. We just need to let those tax collectors come to our tax department to take the test. Those who pass the test will be hired, and those who fail the test will be asked to do other things. We will also cancel the tax collection rights of the head of the household and the village head. All taxation will be taken over by our tax department."
Wei Yingfang said calmly: "Hezhong Prefecture is neither big nor small. Even the government needs to borrow manpower from the people. Do you have so many people in your tax department?"
Chen Mingdao said: "Our tax department adopts voluntary declaration and collects as much as reported. This does not require too much manpower from them."
He Chunlin laughed and said, "We usually hire people to collect taxes, but some unruly people try every possible way to evade taxes. If we report it ourselves, can we report the real number?"
Chen Ming said: "Don't worry about this, we have our own way. Our tax department can assure you that our tax department will strictly follow the tax law and collect all taxes.
However, the rules may change. We think that the two taxes are too time-consuming. In addition, the tax exemption law will be implemented in Hezhong Prefecture next year, and the people can also pay money to avoid military service. Therefore, we will combine the taxes and levies into one, and only collect them once a year. The government needs to make some adjustments to the use of the summer tax, but the total amount of taxes will not change. "
After these words were spoken, all the officials present were stunned.
"All taxes combined?"
"Yes."
Chen Ming nodded, "But these are mainly for some regular taxes, such as deed tax, which is calculated separately. The only difference is that every land deed transaction must be stamped by our tax department before it can be officially effective. The deed tax money is also paid to the tax department. The same is true for you."
This last sentence caused the expressions of the officials present to change.
Chen Ming saw it all, but he didn't care about the other party's feelings at all. He just went his own way and said, "I know what you are worried about. The officials in Beijing have also paid special attention to this. Our tax department will only collect taxes according to the law. There is a tax exemption column on the self-declared tax form. When you fill out the tax form, you only need to write down your tax exemption amount and pay the tax money other than the tax exemption. If there is no tax, you don't need to pay."
There was silence in the lobby.
They finally understood why Chen Ming refused their banquet. The atmosphere was indeed not suitable for a banquet.
If a few days ago, Chen Ming only hinted that they had to pay taxes, then today's words told them very clearly that they would definitely receive a tax bill.
But, let us officials pay taxes
Please straighten your tongue and say it again.
However, Chen Ming told them with his eyes that this was not the tax commissioner's sense of humor.