Son of Song Dynasty

Chapter 47 State Administration of Taxation
Fortunately, the oil lamp went out as soon as it hit the ground, and did not cause any fire hazard, but it did cause quite a commotion, not only interrupting Zhao Kuangyin and his son who were about to talk, but even the guards on duty outside the dormitory peeped in at the door Looking around, I found that only one table was overturned, so I was relieved.

"This old slave deserves to die! This old slave deserves to die!" Wang Jien was frightened. He rolled over and got up. He didn't care to clean up the situation and kowtowed to Zhao Kuangyin as if he was pounding garlic.

"Don't you just deserve to die?!" Zhao Dezhao strode forward and kicked him over, and Wang Ji'en roared angrily with a halberd: "You have poured lamp oil on Daddy, if it catches fire, you will die!"

"What Your Highness said is that this old slave deserves to die, let the Holy Majesty punish him!" Wang Jien didn't dare to retort at this time, and after getting up, he still kowtowed repeatedly to plead guilty.

"Okay, it's not a big deal."

Zhao Kuangyin spoke. He was born in a rough military man. He was a little startled, and some lamp oil was splashed on his body. In fact, it was nothing. Not to mention that Wang Jien is still the closest and most trusted eunuch's servant. Of course, he would not talk to him. Care about.

But after all, Wang Jien made a mistake, and his son was eager to protect his father.

His voice was very gentle, and he deliberately comforted Wang Jien: "Your Majesty Wang, you must be tired from being on duty for days and nights recently. Go down and rest. You won't be on duty in front of the car for the next two days, so I will give you a break." Take a rest."

"Old slave, thank you, Lord Long En!" Wang Jien kowtowed and got up, cleaning up the mess on the ground.

Zhao Kuangyin waved his hand: "Okay, I don't need you anymore, go down and rest, let someone else clean up."

Wang Jien had no choice but to leave with a lonely face.

Soon other servants came in to clean up and re-lighted the lamp.

"Hey, special tax stamps for deed tax?" Under the bright light, Zhao Kuangyin read the prominent lettering on the first sample of tax stamps, and asked doubtfully, "What kind of treasure is this? It looks a bit like salt money."

Zhao Dezhao was grinning, exaggerating intentionally: "This tax stamp is much more useful than salt bills. It's money! It's money from the treasury of the Song court, money from the treasury of the local government, and your internal treasury, father." money. Do you think it is considered a treasure?"

Zhao Kuangyin nodded. He roughly understood that the "tax stamp" is specially used to collect deed tax. It is equivalent to a tax payment certificate issued by the government to taxpayers. It has been used in collection for a long time, but it is far less refined and refined than the "tax stamp" in front of us.

"With this tax stamp, we can put an end to the fact that the officials who dealt with it are in the middle, corrupt and corrupt, and can collect a lot of tax money!"

Seeing the dazed confusion of the emperor's father, Zhao Dezhao took the initiative to explain the beauty of the tax stamp, and by the way he bragged a cow to the sky.

"How can a small tax receipt have such a magical effect?!" Zhao Kuangyin's eyes lit up, and he became very interested, and grabbed Zhao Dezhao to let him explain in detail.

"It has to start from the beginning."

Zhao Dezhao paused, and said with a smile: "My son intends to set up a tax-collecting yamen, and the name will be 'State Administration of Taxation'. As for not calling it 'Deed Taxation Administration', of course it is for other purposes in the future, so let's not mention it for the time being. Under the State Administration of Taxation, there will be an office in each state and each government, called the 'National Taxation Sub-bureau'."

When Zhao Kuangyin heard that every prefecture and every government would set up a government office, he couldn't help being startled, and shook his head repeatedly: "There must be hundreds of government offices? There are so many redundant officials in the imperial court, how can they afford it? That's not right. Sure!"

Zhao Dezhao laughed: "Only three or four people are enough for each yamen. Just one of the ghostwriters who make a living by writing letters on the streets of Tokyo, or the accountant of any teahouse and restaurant is enough. What extravagant fees?"

Only then did Zhao Kuangyin feel relieved, but he had some doubts: "Is three or four officials enough?"

Zhao Dezhao smiled and began to explain patiently:

"Enough is enough. Everyone has their own division of labor and supervises each other."

"For example, there is a certain land property transaction in Kaifeng Prefecture. The transaction amount stated in the deed is [-] guan.

"In the first step, the taxpayer needs to find official A, who is responsible for collecting money and is called 'cashier'."

"When the cashier receives the consistent money from the taxpayer, he will issue a cash receipt certificate for the consistent money."

"The second step is to find the second official, named 'Billing Clerk'."

"The taxpayer will then take this cash register receipt and hand it over to the invoicing clerk in exchange for a 'deed tax special tax receipt' with a denomination of consistent money, which is the one you are holding."

Zhao Kuangyin looked down at the tax stamp in his hand, and only then noticed the words "Yiguan, dedicated to Kaifeng government deed tax, Kaibao eight-year system, valid for that year" printed on it. He didn't see what the purpose of these words was. ?
"In the third step, the taxpayer pastes the tax stamp on the blank space of the contract with paste, and then gives it to the third official C, also called an 'auditor', who will review the content of the contract and see if there is any no problem."

"What is an audit?"

"The first is to check whether the content of the contract violates the laws of the Song Dynasty. For example, if the interest stated in the loan contract exceeds the upper limit stipulated by the court, it will be considered invalid."

"Secondly, simply ask the buyer and the seller a few words to confirm that it is not a voluntary transaction, and it is not forced to buy and sell; if it is the identity of the buyer or seller, ask what is the relationship between the seller and the person being sold, and whether they know each other. Name, place of origin, etc., so that human trafficking can be curbed."

"If the review fails, the contract will be invalidated and the tax paid will not be refunded."

Zhao Dezhao paused for a while, and continued: "If the review is passed, the reviewer will sign the date on the tax invoice and stamp it with a seam stamp—the entire tax payment notarization process will be completed at this point, and the contract will be considered valid. Book."

"What is the badge of riding seam?" Zhao Kuangyin was confused when he heard that.

It was only then that Zhao Dezhao remembered that although official seals and seals are very common these days, the seam seal has not yet been invented.

So, he simply picked up the emperor's seal that no one dared to touch on the imperial case, which symbolized the supreme authority of the emperor, stained it with cinnabar ink pad, and demonstrated on the spot what is called "riding seam seal", which can be regarded as a use of the emperor. Addiction to printing!

"The most important thing is this: the cashier, the invoice clerk, and the auditor. Every time these three people operate, they need to leave their own accounts. How much money has been collected, how many invoices have been issued, how many stamps have been stamped, and check Compare it, it is clear, no one can make troubles from it!"

Zhao Dezhao finished with this sentence with a smile.

After Zhao Kuangyin listened, he lowered his head and silently recalled the tax payment process that his son said. The more he thought about it, the more shocked he felt!
"This method can indeed greatly curb corruption and fraud, but this method is so strict and meticulous, how did you come up with it?!"

Of course he wanted to crack his head, but he never thought that Zhao Dezhao just copied it. The process of any government administrative toll counter in the 21st century is basically the same: the collection of money is separated from the issuance of tickets, and each person handles it. No money will be allowed for material review.

(End of this chapter)