I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 553 I also know a thing or two about economics

Hearing this, Shabaan frowned slightly and asked, "Has the batch of goods we sold to Le Havre been loaded on the truck?"

"Not even close," the accountant said, "Pierre was injured yesterday, otherwise he would have finished pretending."

"Have the accounts been settled?"

"Don't worry, Mr. Manager, there will definitely be no problem."

"That's good." Xiaba'an nodded, and then ordered, "You will take the tax officer to check the accounts later, and try to delay it as long as possible. Michelle and I will help load the car, and then sneak out through the back door."

"The back door will probably be blocked by tax officials."

"It doesn't matter, I will send an empty car to lure them away first."

Shabaan said, waving to the man in the car: "Quick, follow me to load the goods!"

Not long after, the coachman who had just returned from Evreux drove his carriage out of the back door. The tax official who was waiting there blew his whistle and gave chase.

Immediately afterwards, Shabaan directed another carriage full of mirrors to appear furtively. After confirming that no one was there, he quickly turned into an alley not far away.

An hour later, several tax officials left the Ruby Mirror Workshop empty-handed.

Today, France implements a "goods tax" system, which means that when you sell a batch of goods, you have to pay a tax. Of course, for tobacco, wine, tea and other commodities, you may have to pay twice.

Therefore, tax officials must always keep an eye on factories and manors. Once they find that they are about to ship goods, they must immediately come forward to collect taxes.

If the tax officer does not find that the goods have been shipped, it will be difficult to recover the tax afterwards - factories will almost always make false accounts and there will be no trace of the goods.

As a result, producers and tax collectors played a cat and mouse game. In the past, if tax collectors suspected that the workshop was secretly transporting goods, they would even torture the workers to force them to find out the truth.

At dusk, Shabaan's car had already left the city of Rouen.

He smiled and hummed a tune.

Today, he successfully escaped from the tax officer's nose, allowing him to pay 8 francs less in taxes.

Ah, life is really getting better and better! He sighed in his heart.

…

Second floor of the Tuileries Palace.

Fulco, the director of the General Administration of Taxation, glanced at Robespierre beside him, exhaled and said:

"Your Highness, I suggest equipping tax officers with whips and giving them the authority to shoot when they encounter violent tax resistance. Otherwise, the tax situation next month may still be... ah, not ideal."

Joseph frowned as he looked at the tax status report for January.

In the first month when the tax office took over the tax collection, the total tax revenue nationwide was only 34 million francs. Not only did it fail to achieve the expected target of 41 million francs, it was not even as much as the tax package tax collectors would always pay.

“So, it was the massive tax evasion that led to the failure to achieve the tax target?”

"I'm afraid that's the case, Your Highness." Fulco nodded.

In the past month or so, there have been countless situations like Chabaan's in France, and the tax officials who were inexperienced and unable to use force were fooled by them.

Joseph looked at him and said, "Do you think this problem can be solved by asking the tax officials to use more forceful means?"

"I think it should be possible..."

Before Fulco finished speaking, he was interrupted by Robespierre:

"Your Highness, you are creating a new tax system, and you have won the respect and praise of the general public for it. If we return to using whips to collect taxes, what is the difference between us and tax collectors?"

Fulco looked at him dissatisfied and said: "The difference is that the national finance will not collapse because of the shamelessness and cunning of the untouchables! Your Excellency, Ombudsman, your kindness cannot collect taxes."

"The tax collector's gun should not be pointed at civilians, Lord Earl! That will only bring hatred and opposition."

Joseph rubbed his eyebrows. Although he was mentally prepared for the quality of the people in this era, he did not expect that his estimate was still a bit high.

Without the squeeze from the tax collectors, coupled with the tax reform and the reduction of many unreasonable taxes, the people have already paid a lot less money, but they have become more greedy.

Can we only use sticks and whips to make them pay taxes properly?

He is not opposed to the appropriate use of violence, especially against those who break the law and resist taxes. Sometimes deterrence is indeed effective. The tax collectors can not only collect all the taxes, but even collect a lot more. This is because most of the tax collectors are gangsters. If they dare not pay taxes, they will take action immediately.

Fulco's voice rose a lot: "Mr. Robespierre, do you have any good suggestions to complete your tax task?"

"I will increase the training of tax officials to make them more experienced..."

Joseph quickly stopped the dispute between the two and looked at Robespierre: "Can you tell me more specifically?"

"Yes, Your Highness." Robespierre said, "When I interrogated those tax collectors, I learned that they know very well when goods will be sold in those factories, and they don't have to keep an eye on them like our tax officials. You won’t miss any tax payments.”

"Staring?" Joseph was a little confused, "Where are you staring?"

"Of course it's a factory, estate or shop that needs to pay taxes."

"Oh? How should I keep an eye on him?"

"Just send people around to check and collect taxes at any time."

"..."

Joseph always felt that something was wrong, and after asking in detail, he finally understood the clumsy taxation model of this era.

No wonder so many people evade taxes. Unless you, the tax officer, can install surveillance cameras on the streets, people will always find ways to avoid you.

Or, like the tax collectors, they use violence to scare the people away from not paying.

He looked at Fulco and was about to say, "I will do as you say," but he was suddenly stunned.

I was so confused by the quarrel between the two of them.

Why must we continue to use this clumsy tax model?

Later generations will have ready-made solutions, and you can solve the problem by just copying them.

For example, value-added tax, plus the big killer of invoices.

Joseph quickly sorted out his thoughts and said to the two leaders of the tax bureau:

“What if we changed the approach and let taxpayers oversee other people’s tax payments?”

Fulco, an expert in economics, immediately smiled and said: "Your Highness, with all due respect, this is impossible."

Joseph also looked at him with a smile: "I have heard of a tax method.

"Only when the price of goods increases, we will tax the increased part. For example, a shop buys goods for 10 francs and sells them for 15 francs. We will tax the extra 5 francs."

Fulco blinked and said carefully: "Your Highness, this doesn't seem to have any effect..."

"Please listen patiently. In this way, everyone must prove their purchase price so that they can pay less tax." Joseph said, "How to prove the purchase price? The seller must provide proof."