Chapter 487 The Essence of This Administrative System

"In fact, it's not a small amount. In addition to agricultural taxes, we also have consumption taxes and various tariffs."

The Treasury actually made an estimate of the income of the cardinals before the Emperor.

The Papal States must have an annual income of 5 gold pounds to ensure a balance of fiscal revenue and expenditure.

Although Horn had been promoting the concept of a benign deficit, the most advanced ideas of the era were simply that one should balance revenue and expenditure and live within one's income.

Although the power of the Pope is unlimited, Horn tries to use this authority as little as possible to force people to obey.

Every time he uses his personal authority, he undermines the authority of the government.

It can be used at critical moments, but it is better to use it less in non-critical places.

As for the central government's revenue, in addition to agricultural taxes, it also comes from several other aspects.

The first is the palace workshop. Horn adopted two strategies for the workshop industries left behind by the previous wealthy businessmen and lords.

Either they follow the original tribute system and give a portion of the profits to the Salvation Army every year, but the Salvation Army will participate in the operation.

Or they could redeem it, raise a lump sum of money to give to the Salvation Army and buy out the ownership of the workshop.

The main purpose of both is to raise military funds.

Especially the latter point, which made many lords' city managers become workshop owners, and also made many small landowners in the countryside become workshop owners.

The second is tariffs, stamp duties, and consumption taxes.

This brings us to the upcoming regulation of markets and urban commercial areas.

When people exchanged goods at that time, there were no specialized merchants like in later generations who would go to the countryside to collect the goods and then sell them in the vegetable market or supermarket.

But in a certain area of ​​the village there is a special market, which is not held every day but every ten days.

Small vendors and farmers would bring grain, cash crops, and agricultural and sideline products to the market to sell.

The original market was basically controlled by priests and scoundrels, and people often had to pay protection fees.

Even if it is a private transaction, firstly, it is not cost-effective to travel so far to sell two eggs, and secondly, people are afraid of being defrauded or cheated, so they are less likely to do so.

Horne is taking advantage of this.

Priestly orders must send out night watchmen and crusaders to supervise the market and bring officials to maintain order, but they must pay consumption taxes and stall fees based on the goods entering.

In urban areas, there are special vegetable markets and commercial areas, and consumption taxes and tariffs are collected through the supervision of raw materials.

That is, the government provides public services and public security, and provides insurance to merchants, farmers, and vegetable vendors in exchange for their payment of consumption tax.

As for bulk commodity transactions, Horn would set up exchanges in county capital cities such as Jeanne d'Arc.

The exchange also charges stamp duty to both parties and collects stamp duty when the transaction is concluded.
Horne believed that merchants would easily accept stamp duty, as it was a way of achieving great things with little money.

Because the Salvation Army government is about to legislate that any contract without a stamp will not be accepted by the court and can only be mediated out of court by a notary public.

Of course, there is also a tax on the baptism and consecration of alchemical products.

The essence of the baptism tax is to launder black market items. Once the Pope gives his blessing, they can be sold freely.

Currently, Horn only collects urban consumption tax in a few large towns, such as Jeanne d'Arc, Sour Melon Town, and Saint-Hermitage.

So they didn't know how much tax they could get if they implemented it in all towns and villages, but according to Sissi's conservative estimate, including agricultural taxes, they could collect more than 1 gold pounds a year.

"Then how should the hundred-household district operate? I mean, we still don't understand the holy treasury of the hundred-household district." At this time, a representative of the centurion stood up and couldn't help asking.

The centurion had reason to be confused about this matter.

When Horn was dividing the land, he also divided mountains, forests, lakes, unowned wastelands, etc.

However, the right to use these lands has always belonged to the Hundred Households District and can be used freely by all believers in the Hundred Households District.

Logically speaking, if the villagers make money from the land, it should belong to them.

"Let's take a concrete example, for example... What's your name?" The centurion pinched his hat nervously: "My name is Gontarre, Your Majesty, and I come from the Centurion of Motone."

"Great, do you have any special land resources?" Horn asked, snapping his fingers.

"There is a forest in our Hundred Households District that can produce very good hardwood. Many furniture carpenters come to buy the hardwood in our Hundred Households District." Gongtare said stutteringly.

"Have you ever thought about opening a sawmill in the Hundred Households District?" Seeing that Gontare was sweating profusely and didn't know what to say, Horn smiled and continued.

“Suppose we open a sawmill on your land in the Hundred Households District, what should be the first step?

That is to apply to the priestly order to rent or purchase the right to use the land to build a sawmill, and the money will be shared by the order and you.

Do not be surprised, because building a sawmill in that area may not be a matter for your hundred households, but for the entire priestly order.

Okay, the sawmill is open and we are ready to find wood to saw. Does that mean we need to contract a forest farm?
Who should we find to take over the contract? Isn't it you? All the people in your Hundred Household District.

You decide the contract fee by yourselves. This is the second fund, which belongs entirely to you.

So who will this money belong to? Will it be distributed after being divided equally?

That is obviously wrong, because for some people this money is just a drop in the bucket and they don't need it, but for some people it is a life-saving straw.

This money should be put into the Holy Treasury and shared by everyone, mainly used to help poor families, build water conservancy projects, reclaim land, build roads, and other places where it can benefit everyone. "

Seeing Gontare's look of sudden realization, Horn smiled.

This is just the action of this plan at the micro level, which not only gives local governments a certain degree of autonomy but also guarantees the authority of the central government.

As for why this system should be established, there is naturally a reason.

Under external military pressure, the confederation or federal system that is suitable for the current era is no longer feasible.

Horn needs to quickly mobilize resources, concentrate on developing industries, and equip professional bureaucrats and standing armies to guard against potential threats of war.

This means that the power of the representative body (Senate) is not allowed to override the power of the Pope, and Horn needs to have both executive and legislative powers.

So if the Salvation Army is formally established, it must be an absolutist bureaucratic state, which means it must be a big government.

But the common problem of big government is bureaucracy, and the bureaucrats become rigid and corrupt even faster than the Eight Banners descendants.

Horn did not expect them to be free from rigidity and corruption, as that was an inherent flaw of the bureaucracy.

He only hoped not to become rigid and corrupt so quickly and to ensure his survival first.

Therefore, Horn had to introduce competition and a market-like environment, turning the government into a series of administrative contractors while ensuring central authority.

When it comes to flexibility and non-rigidity, who can compare to a contractor?

The competition among various priestly orders and local religious orders has become like that of a large company with its subsidiaries participating in the market competition.

The only difference is that the indicator they compete for is called political achievements, and the profits they get are called power.

Horn issues a task to the general contractor (rural religious order), and the general contractor gives the task to the subcontractor (priestly religious order).

The Pope doesn’t care how they accomplish it, only that they accomplish it.

In extreme cases, Horn may not even need to give money, but only government orders and time.

As long as the monks in the order want to make progress, they must use the finances at their disposal to get things done.

Horn didn't even care how the money in their hands was spent. It didn't matter if they embezzled some, but they had to get things done.

Whether there is corruption or not only determines whether one will be dismissed or hanged if things are not done well.

"You all understand the specific situation." Horn sorted out some documents in his hands. "If there are no problems, then you will start the pilot project in the 23 hundred-household districts near Zhendark Castle according to the plan."

The people present looked at each other and found that no one spoke again.

Then, led by Armand, everyone stood up, bowed in unison and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty."

(End of this chapter)