Chapter 235: Things Have Changed (Part 2)
There is no way to avoid it. Master Gao had been mentally prepared. Although he was very unwilling, Master Gao knew very well that he really couldn't avoid it this time.
The people who came in were the work team, and Dong Yang was among them. Seeing Dong Yang's arrogant look, Mr. Gao was angry. What kind of person is this Dong Yang! He is so shameless!
Now he is relying on the powerful rebel to surrender and he is shaking like this. Once the government comes back, as a thief, Dong Yang will be killed along with his entire clan!
Although he was angry in his heart, Master Gao looked very polite. A traitor would be killed and his entire clan exterminated. At this time, the one in power in Qingzhou was a traitor. If Master Gao became a traitor in the eyes of the traitor, his entire clan would also be killed and his entire clan exterminated.
Mr. Gao understood this simple relationship clearly.
The working group invited the tax commissioner to take a seat, and they sat or stood beside him. Some even stood in the yard.
As soon as Mr. Gao came up, he sighed , "My dear brother, this year is really not easy for my family."
"Haha. Mr. Gao, have you heard about our governor's background?" the tax commissioner asked with a smile.
"Haha, the governor is a high-ranking official, and he is also a state official!" Mr. Gao said with a smile.
The tax specialist didn't care about the sarcasm in Mr. Gao's words and continued, "Our governor has been responsible for paying taxes on our behalf. He has specially trained us and explained the twists and turns here. But the governor said that everything must be analyzed based on the specific situation. So I will tell Mr. Gao what the governor said again, and I hope Mr. Gao can help me with some advice."
Mr. Gao knew that Huo Chong was a wealthy man in the past, but he didn't even get the title of gentry. However, he didn't know what Huo Chong thought about "paying taxes on behalf of others", so he could only say a few polite words and listen to the tax commissioner's story.
In the past, the gentry did not rely solely on the gentry family to fight against the county magistrate. What could a gentry family do? Fight against the officials and soldiers?
Even if all the gentry united together to fight against the government, it would be useless. Even if the gentry's family members worked together, they would be easily defeated by hundreds of government troops.
The means by which the gentry fought against the government was actually very simple: they used their power to "pay taxes on behalf of others" and claimed that the deficit was due to the poor owing taxes .
We cannot say that there are poor people who owe taxes. It is true that many poor people cannot afford to pay taxes.
But in terms of proportion, if the tax owed by the poor is taken as 1, the tax owed by the rich must be at least 20, or even higher.
The reason why the poor owed taxes could be used as an excuse was because there were so many poor people that the government had no power to collect taxes from the villages one by one. Even if they did, the poor had no money to pay.
That is, taking advantage of the fact that the law does not punish the masses, the gentry, who are the big tax defaulters, hide their big trees among the vast number of poor people. In this way, they use the government to exploit the people, and use the people to fight against the government in order to achieve the purpose of tax evasion.
After saying this, the tax commissioner let out a long sigh, took the strange kettle, and drank a few gulps of water to moisten his dry throat.
Mr. Gao picked up the teacup with a wooden expression and took a few sips to calm his pounding heart.
Being able to figure things out to this extent, Mr. Gao had to admit that Huo Chong had not been a wealthy man for so many years in vain.
But this damn Huo Chong actually taught all his knowledge about the gentry to his subordinates, and then used this group of black-hearted tax collectors to deal with the gentry!
This... this... the four words "disrespecting the teacher and destroying ancestors" appeared in Master Gao's mind.
Finally, Mr. Gao pulled himself together and said, "My dear brother, this is a joke. We all pay taxes honestly..."
"Oh? Really?" asked the tax specialist in surprise.
"Of course it's true!" Mr. Gao answered with all his strength.
"That's great!" The tax specialist immediately opened his briefcase and pulled out a few bills. "These are the taxes Mr. Gao owed. Since Mr. Gao said he has always paid taxes honestly, please pay off the taxes."
Seeing the situation come to this, Mr. Gao was so angry that he slammed the table and pointed at the tax commissioner and shouted: "Aren't you rebelling? Don't you recognize the Qing Dynasty? Why are you collecting taxes from the Qing Dynasty?"
Dong Yang, who was standing by, saw that Master Gao had actually been stabbed, and immediately jumped up and gripped his weapon tightly.
Seeing Dong Yang's action, Master Gao managed to calm down. Although these traitors said they killed the emperor, they probably didn't. But it was true that they killed the prefect of Qingzhou.
I still have to live! These people in front of me are all evil people who kill without blinking an eye.
Trying to smile, Master Gao said, "Brother, don't joke around. If you really do this, how will you explain it to the world? You can't act without integrity."
"Haha. Well said. Mr. Gao's family is indeed a family of officials. They have a lot of theories to explain." The tax commissioner sneered and said, "In that case, please pay this year's taxes, Mr. Gao."
"Brother, I heard that you can work in the workshops under the supply and marketing cooperative to deduct taxes? Is that true?"
"That's true. But this kind of thing is for the Farmers' Association, which is what we used to call the Welfare Association. If you want to become a member of the Farmers' Association, you can either be a soldier like Comrade Dong Yang, or be recommended by a member of the Farmers' Association and join the association after consultation with the farmers. If you are not a member of the Farmers' Association, you can't be like the Farmers' Association."
Master Gao's heart sank again. Huo Chong's men were truly powerful.
The officials that Master Gao had seen were all very high-handed in their work, and only when they needed to find an excuse would they use their advisors or clerks to explain the rules. He had never expected that such a tax commissioner could explain the rules of the village farmers' association so clearly.
The members of the Farmers' Association were traitors. If they were introduced to the Farmers' Association by traitors, they would naturally become traitors. Mr. Gao was still looking forward to the Qing Dynasty's return and the restoration of a bright and peaceful world. Naturally, he was unwilling to go along with the traitors in this darkness before dawn.
Thinking of this, Mr. Gao stopped talking nonsense and asked directly how much tax he had to pay.
The tax commissioner did not give a number immediately, but first asked Mr. Gao whether he had read the instructions given when the taxes were collected in February.
Mr. Gao really hadn’t seen it, so he just said directly that he hadn’t seen it.
The tax commissioner took out a bill and handed it to Mr. Gao. Smelling the ink on the paper, Mr. Gao saw that there were many similar bills in the commissioner's briefcase, which seemed to indicate that the tax commissioner came prepared.
The Han regime collected two types of taxes. One was inherited from the Qing Dynasty, which was to pay the tax on each household. This meant that the Han regime would no longer collect head taxes, and no matter how many people were in a family, they would not be taxed.
But it was miserable for the landlords, as long as they had land, they had to pay land tax, until they no longer owned the land.
Master Gao couldn't help but shouted, "If we don't have any rent, where will the tax come from? Brother, are you asking me to pay the land tax?"
"Haha. Governor Huo said that when he was paying taxes on behalf of the gentry, they also asked the same question. The Qing court said that if there is no rent, where will the taxes come from? But Mr. Gao laughed at us before, saying that we accepted the Qing style. We really don't accept the Qing style, so we won't do the same thing as if there is no rent, where will the taxes come from. If Mr. Gao doesn't have the money to pay the tax, just sell the land. You have already paid the tax at the beginning of the year, and now you don't have to pay. You have several months to find a buyer. If Mr. Gao can't find anyone to buy, we, the Han government, can buy it."
Mr. Gao waved his hands vigorously, "Let's talk about it later. What about the agricultural tax?"
"It's clearly written above, pay 30%."
"Mr. Huo, do you want us to die? Those who rent our land only have to pay 30% rent. Tenants who pay rent don't have to pay agricultural taxes. So we rented the land but got nothing!"
"You own the land and you farm it yourself, so how can you not have income? At least you rent out the land and don't pay agricultural taxes for it."
"But we have paid the land tax!"
"The land tax is just the fee for using the land. What does it have to do with agricultural tax?" the tax commissioner replied calmly.
Mr. Gao felt so angry that his brain was dizzy and he didn't know what to say. Just when he was trying to calm down, he heard his eldest son beside him shouting angrily: "Why do you do this? We have to lose money! Do you just want us to lose money?"
"What do you mean by losing money? If you grow crops, you have to pay taxes. There are so many people in the village who own land, and they have all paid the land tax and agricultural tax. How come everyone has not lost money? Mr. Gao's words are incomprehensible."
Mr. Gao's eldest son was so angry that he didn't know what to say. On the contrary, Mr. Gao understood that the tax commissioner on the opposite side and the militiamen of the farmers' association around him were all enemies. As for Huo Chong, who led these people, he was even the biggest enemy of the gentry.
The main thing is that as long as Huo Chong is in Shandong, the gentry will never have a chance to succeed.
But this was definitely not the time to confront Huo Chong directly. So many families of Jinshi and officials had resisted, but it was in vain. Not only did they fail to defeat the traitor Huo Chong, but even their land was confiscated.
Master Gao sighed, "It's not convenient today, please come back in a few days."
"We'll give you five more days. After five days, if you don't have food ready, your entire family, young and old, men and women, will be taken away and locked up until you hand over the food."
"You... took our whole family away. How are we going to pay the grain?" Mr. Gao's eldest son asked in shock and anger.
"We have said everything that needs to be said. As for what will happen then, that is up to you."
Mr. Gao immediately stopped his son from making a meaningless entanglement and said loudly, "Then please be patient for a few days." As he said this, he wanted to give Mr. Gao some money.
The tax commissioner took several steps back, pointed to the bottom line of the tax bill, and asked Mr. Gao to read it carefully.
When Mr. Gao read it, he was stunned. It was clearly written that if a bribe was offered, the tax commissioner should refuse it. However, as long as the tax commissioner took the initiative to report the bribe after the whole incident, the tax commissioner would be punished, but the briber would be punished ten times more.
It is really hard to guard against a thief in the house, stealing and breaking the roof beam. Master Gao was completely convinced. Huo Chong, the traitor, knew the twists and turns inside too well. After thinking for a while, Master Gao said: "Fifteen days, give us another fifteen days."
"Okay." The tax commissioner said, and took out a document and started asking both parties to sign it.
