Chapter 413: Two Policies
The Emperor positioned himself beside Su Bin and remained there for an extended period.
As the Emperor perused Su Bin’s responses, he noticed a significant departure from the other candidates’ submissions. The more he read, the more engrossed he became in Su Bin’s ideas.
While the royal treasury stood depleted, Su Bin’s approach deviated from the conventional path. He advocated commencing the effort to replenish the treasury by targeting the royal family, nobility, and the wealthy, rather than further burdening the commoners with increased taxes.
He emphasized the heavy tax burden already borne by the common people, such as the rural farmers who were subjected to an extensive array of levies. Their obligations ranged from military service taxes to national taxes, labor taxes, paddy taxes, dryland taxes, head taxes, bull head taxes, pig head taxes, and even taxes on something as modest as raising a chicken.
The Emperor’s countenance soured upon realizing the extent of the commoners’ taxation. He wondered how he had remained unaware of such a taxing system, which included levies on chicken ownership.
Nevertheless, the Emperor retained his composure and continued to read Su Bin’s proposals.
Su Bin’s recommendations included two policies that could rapidly replenish the treasury. The first policy involved requiring the wealthy to disclose their assets, with a mandate that they surrender 5% of their wealth to the treasury. Although 5% might seem modest, the potential impact was substantial.
Su Bin also suggested implementing a whistleblowing system to uncover concealed assets. Any conclusive evidence of asset concealment would lead to the forfeiture of the entirety of the hidden wealth.