I’m the Farmgirl You Can’t Mess With
Chapter 1036 - Chapter 1036 The Kids Pay Taxes (2)

Chapter 1036: The Kids Pay Taxes (2) Chapter 1036: The Kids Pay Taxes (2) Editor: Atlas Studios Just as Qi Haoran impeached Liu Yu for repeatedly extorting taxes from those who had already paid taxes to make up for the shortfall of unpaid taxes, Little Bear and the others had already calculated the amount of taxes they should pay.

The obedient kids tied the silver to two small carts and even decorated it with big red flowers before Little Lion and Tiger Head pushed them to the government office.

This time, they were paying the taxes from last year.

As for this year’s taxes, they would only pay them at the end of the year.

At that time, it would be paid in accordance with the new merchant tax rule.

After the merchant tax was revised, the tax base was expanded to include officials, but the actual rate was reduced somewhat.

Previously, it was 3.33%, but after the revision, most merchant taxes were lowered to 2.85%.

Only certain specific goods had increased taxation, but the items concerning the few children were obviously not among them, so they were happy to defer this year’s tax payment until the end of the year, saving a considerable amount of money.

The four children walked towards the government office covered with their handmade red flowers, followed by a group of guards.

Already extremely familiar with the four children, the people of Guangzhou City were not afraid to see them.

The vendor of the tofu pudding stall that was often patronized by the four children even asked loudly, “Young Masters, where are you going?

It looks like there’s a happy occasion.” The children had been waiting for someone to ask this question.

In fact, if no one came up to ask them this after walking down this street, Little An had arranged for one of their guards to pretend to be a commoner to pose this question.

Now that he heard this question, Little An puffed out his chest and replied, “We’re going to pay taxes.

My Royal Uncle said that all the benefits in the world should belong to the people.

Since we take them from the people, we should use them on the people.

The army, water conservancy, roads, schools, sacrificial offerings, and so on are all paid using taxes.

There’s poll taxes, farm taxes, and merchant taxes.

Our parents pay for our poll tax on our behalf.

We don’t have to pay any farm tax for the time being, but we brothers sometimes sell some trinkets.

In the past, we didn’t know that children had to pay taxes when doing business.

Now that we are aware, of course we have to pay for it.” Everyone was stunned.

When they heard the words “Royal Uncle” from Little An, they realized that the children were all descendants of the royal family.

It turned out that the high and mighty royal family was so close to them.

Everyone was stunned for a moment.

Then, when they registered Little An’s words in their hearts, some people couldn’t help but cheer.

They felt that the Emperor was right.

The tofu stall owner even squeezed in and asked in distress, “Prince Fan, do you think I have to pay taxes at the government office for my tofu business?” Having done their homework before coming out, the kids knew that the fees paid by vendors were already considered taxes, so Little An explained this to them.

He even casually pointed at the shops by the roadside and said, “Only shops like this need to be registered and pay taxes at the government office.” Everyone nodded.

Little An continued, “Paying taxes is a big deal and every one of us should take it seriously.

So everyone, go back and check to see if any of you forgot to pay taxes like us.

If that’s you, hurry up and pay it.” “If you know of someone who should pay tax but haven’t, remind them to hand it over quickly.

After all, the money for the repairing of roads and conservancy facilities all come from the taxes collected.

If someone who evades taxes also uses the roads repaired using your tax money, wouldn’t you be suffering a loss?” Tiger Head shouted loudly, “Do pay attention when you go back.

You can’t let your neighbors evade taxes and take advantage of you.” Little Lion patted his head and said, “That’s not what Brother Little An said.

You said it wrong.” Tiger Head shook his head and said nonchalantly, “That’s roughly what it means anyway.

I won’t let anyone take advantage of me.” When the onlookers heard the brothers’ discussion, they smiled kindly.

Children of this age would even fight over a piece of mud, let alone money.

It was not surprising that they were unwilling to let someone take advantage of them when it came to money matters.

Even the adults themselves were unwilling.

Then, as expected, they started to think about who around them had not paid taxes.

The Second Prince waved his small hand and shouted, “Alright, let’s hurry.

Otherwise, the government office will be dismissed.” Many people wanted to watch the commotion, so they followed the children to the government office.

Little An explained to them more about tax matters as they walked.

For example, he spoke of how their Royal Uncle had discovered that many shops either did not pay taxes or underpaid.

Moreover, behind these shops were mostly people with meritorious positions and officials.

It was out of anger at this fact that the Emperor decided to revamp the merchant tax, now requiring that regardless of who owned the businesses, all businessmen had to pay the merchant tax.

He continued, “Someone was unconvinced and came to my Fourth Uncle’s shop to cause trouble, forcing him to pay taxes.

They thought that my Fourth Uncle has not been paying taxes like them.

But in fact, my Fourth Uncle has been paying all the necessary taxes every year.” “Fourth Aunt was mad about this and told us at home, and that was when we realized that one was supposed to pay tax on their business income.

We thought about it and realized that since we do business as well, we also need to pay merchant tax.” Little An said proudly, “Fourth Aunt said that no matter who it is, as long as the business reaches a certain scale, they have to pay taxes.

Kids are no exception.

It’s the same even if the Crown Prince has a share in our business.

Therefore, we calculated the taxes we owed last year and brought them to the government office to pay up.” Many people praised, “The young masters are righteous.” The four children became smug and walked towards the government office with their heads held high.

There were already people waiting in the government office.

There was no choice.

The matter had blown up so much that the officials had received the news before the four children arrived.

This was simply pushing the Guangzhou government office into the center of the storm.

If it were other children, they would have long been arrested and given a lecture.

However, among the four of them, one was a prince, two were young masters of the Prince’s estate, and one was the son of the Duke-cum-magistrate.

With their influential backgrounds, there was nothing they could do to them.

It was not that it pained them to pay the merchant tax.

After all, they were just small fry.

Even if they owned a few shops and did some business, they did not earn much from it.

If they now had to pay merchant tax, they would just pay up.

However, the officials of the Imperial Court were still arguing over the revision of the merchant tax.

If they asked for everyone to make up for the taxes, wouldn’t they be courting death?

Therefore, they felt bitter in their hearts, but they still had to squeeze out a smile.

The magistrate didn’t stop them, which meant that he had agreed.

They still had to work for Magistrate Fan.

Although they would offend all the officials in Great Qi, at least they didn’t offend Prince Rong and their superior.

There were also people who were secretly unconvinced.

They felt that while it was true that the Prince’s estate was paying tax on their businesses, that was because they didn’t have many businesses.

However, the Duke of Peaceful State was different.

He could be considered the richest man in Great Qi and owned businesses spanning many sectors.

Therefore, when the four children happily opened the two boxes on the small cart and handed the silver to the government office to register, someone in the surrounding crowd asked in a changed voice, “Prince Fan, since you’re asking others to pay taxes, has your family paid taxes?” Little An straightened his chest and said, “My family?

My father said that the national treasury still owes our family a lot of money.

Even if we don’t pay taxes for another ten years, our family won’t have to pay taxes!” Everyone was in an uproar.

Only then did they remember that when Great Qi was first established, the national treasury was empty and the people’s livelihood was difficult.

It was Duke Fan who struggled to fork out money.

Therefore, the money owed to him by the national treasury could indeed be offset by taxes.

The person who asked the question was also stunned for this hadn’t occurred to him.

Fan Zijin, who had rushed over, was also stunned.

That’s right.

How could he have forgotten about this?