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Volume 4 Leviathan 174 Standard Chartered Bank

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    George laughed, and the unique Irish rigidity on his face suddenly melted: "Mr. Balfour, you are very smart, but you misunderstood what I meant. It is not that China does not have the resources and money to complete the railway project, on the contrary, this  A great country contains unparalleled human and material resources. Can you imagine how terrifying the 400 million people who have been united by a culture and tradition since the time of King Alfred are organized once they are organized?  Europe will tremble in the face of the new 'Yellow Peril'." "But after all, they can't do it now, can they?" "Yes!" George nodded: "The internal differences in this country are huge.  In this city, industry and commerce are already very prosperous, transportation is developed, new factories are constantly being built, energetic bankers are competing fiercely with us, and this huge city is also connected to the rich and huge inner city through a natural river.  It is connected to the mainland, which has a population of no less than 60 million and countless agricultural areas, forest areas, and mines. However, at the same time, the vast majority of the people in this country are still uncivilized farmers.  Apart from a few necessities, there is no economic exchange with the outside world. Apart from agricultural taxes, a small amount of salt tax, and wine tax, the government cannot obtain other financial resources. This is why China is such a large and rich country, but the financial resources controlled by the government are so small.  "Less." Belfort nodded. George didn't actually finish what he said, but it was enough for him who was extremely well-educated.  Generally speaking, taxes can be roughly divided into circulation taxes and property taxes. For example, taxes on assets such as land tax and house tax are property taxes, while taxes such as income tax, consumption tax, value-added tax, salt tax, and alcohol tax are circulation taxes.  .  In ancient times and even in modern times, because generally speaking, most property owners belonged to the upper class, it was extremely difficult to pass or even increase property taxes. The upper class often used their political advantage to obtain tax exemption privileges or  It is extremely difficult to pass on the taxes you should pay to the disadvantaged; and the tax rates on different assets, the determination of asset owners, and the valuation of the assets themselves are all very difficult, and the cost of taxation will also be very high, so generally  Generally speaking, asset taxes cannot be set too high, otherwise ordinary people in the middle and lower classes of society will go bankrupt due to transfer taxes from the upper classes and their own lack of economic capabilities, leading to the collapse of the entire country.  Therefore, between two countries with similar sizes and similar economic levels, there will not be much difference in the property taxes that the government can collect. Otherwise, the country that levies excessively high property taxes will perish due to social collapse.  The circulation tax is different. Since large-scale flows of people and logistics are inseparable from cities as economic centers, and most goods have market prices at that time, there is no problem of valuation difficulties. You only need to wait for transportation in the city or dock.  It is enough to set up a small number of tax cards in major roads, so the collection cost of circulation tax is much lower than that of property tax.  More importantly, circulation tax is different from property tax. It is a type of tax that can be avoided. If a merchant feels that he cannot make a profit after paying the tax on this transaction, he will naturally not carry out the transaction, and naturally he will not have to pay tax.  Generally speaking, the poor do not need to buy many goods except for a few necessities that they cannot produce, and naturally they do not need to pay circulation taxes.  In this way, there will be no result that the people at the bottom will be unable to survive, and eventually the society will collapse and the country will be destroyed. Therefore, the social cost of the circulation tax is much lower than the property tax. The government can increase the tax rate to 30% or 50%.  into, or even higher, to get a lot of tax money.  However, in a country like Dashun with a vast territory and extremely uneven economic and social development, if the government increases the share of circulation tax in its own taxes, it will actually increase the burden on a few economic center areas, because in the northwest and southwest  , Northeast, central and other regions, the commodity economy is very underdeveloped, and the natural government can obtain very little circulation tax; while in economically developed regions such as Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Jinling, Hanking, etc., there are staggering amounts of funds and commodities every day  If there is a tax on the inflow and outflow, then the businessmen and factory owners operating these industries will have to pay a lot of taxes.  You must know that these economically developed areas can naturally produce more scholars in the imperial examinations, not to mention providing more economic support to central officials. If officials are required to make decisions that are unfavorable to them, there is no doubt that they must  It is extremely difficult politically to achieve this.  This is why even though there was a huge amount of stock wealth in Dashun society at that time, the government was in a long-term financial crisis and was unable to carry out extremely important infrastructure construction.  "Thank you for your explanation! So is it possible for the Chinese to raise funds for railway construction in other ways? Such as joint-stock companies, bond issuance, etc. After all, the government's increase in taxes is only one way, and there are other ways besides this.  "It's possible, but it's very difficult!" George nodded: "I want to tell you a fact. In this country, there is both scarcity and excess of capital."Now.  Their private capital is still too weak, their total amount is too small, and they have unrealistic expectations for profits. They are unable to afford such a long-term construction period as the railway company.  In many cases, this excess capital is often invested in destructive speculative activities. The result is that huge amounts of money are pocketed by a small number of scammers, while entrepreneurs who really need funds suffer from lack of funds and are unable to improve technology and expand production.  If it is true, as you say, that people in this country want to raise social funds to build railways, I think the biggest possibility is that it will become a carnival for speculators.  " Belfort said nothing. He walked to the window of the office and quietly looked at the flow of people on the street not far away. After a while, he suddenly asked: "George, do you know?  I am here to help the Chinese speed up the construction of their northeastern railway network.  "    "Yeah?  George frowned. Obviously Belfort's words surprised him, but a banker's instinct made him ask: "Is this a good deal?"  "    "certainly!  Balfour turned his back to George and replied: "The Russians are building the Trans-Siberian Railway. The Chinese have only two choices. Either take back Vladivostok before the Russians build the railway and destroy the Russian Pacific Fleet."  ; Or only face the Russians' "one hundred thousand bayonets", and the entire northern coast will be exposed to the threat of the Russian Pacific Fleet.  They had no choice but to accept our terms.  "    "Like This?  So what do you need me to do, go to Hanking to meet the Minister of Household Affairs of Dashun?  Or¡ª¡ª" "No, no, it's too early!  "Belfort turned his head, walked to George, and touched the other person's wine glass gently: "I don't know enough about Dashun's specific situation now, so I have to observe it for a while.  Moreover, Dashun officials are not fools. If we propose a loan now, we will not be able to get the best conditions. Only when they are desperate is the best time for us to take action.  " In the reception room, just as Gillings was tasting some questions about the origin of the twelfth sparkling wine, the door finally opened. Belfort walked in, and he stood up quickly, but he just drank it.  The wine seemed to have put a layer of glue between his butt and the sofa. If it weren't for the support of Gillings' arm, he would have almost sat back on the sofa. "Dear Gillings, it seems you are here.  Not idle either!  "Belfort's eyes swept across the wine glasses on the table, and a clear smile appeared on his face. "Excuse me, Mr. Belfort!  "Gillings tried his best to keep himself vertical to the ground. "No need to apologize!  " Belfort quickly grabbed the other person's arm to prevent Gillins from sitting back on the sofa: "Now we have to leave here.  " Just as the two people boarded the carriage and were about to leave, Gillings suddenly saw two familiar figures getting out of a carriage behind him through the gap in the curtains. Perhaps it was because alcohol weakened his self-control and made him instinctively  He said: "Chen¡ª¡ª" "Chen?"  " Belfort quickly opened the curtains, but he only saw the two figures disappearing into the row of gorgeous Ionic columns in front of the Shanghai Standard Chartered Bank. He turned around and asked: "Gillings,  Do you know these two people?  Chen what?  " "It's Chen Zaixing, and the other one is his subordinate in Shanghai, Jiang Zhiqing.  Gillings hesitated for a moment, but decided to tell the truth: "It's strange why the two of them are here now, but maybe I saw it wrong. After all, what I saw just now was just the back."  " "Stop!  "Belfort knocked twice on the wall of the carriage with his cane, and the carriage stopped immediately. He jumped out of the carriage and ran quickly to the bank building. Gillings had to follow him. He was already a little drunk.  It was easy to follow them. When the two arrived at the door of the bank, George's personal secretary at the door hurriedly greeted him with a smile: "Mr. Belfort, did you leave something behind?"  " "Do you recognize the two people who just went in?  "Belfort asked. Seeing Belfort's serious face, the clerk quickly replied: "One of them is Mr. Jiang from Shunhua Company, and the other one is unknown. The two of them are here to see Mr. George.  "    "very good!  Belfort looked back at Gillings: "It seems I should re-estimate your drinking capacity!"  "The door to the reception room was closed tightly. The teak door covered with leather was like a loyal guard, protecting the secrets inside. Belfort walked back and forth anxiously, took out his shorthand folder from his purse, and wrote a few lines.  He tore off the note, called the secretary and said, "Go in now and give this note to Mr. George.  " In the reception room, George looked at the two yellow men in front of him with a smile. Jiang Zhiqing was just thinking of introducing Chen Zaixing.
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