Extreme Cold Era: Shelter Don't Keep Waste-Chapter 512 - 482: Tax Inclusion Changes

Through Perfikot’s efforts, the situation in the New Continent colony finally did not completely collapse.

With military control and proactive cooperation from the Workers’ Federation, plus the civil officials drafted from the Northern Territory, the situation in the New Continent colony finally stabilized and gradually began to restore order with the efforts of all parties involved.

However, the severe impact brought by the Governor’s rebellion still inflicted a heavy blow on the economy and people’s livelihood in the entire New Continent colony.

Particularly before this, the Empire’s army was still battling the Revolutionary Army, which was also a form of devastation for the New Continent colony itself.

Now, the entire New Continent has been split in two by Perfikot. One half was given to the autonomous territory established by the Revolutionary Army, and the remaining half of the colony is full of issues, almost to the point of people’s livelihoods being at risk.

During the previous war, the former Governor, in order to assemble more troops, not only borrowed a large sum of money from the bankers and merchants of the colony but also levied a heavy tax on the populace.

And this money has now been spent, turning into those five infantry regiments that have been crushed by the Steam Knights.

There’s not much to say about this matter in itself; as a colonial governor, it was part of the normal process to raise funds and organize an army to suppress rebellion, so there was naturally nothing wrong here.

But the former Governor made a move that Perfikot considers very foolish; he mortgaged the tax rights of the New Continent colony for ten years to the bankers, which is how he managed to secure enough funds to support this war.

Those who understand tax rights know, to put it simply, the government contracts out the tax collection rights to the tax farmers, who are responsible for ensuring that this amount of tax collected is delivered to the government, but the total collected by the tax farmer is not regulated.

Therefore, it often happens that although the government collects ten dollars in tax, the tax farmer collects fifty dollars, gives nine dollars to the government, claims that the harvest was not good that year, and pockets the remaining forty-one dollars.

Of course, such an exaggerated tax collection is rather exaggerated, generally, the tax farmers wouldn’t collect taxes like this, but undoubtedly, considering the costs and profits, the tax farmers would inevitably collect higher taxes than the original levy.

This undoubtedly increases the burden on ordinary people and also affects the public sentiment towards the Empire.

However, these are not the most important issues; the most important is the growth of a privileged class that monopolizes the local economy.

Initially, they may only seek economic benefits, but subsequently, they will begin to have political demands, and later, they might organize their own armed forces to facilitate tax collection...

In the end, they can become the power controlling the country from behind the scenes.

In the original world, they were generally referred to as conglomerates or oligarchs, the legendary Rothschilds, Skull and Bones, the Seven Sisters, and so on are all the ultimate manifestations of such individuals, even though they may not have started with tax farming.

Because there is an example from the original world as a reference, Perfikot has always maintained a certain vigilance towards the bourgeoisie and merchants.

Moreover, this aligns with the interests of the feudal noble class she represents, doesn’t it? The bourgeoisie always seeks to seize power from the nobility.

As for the tax farming system, if there wasn’t the apocalyptic crisis as a premise, Perfikot might only consider how to strictly regulate it.

After all, tax collection requires a large number of professional tax officers and finance personnel, and relying on the government to train these individuals would undoubtedly be a huge burden.

After contracting it out to tax farmers, this part of the burden undoubtedly falls on the tax farmers themselves.

This can indirectly reduce the Empire’s fiscal burden and government expenses, although the corresponding burden is imposed on ordinary people.

Considering that in the original world of France, tax farmers once accounted for 40% of France’s fiscal revenue before the revolution, it’s not useless per se, but as society develops, the various drawbacks of the tax farming system become exposed and it’s eventually discarded by society as an inevitable part of history.

This world also had a time when the tax farming system was popular, and not much time has passed since its abolition.

Raising the issue now doesn’t seem very problematic, but reining it in makes Perfikot feel very troubled, because on one hand, she cannot allow bankers to control the New Continent colony’s tax revenue for the next ten years, and on the other hand, she cannot disavow the loan.

The reason not to recognize the loan comes naturally for Perfikot; as long as she insists that this was the former Governor’s loan, and since the former Governor has been declared a rebel, she can straightforwardly refuse to acknowledge the loan.

She could even go further and categorize these bankers as traitors, and execute them together.

But doing so would undoubtedly not help in restoring order in the New Continent colony. Instead, it would deepen the local populace’s fear and might even lead to worse consequences.

It’s like a spring that’s already tightly wound; if you keep pulling it further, it’s likely to snap.

Although extreme measures are used in troubled times, it’s still dependent on the situation.

If all the cities were already in chaos, or riots had occurred, then there would be no question about it; drastic measures would be justified.

But since the cities have now restored basic order, harsh methods cannot be employed.

Furthermore, Perfikot still relies on these merchants to contribute their efforts to the construction of shelters later on, so they definitely cannot be wiped out.

Hence, after serious consideration, Perfikot decides to acknowledge the loan but refuses to allow the bankers to obtain tax rights.

After all, in the coming apocalypse winter, if these bankers were to gain tax rights, it’s hard to say they wouldn’t develop into independent regional factions, or worse, things she doesn’t wish to see.

Especially since these bankers would obtain tax rights over the entire New Continent colony, not just a single city’s tax rights.

Therefore, under Perfikot’s mediation or rather intervention, the colony government’s loan was changed from originally using ten-year tax rights as collateral to be repaid with the colony government’s tax revenue over the next ten years.

The Northern Territory will act as the guarantor for this loan.

With Perfikot’s intervention, the bankers understood when to stop and soon acknowledged the change to the loan, and subsequently actively participated in the construction projects of shelters and Energy Towers organized by Perfikot.

After all, these things are related to their own survival, and no one would joke about that.