Chapter 523 Tax Reform 7

Chapter 523 Tax Reform 7
The news of the major abolition of tax wrappers and the introduction of an income tax in Alda’s territory blew across the Northwest Bay like a whirlwind.

Nowadays, when the Council of State or the Court of Lords enacted certain new policies or regulations, they would basically put the news out in advance to probe the people first.

“What? This is impossible!”

In a certain manor, Fergus, a knight of the Greiman family but who quit when Paul formed a new army, exclaimed in dismay when he heard his steward report the news he had inquired from the city.

“Lord Greiman is not such a brutal lord, this must be a rumor.”

Fergus shakes his head, abolishing the charter tax system is still justifiable, levying income tax on the rich is a bit too much, isn’t this a money grab?

“It must be someone who is slandering Lord Gleeman’s reputation, if I find out I will definitely not spare him.”

Fergus clenched his fists in hatred.

But Fergus’s heart was not bottomless because according to his friends in the Council of State, Earl Paul Gleiman had wanted to push for similar reforms a long time ago, but had been dissuaded by Chief Steward Ford at the time on the grounds that the conditions were not ripe.

At that moment a servant came to report, “Honorable Lord Fergus, Lord Valen invites you to a banquet at his estate this afternoon.”

“Old Warren?”

Fergus was slightly surprised, he had just gathered with Old Valen once the day before yesterday, how could he come back so soon to invite him to a banquet.

Could it be that the rumor was true? Did Count Greiman feel that the conditions were ripe to push for reforms? And this time, Chief Steward Ford didn’t persuade him either?

Old Valentine was inviting himself to discuss the matter.

“Prepare a horse for me, I’ll be there soon.”

Fergus made his decision at once.

……

“Lord Gleeman.”

Inside the lord’s mansion in Lakewood, Bernard laid a stack of envelopes on Paul’s bank.

“They are all addressed to you, some in private names, others joint letters, from merchants and squires.”

Paul raised an eyebrow and said, “Hmph, I don’t need to read them to know what they wrote on the letters.”

He opened the envelopes one by one with some impatience.

When Paul finished reading the last letter, he exclaimed with anger and laughter, “Ha, look at that, Bernard, I told you, all of them want to hold on to their own bit of power and interests.”

Bernard from the hands of Paul took a piece of letter paper, it is really all persuade Paul not to abolish the package tax system, do not introduce income tax words.

“Bernard, you write an open letter for me in response to all the issues on this joint letter.”

“Yes, Lord Gleeman.”

Paul enumerated the points to be possessed by the content of the reply letter.

“To concretely spell out the significance of the existence of our current tax system, the money we collect is used in the following areas: one is the construction and maintenance of public facilities, such as roads, bridges, aqueducts, river dams, and other facilities, which are related to the interests of all the territorial citizens, and also include them, their travel, irrigation, and transportation of goods …… who didn’t use the facilities built out of tax money; the second is the salary expenditure of public service personnel, such as the affairs officers at all levels of administrative points, counting the population, accepting lawsuits, and all kinds of taxes ……”

Paul paused, hesitated for a moment and then waved his hand and said:

“Forget it, there’s no need to talk about these, I guess they don’t like to hear this.”

“The third is education and science and technology expenditures …… uh …… this also need not be said, it is estimated that many people can not understand and do not want to understand; the fourth is the construction of the armed forces, a strong force is to protect all the people of the territory from outsiders coveting the basic guarantee, this they should understand.”

He summarized, “All in all, take the public infrastructure construction and armed force construction to make a big deal out of it, whoever opposes it is an enemy of the interests of all the residents of the territory! And be sure to make it clear that the taxes collected are definitely not used for the personal enjoyment of the lord.”

Bernard took a quill and recorded each and every one of them on the white paper.

“Lord Gleeman, I will definitely finish this open letter as early as possible.”

“Print a few more copies and post them on the notice board.” “Yes!”

At that moment a pungent odor wafted into Paul’s office through the window in the south wall.

“Shit shit shit! What’s that odor! It stinks.”

Paul immediately covered his nose, and Bernard did the same.

This smell …… reminded him of what he felt when he visited the nitrous fields built by the alchemists, stinky and disgusting.

In unison, they cast their eyes south through the window. There was nothing unusual inside the castle, and when their eyes crossed the fence and looked at the street outside the castle, they found that a wagon carrying goods had overturned on its side on the road, some something had been scattered all over the place, and two people dressed as wagon drivers were busy, one trying to turn the wagon upright, and the other one holding a shovel on the ground.

The guards of the lord’s residence who were in charge of guarding the entrance of the castle surrounded these two men and supervised their movements.

A short while later, the guards tied up the two carriage drivers.

“What’s going on? Wasn’t it just a wagon that overturned, as to tie up people?”

Paul called out curiously, “Bernard, go there and ask what’s going on and figure out why they’re arresting people.”

“Yes!” Bernard answered.

Within moments, the secretary returned with a detailed account of what had happened.

Only his face was very odd, and he said with some hesitation, “That car …… is a manure car.”

“A manure car?” Paul’s face was also bad.

“Yes, your guards are ready to put those two cart drivers into the jail for disrespecting the lord.”

Paul threw up his own arms in a flourish, “Because they accidentally let the cart roll over on its side in front of my door? Ridiculous! You go and tell them to release the men at once.”

“No one can be released!”

Victor, the captain of his guards, burst in without knocking.

“Why, Victor?” Paul was very confused.

Victor huffed, “I think this is a deliberate provocation against you, and nothing like this has ever happened before.”

“Deliberate provocation?”

“Yes, or …… warning! Lord Graiman, think about your upcoming tax reform.” Victor reminded him.

Paul’s heart tightened, and it suddenly struck him that his captain of the guard had a very good point.

“Then go and interrogate those two cart drivers to find out who is behind this, and if it’s just an accident, let them go.”

Victor said, “My lord, I will carry out your order, but I don’t think I can interrogate anything useful, the person behind the scene who dared to do this should have hidden himself very well, maybe that car was tampered with in some way and the two drivers didn’t know about it. So I suggest ……”

“What do you suggest?”

“I suggest that no matter what the result of the questioning is, you will lynch these two car drivers to deter those behind the scenes.”

Bernard chimed in, “Captain Victor’s suggestion makes sense, and I think you can consider it.”

Paul didn’t respond immediately and just stared at the two men for a few seconds.

“I have considered it, and the result is …… no! Victor, interrogate these two men as I just ordered, and if you can’t find out what’s going on, release them.”

“Yes, my lord.”

The captain of the guards bowed and led the order.

(End of chapter)