Chapter 380: Chapter 375 New Tax Laws Chapter 380: Chapter 375 New Tax Laws “Who else has an opinion? You’re welcome to voice it. I’m not unreasonable.” Muria’s voice seemed to echo in the council hall, the pleas for mercy still resonating. His face wore a gentle smile. “As long as you present your issues, I will resolve them.”

Upon hearing Muria’s words, a chilly sweat broke on the brows and backs of the aristocrats in the Council Hall. Was he going to solve the problems presented, or those who presented them?

Judging by the Regent’s demeanor, it seemed like he intended to ‘solve’ those who dare to present issues. Resignedly, they decided it was better to comply, to value their lives more than their concerns, whatever the losses. After all, they weren’t the ones to suffer the most, the heaviest blow would land on the affluent aristocrats in possession of actual power.

“Is there no more dissent?” Seeing the silence below, Muria nodded in satisfaction, “Now we should discuss reforming the tax laws.”

“I think that the tax laws established by the Lockman Kingdom are extremely unreasonable, it’s time for a critical reform. Taxes shouldn’t be levied based on population, it must be according to personal income, in progressive stages.”

“Could Your Grace please elaborate further?” One of the nobles curtsied upon hearing Muria’s words, apparently intrigued by the new tax law proposed by him.

“My idea is this,” Muria proposed, “we should first calculate how much money a family of five needs per month to maintain a basic standard of living and use this as a benchmark. Only the amount exceeding this benchmark would be taxable.”

“What if it doesn’t exceed?”

“Exempt.” Muria answered clearly, uttering two words that no ruler of this world would ever say; he was merely translating the principles of personal income tax from his past life.

Poor individuals with low income should not qualify for tax deductions, and only high-income individuals should qualify for tax deductions. Yes, the higher the income, the more tax you have to pay.

The nobles and ministers, with baffled expressions, listened to Muria’s plan for a newly proposed tax law. Each of them had their own thoughts about this drastic change.

“Duke Muria, according to your idea, those who are wealthier have to pay more, while the very poor commoners don’t have to pay at all?”

“Yes, that’s correct.” Muria nodded, “I can’t understand why it’s so tempting to exploit those who barely scrape by, living hand to mouth from what they dig up from the ground. The real way forward is to tax the rich.”

“Your Grace is wise.” Immediately, a group of nobles hastened to flatter.

“Your Grace, your new tax law seems fair, but if the Noble Lords lose the right to establish tax laws, how would they earn an income? Many rely solely on their taxation revenue to maintain their lives.”

“Trash!” Muria murmured softly, then raised his head, “I may have stripped them of the right to establish private tax laws, but I haven’t deprived them of the right to tax. They can stipulate taxes in accordance with the new tax law, and give half of the tax received to the royal family; the remaining half belongs to the nobles.”

“Half? Isn’t that too much?”

“What does it matter to you if it’s too much? You’re not one of the powerful aristocrats—why are you worrying unnecessarily?”

“My daughter is about to marry a powerful aristocrat; of course I need to take this into consideration.”

Once they had understood Muria’s ideas, the various nobles and aristocrats began to discuss fervently. Then, another aristocrat asked Muria a burning question:
“Duke Muria, what if a Noble Lord has such impoverished subjects due to a particularly barren territory that the majority of them do not meet the new tax law standards? Will this Lord not be left with hardly any income?”

“Yes indeed!” Muria nodded.

“In this situation, shouldn’t we propose some special conditions, lower the taxation thresholds?”

“No need, if the subjects are too poor leading to no tax revenue, then these nobles should start thinking about how to uplift their subjects economically instead of waiting for me to establish laws against special circumstances.”

After nearly a day and a night of debate, brainstorming, and backed by more various data gathered by the secret intelligence division left by Belradin, the new tax law of the Lockman Kingdom was finally re-established within two days and a night.

The new tax legislation was quickly printed into volumes within the Royal Palace and, accompanied by Muria’s decree stripping the Noble Lords of their rights to legislation and taxation, were distributed nationwide via Lockman Kingdom’s well-established teleportation system.

When the Noble Lords of the Lockman Kingdom received the notice from the Royal Capital, most of the nobles were confused and then dissatisfied; a portion was even resentful.

These nobles, who unabashedly exploit the commoners in their territories, found that the new tax reform seriously infringed on their right to utilise the fruits of such efforts. Due to their brutal exploitation and oppression, almost all of their subjects failed to meet the taxation standard of the new tax law.

If they genuinely implemented the new tax law, they would not collect even a single copper in taxes. These brutal noble lords couldn’t bear this, but having witnessed Muria’s ascension ceremony, they naturally didn’t dare openly revolt.

They employed passive resistance, treating Muria’s decrees delivered via teleportation array as non-existent, deliberately disregarding them and continuing to execute the old decrees as usual.

…

Already refreshed in the royal palace, Muria summoned the head of the secret intelligence left to him by Belradin again to issue his commands:
“Monitor the entire Kingdom, pay particular attention to those who possess territories. Check if they have complied with the decree and new tax law I issued. Secondly, observe officials and note if they have implemented my new tax law properly.

Submit a list of all the disobedient ones from each department, I’d like to see who treats my commands lightly.”

“Yes, Duke Muria.” All the intelligence heads of departments obeyed the command and withdrew, leaving behind a suave, black-haired middle-aged gentleman.

“How is the recruitment of evil creatures by Scarlet going?” Muria asked without looking up from his paperwork.

“With the aid of information provided by some colleagues, I’ve pretty much recruited all the evil creatures in the royal city. I’m planning on recruiting the evil creatures from the surrounding cities next.”

“Well, you should know which type of creature to recruit and which type to kill.”

“Understood.”

“You may leave now.”

As Muria was now waiting for the responses to the reduction of authority and the enforcement of the new tax laws from the aristocrats who held actual power and other parts of the Lockman Kingdom,
The giant scouting team who had gone to explore the western sea area of the Kingdom and the large group of cloud islands returned. Surprisingly, there were no casualties; they even brought back over a hundred Cloud Giants. They were the locals they had brought along from those cloud islands.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read