I Became A Black Merchant In Another World Chapter 293

In a world where even giving a al worth more than 50,000 won to a public servant causes a scandal, it would be unimaginable.

In the Toscana Empire, however, when eting public servants, especially high-ranking ones, you must never co empty-handed.

Otherwise, you’ll be labeled as the worst kind of person.

"I heard that His Majesty has sent a secret order appointing you as the next Minister of Comrce, so I ca to offer a small help."

After my greeting, I handed over a box of cookies carefully made by our family to the count.

At first, he had a harsh expression as if to protest, wondering if such an impolite act was acceptable, but as soon as he grabbed the box, his expression turned into a smile again.

"Is this the trend among the young people these days, giving gifts like this?"

"I’ve thought long and hard to prepare this small gift to please Count Sardinia. Did you like it?"

"I do like it very much. At first, I was disappointed, but when I received it, I could tell it was filled with your sincere effort. It was refreshing."

High-ranking individuals, especially mbers of parliant, receive an awful lot of gift sets.

Regardless of whether they are from the ruling party or opposition, middle-ranking officials receive so many that their assistants are often forced to send dozens of them off.

And I don’t know how it is now, but in the past, the proper way of gifting was to arrange apples on top and fill the bottom with 10,000-won bills.

Since there’s no such custom here, I decided to try it, and the results were remarkable.

"I think I’ll send a gift like this to Count Marchesi next ti."

"I’m glad to hear that you like it so much."

"By the way, I also wanted to ask you about the Ministry of Comrce. This works out perfectly. I would love to sit down and have a leisurely conversation over the cookies, but I’m terribly busy right now."

Sardinia, just the na alone sounds like it could be the na of a kingdom’s king.

Indeed, the Sardinia family was once the royal family of the Kingdom of Sardinia, hundreds of years ago.

However, after the kingdom was destroyed by the Toscana Empire, the royal family was absorbed into the Toscana nobility, making them an unusual case of a legal nobility.

Given their background, they often carry an air of arrogance among the nobility.

‘If only things weren’t so urgent, we could have spent three hours chatting while eating the cookies.’

"The Ministry of Comrce’s jurisdiction involves taxing rchants. To do that, we need to deploy accountants to investigate how much they make every year."

Just like it’s impossible to turn stones into gold, it’s also impossible to take money from soone who has none.

Furthermore, when imposing taxes, they should be set according to the individual’s inco and asset levels.

If that principle is violated, the country would collapse in an instant.

"The accountants you trained will do better than in this investigation, so there’s no need to worry about that. I’m just making things complicated if I get involved."

"Wouldn’t it be better for the accountants to do their job well under your supervision, sir?"

"I appreciate that you’re concerned about my reputation, but you know, you’ve managed a business and a family, haven’t you? If I ddle in things I can’t do, it’s like sprinkling ashes on a perfectly baked bread. And, there’s no way I’ll be criticized for not doing the bookkeeping audit as well as they do, but if I start interfering here and there, it will actually tarnish my honor."

When high-ranking individuals co to the field, especially in urgent situations, we often think this:

‘Do they really think their presence will help?’

As Count Sardinia said, they know it too.

They know that coming here will only create confusion at the scene.

Yet, because the public image is much more important, they gather reporters, take hurried photos, and deliver encouraging speeches.

Here, nobles don’t need to act to show a good face to the public, so they don’t do such things.

Even so, it’s still impressive for a high-ranking official to say that they’ll step aside when they don’t know the essential inspection work of their own departnt.

‘Powerful people, after all, have a tendency to want to control everything.’

"The most important thing right now is the tax rate. What do you think would be an appropriate percentage?"

"It would be best to set the tax rate differently depending on the rchants’ or the company’s revenue."

"Wouldn’t it be more efficient and simpler to set a uniform tax rate? Like for serfs, maybe 60%, no, now 50%. I can’t set 50%, but a tax rate of 30-40% should be acceptable."

"That would increase taxes in the short term, but in the long term, it would be a decision that would harm the Toscana Empire."

The critical difference between serfs and rchants is whether they can flee when the situation gets bad.

Serfs lose their land rights and essentially beco nothing when they leave their holand...

But rchants, when things go bad enough, can run away with their money.

Starting over sowhere else may not be easy, but there is a huge difference between sothing with a slim chance of success and sothing impossible.

"If you impose a 40% tax, even wealthy rchants and those running mid-sized businesses will move their headquarters and operations overseas."

"Yes, it would be impossible to impose taxes on goods sold overseas."

"The money earned by rchants should be spent within the Toscana Empire. If that money flows overseas, it’s the sa as making the Toscana Empire poorer."

Count Sardinia looked at and asked.

"If I impose a 40% tax, what will you do?"

What else would I do? I’d move my business overseas.

I’d relocate our headquarters and staff to the Duchy of Milania or sowhere.

"I will remain here as a noble of the Toscana Empire."

Upon hearing my answer, the Count sighed.

"Don’t be too greedy. Alright then, what tax rate do you think is appropriate?"

"For annual sales under 10 gold coins, 10%, from 10 to 100 gold coins, 13%, from 100 to 1,000 gold coins, 17%, and over 1,000 gold coins, 20%. This way, everyone will pout but will have no choice but to pay."

"20%, huh. Well, that’s certainly a much bigger help to the empire’s finances than the gifts rchants often bring. But, what if rchants stop giving gifts? How will we handle the pay for the legal nobles and civil servants? Their lives will beco very difficult."

That’s a threat.

Imposing taxes on rchants is the Emperor’s will, so I’ll take that into consideration, but if their salaries drop in exchange...?

The angry legal nobles and central bureaucrats will surely try to destroy our Rothschild family.

But, I can fully understand their position.

Whether it’s corrupt inco or whatever, it’s been an accepted practice until now, and if it’s suddenly cut off, people will start to suffer.

‘Of course, they’ll bla .’

"If we start taxing rchants, the budget will naturally increase, right? We’ll have to pay the salary equivalent to the value of the gifts rchants used to give."

"That sounds like the most reasonable approach."

While serfs are just poor people with no rights, making them easy to control with re responsibility, rchants, though lacking political power, have more money than the nobles.

If we enforce only obligations, they’ll either revolt or, most likely, resort to underhanded tactics I can’t even imagine.

‘If we’ve paid taxes, we should get the corresponding benefits.’

"And the most important thing is, when we collect taxes, we must protect them from the abuses of the nobility."

In life, for everything you receive, you must give sothing in return.

"That way, rchants will realize that their only way to survive is by trusting and relying on His Majesty the Emperor."

"Receiving the money while strengthening imperial power. It’s a brilliant idea only you would think of."

The organizational structure of the Three Estates perfectly symbolizes absolute monarchy.

Religion, Nobility, rchants.

These three propose policies to the King and lead the country.

I’ll control the rchant aspect, and through religious reforms, I’ll reduce religion’s role to the moral and emotional stability of the people...

‘I’ll have half the Empire in my hands.’

"It’s an honor."

"Good, let’s do that. I’ll suggest the sa to His Majesty."

And before I implented the rchant tax system, I t separately with the person who would be the practical leader of the accountants.

While auditing, I planned to make life difficult for those who might be hostile or try to check against our family.