Gao Jun smiled and said, "But this consumption is only temporary, because once the 'Scrap Silver Order' is officially implemented, the silver dollar will actually lose its function of currency and no longer have the ability to circulation of currency. In this way, the people must exchange the silver dollar for paper money to try it normally. In this way, the silver dollar has been recycled again!"

Li Songchen also smiled and said, "No, it's really a solution."

Gao Jun said: "There is another point. Once the order for the derelict of silver is announced, it is not ruled out that someone will spread rumors and cause trouble in secret and stir up trouble. Now we have many enemies, and they may not miss this opportunity. Therefore, we must take precautions. Once people who spread rumors and incite trouble will be severely punished."

After hearing this, Li Songchen nodded and said, "This is a noteworthy question. I really didn't think of this. You reminded me very well. It's better to see the problem than me!"

Gao Jun smiled and said, "I dare not take it. I am just a bystander."

Li Songchen also smiled and said, "I will attend the administrative meeting tomorrow morning to discuss the issue of the 'Saustenance Order'. It should be fine in the afternoon. Let's go to the orphanage to see if there are any children suitable for adoption."

Gao Jun also nodded and said, "Okay."

The next day, at the Executive Meeting, the Finance Committee proposed a new plan, no longer a one-size-fits-all so-called "scrap silver order", but instead imposed a "silver seigniorage tax", referred to as the "silver seigniorage" tax rating of 3%, that is, more than 1 silver dollar, and transactions in silver coins as currency will require a tax of 3 cents. If paid in paper money, there is no need to pay.

In fact, seigniorage is not a new matter. It generally means that metal currency will incur certain additional fees when minting, so the government will charge a certain proportion of taxes when issuing currency to make up for it. Of course, in most cases, the government will directly include seigniorage in the issuing currency, that is, the actual value of the currency is lower than the denomination value of the currency; or private government authorized by the government to mint metal currency by itself, but a certain fee is required to pay to the official. In modern society, seigniorage has been completely late and the concept of taxation usually refers to the benefits obtained by the government from the issuance of currency.

Of course, the Finance Committee proposed to collect seigniorage tax, which is not the real seigniorage tax, because the actual value of the silver coins issued by the East China government is far lower than the denomination value of the currency, which is actually the benefit obtained from the issuance of currency. Therefore, the Finance Committee proposed to collect seigniorage tax, in a sense, is closer to the "fire consumption to the public" system in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, silver gradually replaced copper coins as the main currency in circulation. However, because silver has no denomination, the silver used by Chinese people is of different quality. Moreover, after the government taxes, it must melt the broken silver and recast it into a silver ingot of uniform specifications. In this way, a certain amount of deduction will be generated during the recasting process, which is called "fire consumption". Therefore, the government taxation means that in addition to the normal tax rate, a certain amount of fire consumption will be charged.

There was no fixed standard for the "fire consumption" added when taxing during the Ming Dynasty, but it was generally greater than the actual "fire consumption", and the difference belonged to the local officials responsible for taxation. Therefore, the fire consumption continued to increase throughout the Ming Dynasty. Generally, the fire consumption in prefectures and counties reached two or three cents per twelve silver, or even four or five cents. However, the taxes in remote prefectures and counties were less, and the fire consumption was even higher than the formal taxes.

In the early Qing Dynasty, we knew the disadvantages of fire consumption, so the two dynasties of Shunzhi and Kangxi also issued laws prohibiting fire consumption, but they did not work in reality and later they agreed. However, in the Yongzheng period, fire consumption was simply regularized. The government clearly stipulated the amount of fire consumption, and the fire consumption collected must be fully handed over to the national treasury, and the land must not be intercepted privately, which is called the "fire consumption belongs to the public" system.

In theory, this can not only increase the government's fiscal revenue and eliminate corruption among local officials. However, in actual operation, the "fire and waste return to public" system cannot prevent corruption in the Qing court, because local officials will come up with other means to corruption.

The East China government imposes "sin tax" in fact, using tax means to promote the popularization of paper money. This approach is of course much more relaxed than the one-size-fits-all "scrap silver order", but it is much faster than the natural alternative method. Although the 3% seigniorage tax is not high, most ordinary people are petty about money and will never stop it.

Of course, in daily private transactions, the government cannot control whether to calculate the additional seigniorage tax, and can decide on its own. However, when paying taxes and exchanges in banks, seigniorage tax must be paid, which is enough to promote the process of replacing silver coins by paper money.

This suggestion is to take a different approach. The salary level of the East China government is not high now. The average monthly salary of ordinary workers is 5-6 silver dollars, and the economically developed regions can reach 7-9 silver dollars. If the monthly salary of 5 silver dollars, you need to pay a seigniorage tax of 1005 cents. In this era, 1005 cents and purchasing power are not low. According to the market price, this price can be sold for about 2-3 kilograms of grain. This is still the income of workers, and farmers' income is lower, but if paper money is used, this expense can be saved, so it still has a great influence on ordinary people.

Therefore, most people also agreed with the practice of imposing "sin tax", and also put forward many suggestions for improvement, such as expanding publicity and issuing additional paper money. Li Songchen proposed to prepare more silver coins to prevent bank runs from occurring, and to prevent hostile forces from spreading rumors, inciting trouble, and also preventing the loss of silver.

The last point was what Li Songchen thought of himself. In fact, his mind is no worse than Gao Jun, but he didn't think much about it. After Gao Jun mentioned it, his thinking immediately opened up and thought of blind spots that many people did not expect. If there is a bank run, it is indeed necessary to prevent someone from transferring the silver dollar after redeeming the silver dollar. Because the four cities in this pilot are all cities with great openness to the outside world, because it is Shanghai, foreign trade and Qing Dynasty trade are very large, and they are all very large every day.

There are a large number of people coming in and out. Although the East China government has strict restrictions on the exit of silver and will impose high tariffs, it is necessary to prevent someone from bringing silver dollars out of the country privately, which will cause the loss of silver from the East China government. If there is really an participation of hostile forces, this may be really not small. After all, although the East China government wants to popularize paper money to replace silver coins, silver is still an important precious metal. Because in the development of the power industry, silver is an important industrial raw material and must not be lost.

The suggestions made by Li Songchen attracted high attention at the meeting. After discussions by the committees, it was finally decided to add an additional 3 million silver dollars in reserves to the four pilot cities to cope with the possible silver coin run. At the same time, Qingdao also needs to prepare another 10 million silver dollars in reserves to prevent accidents.

Although this will consume a large amount of silver reserves of the East China government, it is better to be prepared for it, because once the silver coin run occurs, it will be a very serious consequence. It will not only seriously damage the image and credit of the East China government, but also cause a great economic recession in the pilot cities. The four cities that were piloted this time are the most economically developed regions of the East China government. Therefore, an economic recession in any city will be an immeasurable major loss for the East China government.

Moreover, once the pilot project of collecting "sin tax" was successful, the invested silver coins could not only be completely recycled, but also the majority of the silver coins originally circulated in the pilot cities were also recycled. Therefore, the East China government did not actually suffer any losses, and it also laid a solid foundation for the future levy of "sin tax" in other places. It not only accumulated relevant experience, but also accumulated sufficient amount of silver coins. Of course, this also strictly controls the exit of silver coins and prevents silver from flowing out.

In addition, in terms of daily necessities, the East China Government will also do its best to provide enough items for the four pilot cities, including grain, salt, oil and cloth, and other large-scale daily necessities, so as to use the government's inventory. In short, we must do everything we can to ensure the successful pilot project of collecting "sin tax" in the four pilot cities, and to open up a good start for the monetary system reform of the East China Government.

The meeting lasted for a morning and finally formed a relatively complete and thorough resolution. Wang Yunpeng asked the Finance Committee to make the final improvement and handed it over to the Senate Parliament for deliberation and voting tomorrow.

In the afternoon, Li Songchen and Gao Jun went to the orphan shelter opened by the East China Government. After selection, the two selected a 6-year-old girl named Cheng Xiulin and a 3-year-old boy named Shen Zilin. The girl was rescued during the Jianghuai flood a year ago. After several twists and turns, she was finally sent to Qingdao shelter to adopt. Since she was over 6 years old, if no one adopted her again, she would be sent to school after the New Year. Generally speaking, the elders were unwilling to adopt children who had already been in school, because most of the children after school began to become sensible, and it was difficult to forget the past and cultivate family affection.

In fact, 6-year-old children also know a lot. Li Songchen and Gao Jun’s consideration is to adopt an older child, which is easier to support. After all, Gao Jun is a pregnant woman and has limited energy. It doesn’t matter much for older children. As long as they are treated sincerely, they can still cultivate family affection.
Chapter completed!