Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 643: Regarding the Tax Collection

“Regarding the ‘kingdom should receive quite a large land tax because it has a large population and land.’ you are wrong about that! Do you remember how the Senate issued a ‘three years tax exemption’ after we conquered Messapi and Peuceti?” When speaking of this, Mersis looked at Davos with dissatisfaction because he was the one to propose it, “We still didn't collect the land tax in the Peuceti area last year. And even though we conquered the Daunians, we didn't get any benefits. On the contrary, we have to spend a lot of money building roads, bridges, temples, and military camps…we are spending the treasury's money every day like flowing water. Yet, you are saying we have a lot of money to pay the statesmen?!”

“Mersis, stop complaining. I believe you can still squeeze some money out of the treasury with your ability.” Davos looked at him with a smile.

Mersis muttered a few words, but he eventually stopped talking.

“It seems all of you have no major issue with my proposal. Overall, this is still a rough proposal, so you need to discuss it carefully, come up with a detailed and enforceable proposal, and send it to me for review. However-” Davos raised his finger and reminded, “There is one principle you should remember, which is just like how we pay the common officials; the more you work, the more you get paid!”

“By working more, you would get paid more; there will be fewer statesmen who have nothing to do as they would compete to hold a post.” Sesta applauded. After all, there were indeed some statesmen who would just raise their hands when voting but would otherwise be unable to feel their presence.

“The few of you will discuss and draft this proposal, and you will submit it to me for review tomorrow morning. Then I will take it to the Senate in the afternoon,” said Davos seriously.

Seeing the positive response from everyone, Cornelius replied. “No problem, your majesty.”

“Next, I'll discuss another idea I have.” Davos said slowly with a slightly heavy expression, “Mersis had just mentioned how the kingdom's territory is expanding, and the population is increasing, but at the same time, the consumption of our treasury is also increasing. At the end of these two years, our treasury had almost no surplus money left, which is dangerous for a kingdom. In case of a massive disaster or war, we can't cope with it without enough reserves money…

Although thanks to the territory’s expansion and Marigi’s effort that our kingdom’s commercial tax income increases-”

In the face of Davos' praise, Marigi accepted it calmly.

“The commercial tax's growth is a slow process; it is impossible for today's ten talents to increase into a hundred talents the next day. The revenue from the land tax, on the other hand, is fixed. At the same time, the tax exemption for the Daunians is for the long-term consideration of the kingdom. You don't have to worry about it too much, Mersis, as even though the land tax will increase in a few years, it still isn't much, so you shouldn't expect it to solve our financial dilemma.

If it wasn't for the Tyche's blessing we made a few years ago that allowed us to earn additional income for the kingdom's treasury, today's financial difficulty would be even more.”

At this moment, Cornelius and Lysias became ashamed as they strongly opposed the implementation of the Tyche's blessing as they considered it a gamble that would corrupt the people. But the truth was that the situation they feared didn't occur. Instead, it allowed the kingdom's treasury to have more income.

“But the income from Tyche's Blessing is only about a hundred talents a year, and there will be no further change… So we should start considering adding more ways to get more money!” Davos' aggravated tone jolted everyone's heart.

Cornelius asked cautiously, “Your majesty, do you want to increase the taxes?”

Davos glanced at him and said, “What's wrong with raising taxes? You previously said there was no tradition of direct taxation in Greek cities, and now which other Greek powers in the Mediterranean don't charge higher taxes than Theonia?

In the past, Syracuse collects as much as 30% of the tax in the period of Dionysius. Now they are charging a special 5% war tax yearly by declaring it was to guard against Carthage. But who knows who they are truly guarding against?!

Sparta, on the other hand, had its land completely centralised in the hands of the state. Moreover, they would barely allocate enough food to their citizens while they use the rest of the money they earn for weaponry.

And Athens, I believe you should already know that they implemented a special tax system at the end of last year: Property tax – where they would register one-fifth of the actual property of each Athenian citizen. Afterwards, they would charge one to two per cent of that amount as yearly tax, which is much higher than the land tax we charge!

There was also a tax increase in Corinth, Argos, and Megara. Apart from them, Thebes, which the Spartans completely controlled, had to pay far more in tribute than its citizens paid in taxes. Thus the direct taxes collected by these city-states were far higher than the land taxes of Theonia, and the Theonian citizens should be thankful for it!

As the king of Theonia, I am not only thinking about the kingdom’s governance but also the life of our people. Therefore, we should not increase taxes casually. Instead, we should be cautious about it. However, there is a kind of tax that I find will not affect the people's lives and should be collected.”

When Davos paused, the crowd fell into deep pondering.

“Your majesty, what kind of tax is it?” Mersis asked eagerly.

“Inheritance Tax,” Davos muttered a word.

‘Inheritance tax?’ The five rotating speakers and Sesta had doubts, while Mersis and Marigi were lost in their thoughts.

“If Ansitanos was here, he would understand it.” Davos teased them as he looked at their expression. Afterwards, he explained, “Egypt has been implementing this kind of tax for centuries. When a property owner wants to transfer his property to a relative or someone else, he would need to pay 1/10th of his property’s worth as tax to the state so that the court would recognise the transfer as valid.

Hence we can also implement the inheritance tax in the kingdom because it has many advantages. First, it can increase our revenue. Second, it would adjust the gap between the wealthy and poor among the citizens.

This is particularly important: If the initial citizens of the kingdom continue accumulating merits, I fear they would have dozens of acres of land when they reach the age of fifty. And if he is a successful merchant of the kingdom, he would become even more successful as he could save at least dozens, if not hundreds, of talents in his life. So while those new citizens who have just joined the kingdom work hard for their survival, the children of these old citizens can live a comfortable life without making any efforts to contribute to the kingdom and even can easily become wealthy landowners. In the long run, it will cause jealousy among common citizens, which is not suitable for the stability of the kingdom. Thus we need to regulate it with inheritance tax.”

“Aren't the citizens doing their best to earn merit and wealth so they can live well and pass it on to their children and grandchildren?! I fear that introducing the inheritance tax would just discourage them!” Lysias asked doubtfully.

Davos patiently explained, “The kingdom fully supports putting efforts to obtain merits so one can live well. Haven't we given them all kinds of things and honourable rewards?! Allocated lands, medals…and even excellent places for studying and training for the children of the citizens. But if the next generation inherits too much wealth, it would only foster pride and indulgence that they would lack the motivation to strive to better themselves. Instead, they would become greedy for pleasure and unwilling to devote themselves to the kingdom. Therefore, we can set some conditions for collecting inheritance tax to guide wealthy citizens to use their wealth wisely. For example, donating public buildings will reduce the percentage when collecting the inheritance tax…this will also make the common citizens look at these wealthy people in a friendly way, which is the third benefit of the inheritance tax.”

“But your majesty, wouldn't it be too harsh if we charge the inheritance tax to those citizens who don’t have too much wealth?” Cornelius said cautiously.

“You raise a good question.” Davos praised him and explained earnestly, “In my opinion, not all citizens are subjected to the inheritance tax. How many properties do they own that would be subjected to inheritance tax? How many of those would be subjected to a five per cent inheritance tax? Ten per cent inheritance tax? Twenty or even thirty per cent inheritance tax?… After this meeting, you all should discuss it with Mersis and Marigi, come up with a rough draft, and we'll bring it up in the Senate. I believe this would be a long and heated discussion, but I am confident we would pass it. After all, every citizen of the kingdom hopes his child will be a hero who will create greater feats than himself rather than a loser who only knows how to eat, drink and play! And we statesmen prefer the future of our kingdom to be a stable and harmonious society instead of a bad situation where the rich and powerful are rampant while the commoners have no place to stand and may cause revolts!”

“Your majesty, I think all statesmen will appreciate your painstaking efforts and will pass the inheritance tax law!” Androlis immediately expressed his side.

The others also expressed their support, of which Mersis was the most supportive.

“Next, let's discuss the All-Greek Academic Symposium.” Davos showed a serious and excited expression as he spoke, “With the current strength of the kingdom of Theonia, we are already the most powerful among the Greek forces in the entire Mediterranean. But even with that, many places, especially Greece, do not consider Theonia a Greek city-state. On the contrary, they look down on us and think we are just a massive tribal union of a group of brutish, undeveloped and ignorant barbarians. Thus we need to let other Greeks know about us, about the fact that our kingdom of Theonia isn't only powerful but also has an advanced civilisation and splendid culture! If the example to be followed by the Greek world a few decades ago was Athens, today, Thurii of Theonia is the centre of Greek culture! Thus we shall make the people in Greece understand and get close to us, which is the real purpose of our holding the annual All-Greek Academic Symposium!”

Hearing Davos' passionate words, everyone became excited.

Lysias immediately said, “Your majesty, although it would be the Theonian Akademia that would hold the annual All-Greek Academic Symposium, it would also be the glory of Thurii. Thus our Thurii city hall will do our best in assisting the Theonian Akademia in organising this symposium where the scholars would gather.”