As for you, 'The kingdom has a large population, a lot of land, and a lot of land taxes should be too'. You are really wrong! Do you know that when the Senate conquered Mesapi and Pucheti, the decree issued by the Senate was 'three-year tax exemption'." Speaking of this, Melsis looked at Davers with a little dissatisfaction, because the proposal came from the king's mouth: "The land tax in the Pucheti area was not levied until last year. Now the Donis have been conquered by us, but not only do we have no benefits, we also have to spend a lot of money to build roads, bridges, temples, military camps... Every day, the money in the treasury is spent like flowing water. How can I pay the elders more money!"

"Okay, Melsis, don't complain. I believe that with your ability, you can squeeze out the treasury." Davers smiled and looked at him.

Melsis muttered a few words and stopped talking.

"It seems that you all have no big opinions on my proposal just now. I am just a rough suggestion. You still need to discuss and discuss carefully, come up with a detailed and executable proposal, and then return it to me for review. But—" Davers raised a finger and reminded: "There is a principle to remember that, just like the salary of ordinary officials, you need more work and more income!"

"There should be more labor and more rewards, so that there will be fewer veterans who do nothing, and they should compete to hold positions." Sesta applauded. There are indeed some veterans in the Senate. Except for raising their hands when the resolution is made, they cannot feel their existence at other times.

"You are the ones who will discuss and formulate this proposal. It will be handed over to me for review tomorrow morning, and I will take it to the Senate in the afternoon." Davers said seriously.

Cornerus looked at the others, got everyone's affirmative response, and then answered seriously: "No problem, your majesty."

"Next, I'll talk about my other thoughts." Davers said slowly with a slightly heavy expression: "Melsis mentioned just now that the territory of the kingdom is expanding, the population of the kingdom is increasing, but at the same time the consumption of the treasury is also increasing. By the end of the past two years, the treasury has almost no surplus, which is dangerous for a country. If there is a major disaster or war, we do not have enough reserves of gold and silver, and we cannot deal with it better...

The kingdom's trade tax revenue is growing every year, which is related to the expansion of the territory and is inseparable from the efforts made by Mariji."

Facing Davers' praise, Mariji calmly accepted it.

"But the growth of commercial tax is a slow process. It is impossible to have ten tarants today, and it will increase to one hundred tarants tomorrow. The income of land tax is relatively fixed. The exemption for the Dornis is due to the long-term consideration of the kingdom. You don't have to worry about Melsis. In a few years, the land tax will have a big increase, but the land tax is not too much, and you don't expect it to solve the financial embarrassment.

If it weren't for the development of the 'Tino's favor' a few years ago and earning an extra income for the treasury, today's finances would be even more difficult."

Speaking of this, Cornerus and Lycius were slightly ashamed. They had strongly opposed the implementation of "Tino's favor" back then, believing that this was a gambling that would ruin the people's morality. In fact, this situation did not happen, but instead gave the treasury more income.

"But the income of 'Tino' is only about 100 tarants a year, and there will be no greater change... Now we should consider adding more money!" Davers's heavier tone made everyone's hearts jump.

Cornerus asked carefully: "Your Majesty, do you want to increase the tax?"

Davers narrowed his eyes, glanced at him, and said, "Is there anything wrong with increasing taxes? You used to say that Greek city-states did not have a tradition of collecting direct taxes. Now, look at which of the other Greek powerhouses in the Mediterranean collects no higher taxes than Deonia?

In the past, Syracuse collected taxes up to 30% during the Dionysius period. Now they collect a special 5% war tax every year, claiming to the outside world to guard against Carthage. Who knows who they are guarding against?!

Needless to say, Sparta's land was completely concentrated in the hands of the state, and the only thing that was distributed to citizens was only food that could barely be full, and all the other money was spent on arms.

And Athens, I believe you all know it. At the end of last year, they implemented a special tax system - property tax. One-fifth of the actual property of each Athenian citizen was registered and collected one to two percent of this property every year, which is much higher than the citizen land tax we collect!

There are also Corinth, Agos, and Meghala all hike taxes. Not to mention Thebes, it is completely controlled by Sparta, and the tribute paid far exceeds the tax paid by its citizens. The direct tax collected by these city-states is far higher than the land tax in Dionia, and Dionian citizens should be very grateful!

As the king of Dionia, I must consider the governance of the kingdom and care about the lives of the people. Therefore, the tax increase should not be added casually, but should be cautious. But there is a tax that I found that it will not affect the lives of the people, and it should also be collected."

Davers stopped talking and everyone fell into thought.

"Your Majesty, what is the tax you are talking about?" Melsis asked anxiously.

"Legal—property—tax." Davers spoke a word in a deep voice.

Inheritance tax? The five rotating chairmen and Sesta were both a little confused, while Mercis and Marigi were thinking.

"If Ansitanos were here, he would understand." Davers looked at their expressions, teased, and explained: "This tax has been in effect in Egypt for hundreds of years. When the owner of the property wants to transfer the property to his relatives or others, the court will also take 1/10 of his property as tax paid to the state while admitting that the transfer is effective.

I think we can also implement inheritance tax in the kingdom because it has many benefits. First, it can increase taxes in the kingdom. Second, it can regulate the gap between the rich and the poor among citizens.

This is particularly important. If the first citizen of a kingdom continues to accumulate merit, he may have dozens of acres by the age of 50. If he is a successful kingdom merchant, it will be even more powerful. He can save at least dozens or even hundreds of tarants in his life. Compared with those new citizens who have just joined the kingdom and work hard to survive, the children of these old citizens can live a comfortable life without having to work hard to contribute to the kingdom. Even if they pass on generations, they can easily become big landlords and rich people in the country. In the long run, it will arouse hatred from ordinary citizens and will not be conducive to the stability of the kingdom. Therefore, we need to adjust it with inheritance tax."

"Doesn't the citizens' efforts to strive for merit and wealth just to make themselves live a good life and pass it on to their descendants?! Implementing inheritance tax will probably dampen their enthusiasm!" Lucias asked in confusion.

"We have tried our best to get merits and make ourselves live a good life, and the Kingdom fully supports us. Haven't we given various material and honorary rewards! Places, medals... and even provide citizens with excellent learning and training places. However, too much wealth left to the next generation will only cultivate the next generation of citizens' extravagant heart, make them lack the motivation to struggle, and become greedy for pleasure and unwilling to contribute to the Kingdom. Therefore, we can set some conditions for collecting estate tax to guide wealthy citizens to use their wealth reasonably. For example, donating to build public buildings can reduce the rate of collection of estate taxes... This will also make ordinary citizens look at these rich people in a friendly manner, which is also the third benefit of collecting estate taxes." Davers explained patiently.

"But Your Majesty, some citizens are not rich enough and have to charge inheritance taxes. Isn't it a bit too strict?" Cornerus said cautiously.

"Your question is well raised!" Davers praised and said solemnly: "I don't think that inheritance tax is required for all kingdom citizens. How much property does not charge inheritance tax? How many property people charge 5% of inheritance tax? How many property people charge 10% of inheritance tax? How many property people charge 20 or 30% of inheritance tax?... After the five rotating chairmen went down, they discussed with Mercis and Mariji and came up with a rough draft

, Let's go to the Senate to file a bill. I think this will be a long and intense discussion, but in the end it will be established, and I am very confident that every citizen of the kingdom hopes that his children are a positive and enterprising hero who can create more brilliant achievements than himself rather than a waste who only knows how to eat, drink and have fun! And our elders hope that the future kingdom will be a stable, harmonious society rather than a rampant of the rich, and that the common people have no place to stand, which may cause a bad situation of riots at any time!"

"Your Majesty, I think the elders will understand your painstaking efforts. The bill to collect inheritance tax will definitely be established!" Anta Oris immediately expressed his attitude.

Others also expressed their support, among which Melsis performed the most positively.

"Next, let's talk about the "Association of All Greek Scholars". Speaking of this, Davers also showed a solemn and excited expression: "With the current strength of our Kingdom of Dionys, it is already the most powerful of the entire Mediterranean Greek country. However, in many places, especially in Greece, the people there did not think that Dionys was a Greek city-state, but instead despised the fact that Dionys was just composed of a group of barbaric, backward, and ignorant barbarians.

It is just a big tribal alliance. We need to let other Greeks understand us, and our Kingdom of Dionys is not only strong, but also advanced in civilization and brilliant culture! If the role model that the Greek world wanted to learn from decades ago was Athens, then today's Turiyi in Dionys is the center of Greek culture! Let the people of the Greek world understand us and get close to us, this is the real purpose of my specially proposed to hold the "Academic Annual Meeting of All Greece"!"

After hearing Davers' passionate words, everyone was a little excited.

Lucias immediately said: "Your Majesty, although the "Annual Meeting of All Greek Scholars" is mainly held at the Academy of Dionys, it is also the glory of Turiyi. Our Municipal Hall of Turiyi will do its best to assist Dionys Academy in organizing this conference with scholars."
Chapter completed!