Chapter 573: Chapter 335, Tax Season Again
Gu Hang and the senior officials of the Alliance Government designed a set of political system and economic development plans for Heijian Star.
However, many of these initiatives were not able to take immediate effect; instead, they required long-term implementation and patience.
For example, completely eradicating the ‘nobility’ and ‘landlord’ classes;
Such as education to improve the quality of the population;
Such as replicating the Alliance’s system and implementing it fully on Heijian Star…
Many of these long-term policies hadn’t even begun to be enacted in this half-year, let alone show results.
The Alliance also maintained sufficient strategic resolve for this. There was no need to rush many things; they could be done slowly.
On the other hand, some things that could be implemented immediately and with relatively little resistance, were put into action.
Such as the mechanization of agriculture to liberate the agricultural population and the establishment of three industrial centers…
All these actions effectively solved many issues and brought numerous benefits.
Especially those three industrial centers directly managed by the Alliance Government. In terms of construction standards, all were built to accommodate a population of tens of millions, with an industrial diffusion chain capable of reaching fifty million people. Although it was impossible to accommodate thirty million industrial workers all at once, within half a year, due to equipment transported from Rage Owl Star and technical guidance, these three industrial centers had begun to operate.
In half a year, these centers couldn’t expand very much, and the half-year construction and production period wasn’t enough for them to contribute much wealth in this tax cycle.
But undoubtedly, with more time, their potential would gradually unfold.
Moreover, since these industrial centers were newly built and attracted large populations through government directives or economic incentives, without any lingering influence from local powers, they could start from scratch and directly employ the Alliance’s existing management experience. In a way, they stepped out of the primitive lock of feudal society to create a new world.
Once these three industrial centers were well-established, the related experiences could then continue to be replicated elsewhere.
To put it simply, the Alliance wasn’t greatly fearful of the entrenched ‘nobility’ and ‘landlord’ feudal remnants on Heijian Star. As productivity developed and the people’s lives were rapidly released from the soil, those nobles and landlords would immediately feel the devastating impact of productivity development on their entrenched rights.
Furthermore, the Alliance Government would deliberately promote such developments through multiple layers of administration and legislation.
For example, when a large population was relocated to the industrial centers, what would the landlords lacking sufficient labor do?
They could only sell or lease their land to the official Alliance, establishing government-owned collective farms, followed by the start of mechanized agricultural production.
This would lead to a considerable reduction in agricultural production costs, followed by a significant drop in food prices. Many estate owners who maintained traditional feudal systems would find the falling grain prices unbearable, realizing that maintaining more peasants for production was very unprofitable, so they would only be able to sell or rent their land to the Alliance.
This is normal economic logic. To accelerate these developments, the Alliance further employed legislation and enforcement to establish and liberate the independence of farmers, and those who dared to restrict the personhood of farmers or failed to provide them with the standard treatment of their designated grade would all suffer a heavy blow.
What ensured that all this proceeded according to the will of the Alliance was a sufficiently loyal and powerful military force.
The Alliance’s Integrity Commission led by Lambert was enforced by Demon Hunters; and where the Demon Hunters couldn’t handle it, the military could.
In just half a year, Heijian Star had already formed an ‘irresistible trend.’ Anyone with a slightly longer vision knew that Heijian Star had not only experienced a celestial change, but now the land and people’s hearts had also transformed.
Thanks to the efforts of the Alliance’s propaganda department officials, the previously clueless farmers could now recite a phrase or two, such as ‘We are all people of the Alliance,’ ‘Hardworking hands can bring wealth,’ and ‘Every citizen of the Empire is born equal.’
These were all changes that occurred in just about half a year.
However, in this half-year, the Alliance Government had another major task — the Imperial Tax.
The Imperial Tax was a tight spell cast on every world in the Empire, never willing to be relaxed.
And this year, it was especially tough for the Alliance.
The Imperial Tax for Rage Owl Star was not a worry; it had been well prepared in advance.
Two years had passed, and the tax amount for Rage Owl Star was only ten million Tax Currency. Although this time the Star Sector Government would not help shoulder three-quarters of it, and the full tax had to be paid, with Rage Owl Star’s current productivity, these taxes were nothing.
Now, Rage Owl Star’s population had continuously grown in the last two years, reaching around sixty-five million. Most came from immigrants absorbed from Korolya III. They were mostly placed in Weixing City Industrial Center and in the mechanized agricultural production industry of the Beiqing Valley Region. A few were added to other provinces.
According to the latest data, the annual industrial and agricultural output of Rage Owl Star had reached the scale of over a hundred million Tax Currency. The Planetary Government’s fiscal surplus had also reached around thirty million per year.
In two years, there was about a forty million surplus (not so much in the first year), so paying ten million in taxes was certainly no problem.
And moreover, there was no need to pay the full amount.
In the Alliance, there exists the Star Realm Army known as the Rage Bear Legion. The expenses supplied by the Alliance to support the Rage Bear Legion could be used as a tax credit.