Chapter 574: Chapter 335: Tax Season Again – Part 2
This was no small sum.
Firstly, before this, Gu Hang had already applied for an expansion of the Rage Bear Legion.
This wasn’t indeed something Gu Hang did just to offset taxes, the performance of the Alliance troops on Korolya III was evident to all; it was the people of the Fatches Family and the commander of the Dragonhawk Third Legion who hoped that the Rage Bear Legion could expand its organization and better support the warfare on Korolya III.
Instead, Gu Hang drastically reduced the requested expansion size.
Expanding too much meant sending troops from the Alliance home region, which was unsustainable.
He merely incorporated into the Rage Bear Legion the six divisions and brigades originally from the Alliance’s Central Group Army sent to Korolya. Although five of them were the lowest standard garrison divisions, there was also an elite force like the 59th Armored Brigade.
The total value of these six divisions and brigades was over a million Tax Currency.
Moreover, a portion of the Rage Bear Legion’s force had previously fought on Heijian Star.
When the Alliance came to conduct the Heijian Star campaign, it was to “quell a rebellion” and they had requested support from the Star Realm Army, receiving a response from the Rage Bear Legion.
All these actions had legal procedures.
Adding the combats on Heijian Star and on Korolya III, after two years of warfare, the Rage Bear Legion had a total of 180,000 men, nearly forty thousand were lost—and the Alliance replenished them all.
Additionally, taking into account the losses and replenishment of tanks, armored vehicles, other technical equipment, ammunition, and logistical support…
When all these costs were totaled, it amounted to four million Tax Currency.
Just the expenditure on the Rage Bear Legion alone offset five million.
Actually, the Alliance only needed to pay five million.
Compared to a fiscal surplus of forty million, it was trivial rain.
However, although the situation on Rage Owl Star was flourishing, Heijian Star was a big problem.
Heijian Star had to pay eighty million Tax Currency every two years.
To manage tax collection on a planet well, preparations must start well before the tax deadline; otherwise, it would be too late. In fact, tax collection on Heijian Star was an ongoing process nearly every moment, and the two-year mark was merely when the Empire’s Tax Fleet arrived to take over the quota.
During the past two years, there was constant warfare on Heijian Star. A vast amount of resources were consumed, and the Alliance government had only recently managed to fully recover the planet, and a unified and effective government had yet to be established. How could they collect taxes?
The Alliance was left with only half a year.
Countries where the war ended quickly or where there had been no war at all had stable tax amounts, solving about thirty-five million; the many spoils of war produced by the military, the thorough eradication of some resistant nobles, and the looting of national treasuries from defeated countries like Panbos, could bring in over twenty million Tax Currency.
Then, there was the head tax.
Throughout his governance of the Alliance, Gu Hang had emphasized one principle countless times to senior government officials, that the head tax is undesirable.
It not only impacted the credibility and stability of the government, but it was also very unprofitable. The value of a person was five Tax Currency, but in Gu Hang’s view, a person’s lifetime worth far exceeded that number.
If a world couldn’t earn back those five Tax Currency, then the planet’s Governor was utterly incompetent.
However, the situation on Heijian Star could be viewed somewhat more leniently.
Some of the head taxes weren’t meant for Gu Hang to collect the population and hand it over, but rather, there existed a number of “hardcore elements” on the planet as well as unsolved prisoner of war issues from before.
It was simpler to just hand them over once and for all.
Heijian Star also had a history of failing to pay sufficient taxes, thus resorting to using people to supplement it.
With all these factors combined, Heijian Star itself could resolve approximately sixty million Tax Currency.
There was still a shortfall of twenty million.
That gap had to be filled by Rage Owl Star.
From this perspective, the Alliance’s conquest of Heijian Star had been a net loss so far.
The military spent money to fight, money was spent on investments and construction, and they had to fill the tax shortfall for Heijian Star…
Prime Minister Osenia had already assured Gu Hang that by the next tax session, two years later, Heijian Star would achieve self-sufficiency.
This was also her assurance to Gu Hang, the ruler of the Alliance, as the head of the government.
Six months hurried by.
The Tax Commissioner of the Dragonhawk Star Domain, Nell Lavis, had started another orbiting tour of tax collection around the Tianma Star Sector.
Generally speaking, given the taxation significance within the entire star sector, Lavis usually only visited Korolya and Flying Wing Star personally. Each of these two planets was responsible for paying about four billion tax currency. As long as these two planets were monitored, the taxation work in the entire Tianma Star Sector was practically done.
At most, she might glance over the three worlds in the Fatches Star System, and the rest were merely trivial matters.
The recently famed Governor Gu in the star sector also paid only five million tax currency annually.
Pitifully small.
Usually, worlds like this were not ones Lavis personally paid attention to. Last time she visited the Tianma Star Sector, and toured Rage Owl Star merely because the Apostle of War demanded it.
But this time, even though the Apostle of War was not present, Lavis still came on her own initiative.
Tax officers came, of course, to collect taxes,
But that was not the only purpose.
In fact, her main purpose here was to meet Gu Hang.
Rage Owl Star, ten million tax currency every two years; Heijian Star, eighty million tax currency every two years. Together, they added up to less than a billion, which was negligible for the Tax Fleet.
Moreover, she didn’t believe Gu Hang would fail to pay the taxes.
“You think too highly of me,” Gu Hang said upon hearing the praise, repeatedly expressing his humility. “Heijian Star has just joined the Alliance, it’s in need of development, and with a population of over four hundred million, this round of paying eighty million in taxes is a huge pressure for me.”
Lavis chuckled, “The pressure is just for this year, and ultimately isn’t it all paid? I heard, you took control of the situation on Heijian Star in just six months? Seeing your work results now, achieving so much in such a short time is quite commendable. By the next tax season, you’ll surely have no pressure at all.”
Gu Hang laughed heartily, looking very cheerful.
Although he intended to be modest, denying such evident facts seemed pointless.
In the six months since Heijian Star fell into Alliance hands, its development had been quite successful, which was undeniable.
Half a year ago, when the conflict on Heijian Star had just subsided, two high-ranking members of the Alliance government—Osenia and Lambert—arrived on Heijian Star.
Gu Hang himself had also been staying on Heijian Star during this time.
The Alliance had launched a series of political and economic reform plans and had started implementing them.
Although the effects would take even longer to manifest, at least with some reserves from Heijian Star and some supplementary support from Rage Owl Star, paying taxes was definitely not a problem.
Moreover, Rage Owl Star was still developing rapidly, and Heijian Star was also undergoing a complete positive transformation.
Even this year, which could be considered the most challenging for tax payment, had been overcome, and the future would only get easier.
This was exactly why Lavis, having witnessed the changes on Heijian Star, sincerely praised Gu Hang.
Over the years, as she served as a tax officer, traveling through hundreds of worlds in the Dragonhawk Star Domain, she saw that the vast majority of worlds were stagnant pools—no change when she visited before, and no change when she came again.
However, two years ago, when she visited Rage Owl Star, she witnessed significant changes there; to this day, the changes on Rage Owl Star had grown even greater, and Gu Hang had also led the Alliance into interstellar realms, bringing these significant changes to Heijian Star.
Lavis held great admiration for this young governor.
In casual conversation, she couldn’t help saying, “I really wish you could become the governor of Korolya III, then my job wouldn’t be so difficult.”
Hearing this, Gu Hang felt a sudden jolt in his heart.
Was the dagger now revealed?