Agricultural Tax Reduction Act

"Your Majesty, forgive my bluntness, but our people have no more funds to purchase our national debt," Primo said with a wry smile, reminding Carlo after hearing his proposal.

"No, Mr. Prime Minister, our national debt is not being issued to ordinary citizens," Carlo shook his head and explained with a smile.

"We can issue bonds similar to education bonds, using interest rates higher than banks to attract capitalists and factory owners to purchase them.

Our issuance scale doesn't need to be too high; perhaps 10 million pesetas would be enough for our initial educational needs.

This batch of national debt will be 100% used for educational reform. This will not only reduce the illiteracy rate in our country but also benefit factories that require a certain level of knowledge among their workers.

Once our first batch of national debt is repaid on time, issuing such bonds in the future will become much easier. At least for us now, this is a more reliable method than borrowing, and it will also result in less interest burden for the government."

Capitalists are driven by profit. If the interest on national debt is higher than that of banks, it will definitely attract some capitalists to buy it.

If specific special bonds are issued solely for reforms like education, it will also put the capitalists who purchase them at ease.

After all, one of the main concerns for capitalists is how the government will use these funds. Investing in sectors like education is certainly much better than the extravagance of the government and nobility. At least capitalists won't have to worry about the government lacking sufficient funds to repay the national debt in the future.

"We can try it," Primo said after a long period of consideration, finally nodding his decision to give it a shot.

The first batch of national debt doesn't need to be issued in large quantities; it can be used to test whether this method can raise funds for the government.

If funds can be raised, it's great. Even if they can't, the government won't suffer significant losses.

Ultimately, after deliberation by the cabinet, it was unanimously decided to set the issuance volume of the first batch of education bonds at 8 million pesetas, which is equivalent to 307,000 pounds.

Although this amount of funding is not large, it can be used to build a batch of literacy classes specifically aimed at eliminating illiteracy. Literacy classes don't even require complete school facilities; finding any house, setting up some tables and chairs, and providing some books to teach simple elementary knowledge to Spaniards would suffice.

As soon as the news of the government issuing education bonds spread, it caused a sensation in Spain.

Many Spaniards were willing to see the government's efforts in education. This at least proved that the current Kingdom Government attached more importance to the common people than during Isabella's reign.

Even farmers were willing to see the country invest in education. Even if they couldn't enjoy the benefits of educational reform, it didn't mean their children couldn't.

However, despite their support, very few people were willing to purchase the education bonds.

Although the issuance volume of the first batch of national debt was only 8 million pesetas, only 200,000 were sold in two days, less than 10,000 pounds.

Carlo, realizing this was a good opportunity, naturally wouldn't let it pass. On the third day of the bond issuance, Carlo publicly announced his subscription of 3 million pesetas in education bonds.

3 million pesetas in national debt is actually not a large amount, only a little over 100,000 pounds, less than half of the current issuance volume.

However, Carlo's act of voluntarily subscribing to national debt as the King held a different significance for Spaniards.

Although it was impossible for such a small matter to lead to widespread support for Carlo, many Spaniards' perception of him improved, and they were willing to give him enough time to demonstrate his qualities as an excellent monarch.

At least Carlo had shown a side completely different from Queen Isabella, and Spaniards had gained patience with him.

Following Carlo's lead, the capitalists' actions finally became more frequent.

It took about another week for the 8 million pesetas in national debt to be largely sold, and the government finally had initial funds to promote educational reform.

In mid-September 1869, numerous literacy classes sprang up like mushrooms in Madrid, adopting a voluntary enrollment and free learning approach.

Any citizen of Spain could enroll in a literacy class to study. Textbook fees and tuition were free, but participants had to attend at least one class per week.

The literacy classes also considered the practical realities of the large number of ordinary people. In Spain in 1869, there were no specific working hours.

In other words, when dealing with unscrupulous capitalists and factory owners, Spaniards' working hours were never less than 12 hours, and often as high as thirteen or fourteen hours.

Forget weekends; even taking a sick day was not easy, as capitalists were unwilling to let factory output decrease due to employee absences, which would affect their speed of earning money.

As for work-related injuries, they were also irrelevant in this era. Even if someone died at their workstation, there would be no compensation whatsoever, let alone getting injured.

The diverse welfare policies of later generations were all fought for by workers and laborers worldwide through long periods of oppression and resistance.

The literacy campaign within educational reform was progressing vigorously and had a significant impact on Spain.

After all, it was a free literacy campaign, and Spaniards had a strong willingness to participate in literacy classes. Moreover, Carlo had a little ulterior motive in the literacy classes: only Spanish would be used in the literacy classes, not regional languages like Catalan.

The purpose of this was to reduce the sense of division between the various regions of Spain and Spain itself. National assimilation should start with language; speaking Spanish in Spain is very important.

The good news is that Spain has been integrated for hundreds of years, and the majority of the populace does not reject a unified Spain.

Separatist and nationalist factions in various regions are still a minority, which does not significantly hinder Spain's unification.

While the literacy campaign was underway, Primo also launched agricultural reforms.

Although the Spanish government's fiscal revenue was not high, this did not stop Primo from reducing agricultural taxes.

On September 27, 1869, while the literacy campaign was still being enthusiastically discussed by Spaniards, the Spanish cabinet government submitted a brand-new Agricultural Tax Reduction Act to the House of Representatives.

This act caused an even greater sensation in Spain than the literacy campaign, as the vast majority of Spain's population was agricultural, and tax reduction directly benefited them.

As expected, the House of Representatives unanimously passed the act with over 70% of the vote, and the cabinet government announced that tax reductions would commence in 1870, directly increasing the income of the agricultural population.

Second update, seeking support!