Just as Daisy had said, Li Wei's interview sparked widespread discussion soon after it was published. After all, it covered an enormous amount of ground. Whether he was rejecting Criminal Man, discussing fantasy species, proposing a theme park, or envisioning the future of technology and machinery, his remarks gave many citizens of the Empire plenty to think about.
The last point drew particular attention. One question the Luddites often asked was, "Humanity has developed technology, but what benefits has technology actually brought us?"
Now Li Wei had supplied an answer: technological development would free up productive capacity, and changes in production would create a greater abundance of goods, improving people's quality of life. His examples were also simple and easy to follow. Anyone reading them could understand why technological development would bring humanity more opportunities.
Even Her Majesty the Queen invited Li Wei over for afternoon tea after reading the interview and questioned him at length about the subject.
Li Wei offered his own proposals as well. In his view, the Empire should adopt a strategy of "focusing on the big and easing up on the small," exempting people below a certain income threshold from taxation. They barely earned anything to begin with. From the state's perspective, taxing them was a drop in the bucket. The combined taxes of all those low-income people across the Empire might not even cover a wealthy man's afternoon tea for a single day.
Wasting manpower and effort on taxing these low-income groups simply was not worth it. Li Wei therefore suggested that the Empire relax its taxation standards, reducing or waiving taxes for microbusinesses, small businesses, and low-income earners, while imposing heavy taxes on large companies and the wealthy to curb their expansion and prevent monopolies.
That way, as long as small businesses were