Wen Chan'er sighed softly and said, "The common people truly lead bitter lives. Who knows when peace will come to the world, so they can live and work in contentment!"
Wang Chong laughed. "Even if the world were at peace, they still couldn't live and work in contentment."
"As long as the court does nothing to organize production and knows only how to levy taxes, the common people will never be able to live and work in contentment."
Wen Chan'er grew a little agitated and asked, "Are you saying the world must always remain this way?"
Wang Chong answered, "Not at all. As long as the court organizes production and collects no taxes, the world will naturally prosper, and the people will naturally enjoy stability."
Wen Chan'er looked utterly shocked. "If the court organizes production, how will it handle all its affairs of government? Without taxes, how will it support an army? How will it resist the Eighteen Tribes of the Grasslands?"
Wang Chong shrugged. He felt there was no way to explain this clearly to an "ancient person." Throughout history, whether on Earth or in another world, the sole purpose of taxation in any country was to support its rulers, without a single exception.
Even in a modern country, the cost of supporting officials in a local city could exceed the local tax revenue tenfold, while the cost of collecting a particular tax could exceed the revenue from the tax itself. It was simply taxation for taxation's sake-utter nonsense!
For example, during Emperor Zhenzong's reign in the Northern Song, in the year 1001, the court dismissed 195,000 people in one fell swoop. An ancient court could cut that many redundant personnel in a single year, to say nothing of those who remained, whose numbers were several times those dismissed.