In recent years, live streaming has become one of the most fashionable shopping methods, and the most influential in this field are two big Internet celebrities, one is Li Jiaqi, the other is Via, if nothing else, just past the 2021 "Double Eleven", they sold nearly 20 billion yuan of goods.
However, on December 20, 2021, Beijing time, the tax department of Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province, issued an announcement that Wei Ya was suspected of tax evasion and tax evasion and was punished with a fine of up to 1.241 billion. Not long after, The Via couple publicly apologized, saying that they would raise funds to pay the fine as soon as possible, and sincerely apologized to the society.
So have you ever considered one thing: what kind of punishment would be imposed on such a huge tax evasion and evasion behavior as Via if it was put into ancient times?
Image: Via's interview profile screenshot
1. Early tax collection
1. Taxes and fees have been levied since ancient times
According to the records of the "Records of History", as early as the Time of the Xia Dynasty, a tax system was formed in the Central Plains, and taxation was also called "tribute", which was simply understood to mean that the princes everywhere needed to pay tribute to the Tianzi on a regular basis, which was mainly based on various materials.
By the time of the Western Zhou Dynasty, there was already a clear tax law recorded in the form of words, which also proved that thousands of years ago China had a complete and systematic tax collection and management system.
According to the great thinker Marx: "When there is 10% profit, people will go crazy; when there is 50% profit, people will be desperate; when there is 100% profit, people will take risks; when there is 300% profit, people can trample on the law at will."
Although China's tax law system has appeared thousands of years ago, but many people in all dynasties and dynasties are willing to take risks for the sake of immediate interests, that is, "tax evasion and tax evasion", in ancient times, this behavior was called "tax concealment", punishment was called "fine naked" or "penalty", like last year's sensational Zheng Shuang contract incident, in ancient times it was called "big and small book deeds".
People's means of tax evasion and tax evasion can be described as endless, and a hundred flowers bloom, mainly based on concealing the population, underreporting the output value, the number of transactions, forging contracts, bribing officials, and evading the state monopoly system.
Image: Stills of tribute to the Son of Heaven
2. Early tax evasion and penalties
As we all know, taxation is the main source of fiscal revenue for a country, and it is also the foundation of the founding of a country, people have begun to hide taxes, which has affected the normal operation of the country, and it is also extremely unfair to other normal taxpayers, so successive dynasties have spared no effort to combat tax evasion and evasion.
The "Law of Qin" stipulates: "With the number of fields received, there is no reclamation or reclamation, and it is three stones and two stones." "During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were already special officials to collect taxes and fees from peasants and craftsmen, but in fact people would still make a lot of small moves in private.
Especially in the Warring States period, because of the turbulent situation and huge population flows, the ancients began to rely on hiding the population to avoid household endowments, or children did not separate families when they grew up.
What did the government do at that time? According to the "Records of History", the State of Qin stipulated that if there were two or more men in a family, if they did not separate the family and evade taxes, once they were discovered, they would be judged according to the crime of "hiding the household", and all subsequent taxes would be doubled.
The State of Qin is still light, in the Zhao State Zhao Huiwen Wang period, there were cases of merchants because of serious tax evasion, and finally arrested 9 people beheaded, it can be seen that thousands of years ago, the state's protection of taxes has been very strict.
Photo: Stills of being beheaded for tax evasion
2. The laws and regulations of successive dynasties and dynasties shall be divided
1. Punishment of the Han and Tang Dynasties
According to the Book of Han, the "property tax" was first set up during the Han Wudi period, requiring taxpayers to truthfully report their economic status, wait for the acceptance of the government, and collect taxes and fees according to 6% of the value, in addition to the "vehicle and vessel tax" and other names appear.
If someone dares to violate the law and discipline, deliberately evade taxes and evade taxes, once it is found that all personal property will be confiscated, the responsible person will also be fined for one year, according to the frequency of military use during the Time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, shubian will basically have no return for a year, which is basically no different from the death penalty.
Later, the imperial court found that there were still people who dared to take risks, so they issued the "Notice Order", encouraging the people to take the initiative to report tax evasion and tax evasion, once verified, the imperial court gave the informant a reward of 50% of the confiscation of property, which is definitely the best means to get rich overnight.
Image: Stills of confiscated personal property
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, China's tax system began to change, mainly based on the "rent and dispatch system", what does it mean? To put it simply, men are called "Ding" around the age of 18, until they are 60 years old, during which they have to become taxpayers, the state will allocate a certain amount of land, and people can pay grain on time and in quantity.
If they are unmarried or have low status, they will be paid according to half, in addition, all male dings must serve for 1 month, and once the taxpayer underreports and conceals the report, the imperial court stipulates that the fine will be doubled, and the heavy sentence will be sixty.
Generally speaking, after sixty fights, most people have already swallowed their breath, which is similar to the death penalty, and the punishment of the Han Dynasty is the same, depending on luck.
Image: Stills after being caneed
2, the Song Dynasty began to become more and more strict
At the beginning of the Song Dynasty, China's economic development entered the peak of the feudal era, so the official began to levy "deed tax" and "franchise tax", which is the tax that needs to be paid when the field house is traded, and Song Renzong stipulates that each time it must be levied forty texts, the proportion is about 4%.
The monopoly tax is a kind of tax on the goods sold by the government, such as salt, tea, wine and other commodities, which have corresponding taxes and fees, and the proportion is very high, sometimes reaching about 20% of the final selling price of the goods.
According to the provisions of the "Song Hui To Compile Drafts", once someone dares to smuggle salt goods, one or two will have to fight fifteen, and those who sell tea will have to fight a hundred pounds, and sell more than twenty pounds.
After that, the Three Dynasties of the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties also basically followed the tax collection policy and the corresponding punishment provisions left behind before, and on this basis, they were constantly improved according to the national conditions, such as the "History of the Yuan" stipulates that those who smuggle salt, tea, wine and other important materials, or deliberately evade taxes and evade taxes in transactions, will have to fight for seventy and sentence two years, half of their personal property will be confiscated, and even if neighbors do not report it, they will also be sentenced to one hundred.
Image: Stills of a tea farmer
What do you think? Tough enough, right? So now it seems that for Wei Ya's tax evasion and tax evasion, the intensity of the state punishment is still very "friendly", and I hope that these "Internet celebrities" will actively abide by the law in the future and do their own thing.
Article author: Dahui
The entire graphic was produced by the team of the Big Cafe Say History Studio!