Translator: Tsukii
Editor: PalenMisha
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 50 – Taxation desuwa
With Lydia becoming emperor, the number of YEETs that Lydia completed increased significantly. In particular, people who couldn’t write their own names weren’t that rare in this world, and after half a year since the official announcement, those who were older than fifteen and still couldn’t write and read their own names were YEETed outside the nation without exception. Their number was 10,392. It was almost in line with Lydia’s expected number of 10,000.
In addition, those who couldn’t clear the minimum condition of their respective category were also YEETed. It was a YEET of such a large scale since it was the first time it had been done on a national level. The categories that most people failed to accomplish were the “transporter category for 19 year olds, capable of carrying at least 5 kg of luggage”, ”construction category for 13 year olds, capable of at least carrying a brick”, and “jobless category for 20 year olds, willingness to search for an occupation.”
Lydia’s reign was convenient for most of her people and terrifying for a few people, so there was no repulsion or rebellion. Most of the YEETed people and the families of said people migrated to the Linlin religion-infested Hein Kingdom, but the fate that awaited those that Lydia YEETed with the “useless” brand was especially tragic.
“Lydia ojou-sama. Our harvest this year is also a bountiful harvest like last year, so our storehouses didn’t have enough space to store everything.”
“We’ll use the surplus harvest to brew liquor. We can’t say it’s a bountiful harvest since the other crops still have similar yields to last year, so it will be treated as usual.”
Lydia, who received Crecia’s report, chose to brew liquor from the surplus harvest of rice. Liquor in this world was popular and since it was one of the industries that reincarnators put their effort into developing, Lydia also benefited from that.
Narorosa Kingdom’s territory experienced a bountiful harvest of rice, and there wasn’t anyone starving throughout the whole Narorosa Empire, but the situation of other nations was tragic. Due to the famine that occurred as a result of the locust swarm, many resorted to consuming crop seeds, which caused further distress.
Even in Japan prior to the Meiji era, there were many cases where people resorted to consuming the seeds of the crops in the year following a bad harvest and famine. The situation where they had no guarantee they could survive the day made it difficult for the seeds to be grown as a crop for the next year. If they couldn’t survive the day, there was no point to leave the seed for tomorrow.
Lydia, who declared a fixed tax rate of 60%, couldn’t help but be dumbfounded to see the storehouse packed with rice. The greatest reason they managed to collect this much tax was because Crecia led the black-clothed unit to make sure the tax was collected properly.
…Back on Earth, there was the term kuroyon (9-6-4) and togosan (10-5-3). That was the term back in Japan that referred to the tax collection rate. It meant the tax collection rate for salaried workers was 90 to 100%, self-employed people were 50% to 60%, and the farmer and fishermen were 30% to 40%. Basically, it was difficult to accurately collect taxes from people engaged in agriculture and fisheries.1
Even if it wasn’t intentional, data omission would occur, even for large companies with strict compliance. Therefore, it was impossible for the tax collection rate to reach 100%.
Even during the Showa era in Japan, the income tax collection rate was terrible. Accurate tax collection was more important to the nation than thinking about the tax system. That was also the reason why Hideyoshi conducted Taikou Kenchi2 during his era. But in this world, the first task that Lydia gave to the people who became lords of the land was to do land surveys.
Since the veterans of the black-clothed units saw how Lydia YEETed people for trying to be fraudulent or commit corruption, they quickly and accurately did their land surveys after becoming lords. As a result, the number of lords who properly did their taxation increased in number. Of course, it was impossible for the number to reach 100%, but at the very least, the Narorosa Empire managed to reach an overall tax collection rate of 80% to 90%.
“…The yield of the Narorosa duchy that was originally my territory has only increased by 2% of last year’s amount, but the yield of rice in the newly acquired territory has increased from 250% to 300%, which shows how terrible the lords in the past were.”
“Thanks to that, we have collected a far greater than expected amount of rice… There weren’t enough liquor breweries, so could we support those breweries?”
“I don’t mind. Also, all the tax-related fraudulent people are to be YEETed.”
The order for YEETing tax-related fraudulent people happened every year, but Crecia noticed their number was declining year by year, and he expected it might become 0 eventually.
Because of how much Lydia wanted to YEET people, she became sensitive about corruption and disintermediation, and as more people received the heavy punishment of being YEETed, it became an environment where such a thing was not worth attempting.3
Lydia, who converted all the surplus rice into liquor, had no means of digesting it herself. The amount was still increasing, even after a series of festivals and banquets, so she distributed it to her vassals around the world. Although Lydia wanted to be a tyrant, it seemed she couldn’t abandon the spirit of avoiding wasting things.
As a result, Lydia’s popularity as an emperor continued to rise.
Tsukii Note:
Apparently, if the ruler is great, the monarchy makes a strong nation.
Democracy and communism have delays on everything since things had to be discussed beforehand after all.
Considering the standard that Lydia set, those who still couldn’t accomplish it shouldn’t complain if they were YEETed. Jobless people who had no intention of looking for occupation are out of the question, and construction people who couldn’t even lift a brick at 13 years old are also out of the question. If a 19-year-old person working as a transporter still couldn’t carry 5 kg that was likely due to some sort of muscle defect or lack of limbs. It is likely to cause problems in their daily life after all.
Want early access to Cannon Fodder, Melancholy of the Demon Army Officer, and I Was a Man Before Reincarnating, So I Refuse a Reverse Harem? Support the translator on Patreon!
