Chapter 3041: The Advanced Tax

"I don't know if you have realized it, but the core of everything Ailan wants to develop lies in expanding the Mage population. Originally, as a region of Siluwende, Ailan would not have encountered the problems it faces today—it's not that they didn't exist, but they were faced by Siluwende as a whole. But after independence, it has had to face them alone."

To put it bluntly, in the past, everything in Ailan was backed by Siluwende. Now that it is independent, Yierlan and the Alliance can manage some things to a certain extent, but in the final analysis, it must be independent and self-reliant.

It is clearly not feasible to be in a state like the current one, where even the people's food rations cannot be self-sufficient.

Fortunately, Ailan now realizes the importance of the Mage population and intends to popularize Magic domestically to strengthen the number of Mages; this is already far ahead of other countries.

Take Aifuruisi, whom Ailan is learning from; while they are doing well in agriculture, they have only opened a small gap in popularizing Magic, allowing some academies to have independent qualifications for recruiting Apprentices.

It has not reached the level of universal popularization that Xia Duo considers truly qualified.

However, if Ailan wants to catch up quickly, perhaps it can be more radical. After all, in their current situation, if they are not more radical, I fear they can only be carved up bit by bit until they are completely digested.

The Alliance does indeed recognize Ailan's independent status, but the premise of everything is that Ailan exists. If the people of Ailan voluntarily abandon the Ailan state, then even the Alliance would not force their heads to maintain the existence of Ailan, would it?

The current Ailan shows signs of being unable to sustain itself; with even food needing to be imported in large quantities, what is there to talk about for the future?

No matter what drawbacks the popularization of Magic may have, at least it allows for a struggle, which is better than a slow death.

Regarding Xia Duo's point that the key to Ailan changing its current situation lies in the popularization of Magic, Tuomeidisi had no objections. As he himself said, the Ailan Seven Elders had already made a similar judgment.

It is just that regarding the process of popularizing Magic and how to operate it afterward, the Ailan side does not have much ready-made experience to draw upon.

"Then, according to Consultant Xia Duo, what should Ailan do next?"

"You are not a qualified diplomat." Xia Duo suddenly changed the subject, stared at Tuomeidisi for a while, and then said, "However, I do appreciate that you can be so direct."

"What kind of diplomat am I? In the past, I was just a very ordinary carving teacher in the Ailan region. I never thought that one day I would become the Plenipotentiary Representative to the Alliance for a country forced into independence."

At this moment, Tuomeidisi had completely lost the demeanor of a diplomat, behaving like a very indignant ordinary person. He told Xia Duo:

"Although I don't know much about diplomatic rules, there is one thing I am sure of that I do not share with any other diplomat: that is my love for my homeland, my love for the people of my homeland. Ailan's independence was not what we wanted, but since it is independent, we have an obligation to develop her well!"

"What if someone wants to lead Ailan into the Abyss?" Xia Duo asked again.

"Then the three million Ailan people will surely resist to the end!" Tuomeidisi said sonorously.

Although the Ailan region did not perform well in the previous war between Siluwende and Yierlan, and even saw quite a few collaborators, that was in the past.

After the previous war, the division, the independence, and the various encounters after independence, the Ailan people have thoroughly recognized the evil nature of Yierlan.

Ailan can never be integrated with Yierlan without any barriers. If the current Yierlan still wants to occupy the Ailan region, then the awakened Ailan people will surely use their actions to tell Yierlan what the determination of the Sun Child is like.

It is just that Tuomeidisi did not understand the true meaning of Xia Duo's words. Yierlan cannot lead Ailan into the Abyss; the only ones who can lead Ailan into the Abyss are Ailan itself, or rather, the lurking Illuminati.

Xia Duo did not delve into this issue. He knew very well that Tuomeidisi was not a member of the Illuminati, and in fact, the vast majority of Ailan's top brass were not members of the Illuminati either.

After Yierlan occupied Ailan, even if the purpose was to invade Siluwende territory, the ostensible excuse could not be truly thrown to the back of their minds; they would certainly investigate the Demon Descendants.

Once the Illuminati's Time-Involving Ritual was exposed, Yierlan might have had scruples within its own country and faced various resistances, but in Ailan, it would not; the intensity of the investigation into the Illuminati would inevitably be unprecedented.

In a sense, Ailan is even "cleaner" than Yierlan!

But having no Illuminati or fewer Illuminati members does not mean it has not been affected by the Illuminati. As the key to all the Illuminati's actions, Ailan would certainly not give up its operations.

Regarding the recent proposal by the Ailan side to levy personal income tax on the Mage population, Xia Duo does not believe that there is no influence from the Illuminati in this. One must know that in the countries of the Northland, including Netheril, there is no such thing as "personal income tax."

Taxes in various countries are mainly divided into two categories: one is derived from land, such as grain tax, homestead tax, and road tax.

The other is derived from commodity transactions, such as transaction tax, transit tax, business tax, and so on.

In the past, the Northland did not even have the concept of personal income tax, which is why Charles used the term "Ailan is preparing to collect the Computing Power Pool Subsidy obtained by Mages" when reporting to Xia Duo.

But when Tuomeidisi explained it, he said it was a type of tax, and it was not even directly aimed at the Computing Power Pool Subsidy; it was just that this sum of money was too prominent, which is why it attracted Xia Duo's attention.

If the Ailan side had not set their sights on the Computing Power Pool Subsidy, even if they wanted to collect personal income tax, Xia Duo would not have received the news immediately.

However, a new tax, and a new tax involving the Mage population, could not have been born out of thin air. The Northland of the past simply had no concept of this.

Personal income is personal income; neither the lord nor the state has the right to tax it, because the ruling foundation of both the lord and the state is largely built upon land.

The process of an individual obtaining income has already settled the tax entanglements with the lord and the state, and the income itself should be very pure and clean. (Only that which involves one's own labor is income; if it is accidental income, it belongs directly to the lord.)

That is to say, there is no need to pay so-called personal income tax.

The personal income tax as understood by Xia Duo should be a type of tax reasonably and legally created by modern states based on a social contract.

This contract ensures both the survival of the state (tax collection) and the various rights of the citizens, or to put it more bluntly, it is the citizens using taxes to support a state system that guarantees their various rights.

Clearly, the current countries of the Northland are far from reaching the category of the modern state as understood by Xia Duo.

A most typical problem—who controls the taxes collected? Most modern states have completed centralization reforms, with power belonging to the government.

But in the current Northland, the centralization reforms of various countries have only just begun, so how was such an advanced product born?

And it is directly pointing the blade at the true rulers of the country—the Mage population.

Such behavior will not only cause a backlash within Ailan, but other countries in the Northland will inevitably react as well, and such a result is not necessarily something Ailan can bear.