For the second day, all the grand dukes of Westeros were together again for another parliament.
Needless to say, they were not as pleased or happy to be here as they had been during the previous day.
Even after I had gone to each privately to assure them that there would be breaks, food, and refreshments this time, most were still miffed from yesterday.
The 3 who weren't, we're the ones with royal marriages lining up, but even so, Lannister made it pretty clear with his bored demeanor that he wasn't all that interested in taxation reforms. And why would he be? He was richer than me and all the rest of Westeros put together.
The only problem with the Lannister's wealth was that there was so much gold in their coffers that to use even half of it would cause an economic crash as gold was devalued.
That had happened several times actually. The last time the King's of the Rock had fucked over the economy, they had ended up shilling out so much gold that over 60% of all the gold in the Western world currently in circulation was from that period.
It had been melted down many, many times, and taken centuries to recover, but the gold had originally come from Casterly Rock.
No wonder Yi-Ti thought we had a literal mountain of gold. We pretty much did.
Not that it mattered for today though.
My taxation reforms were mainly targeted at smaller lords, not the Grand Dukes.
Well, I might as well get started. No use prolonging this.
Alright, since we are all here, I hereby declare the first King's Council readjourned, for the second day. Today, we are to discuss the Taxation reforms, and if we manage to wrap that up before the session of the day is over, we will move on to beginning discussing the war and my plans for it."
Oryn snorted.
"Aye, and if pigs could fly and breathe, they'd be dragons. Let's be realistic Aenys. We're gonna talk about taxes all day, with or without a break.
Sounds of agreement went around the table.
"We'll see."
"Anyhow, the obvious place to start is different rates of taxation."
I held up a paper before me to remind me of the exact numbers.
"The highest rates of taxation is the North, for the simple reason that Stark has far more control over harvests in preparations of winter. The moment Autumn is announced, Stark has the authority to enforce a massive part of the harvest is put aside for the coming winter, far more so than usual."
"For obvious reason, this peragatory will stay, but outside of that, the regular taxation is still two-thirds of all produce in the land. This number will be adjusted to reflect the overall taxation rates of the Kingdom as a whole."
I could feel Stark glaring at me, wondering how drastically I would lower his taxation rights.
"Secondly we have the Reach. Their taxation rates is at half of all produce."
After them, there is the Stormlands and the Vale, both roughly at 45 out of a hundred of all produce.
"After them, the Westerlands, 40 out of a hundred for all produce."
"After them, there is the Iron Islands, one-third of all produce."
I lowered the page.
"And at the very bottom, is the Riverlands, with a taxation rate of 20 out of all Produce."
It was not hard to see how the Riverlands, who should theoretically be on par with the Vale and The North, was so goddamn weak.
"Needless to say, there will be some changes. From. Now on, there will be one singular Taxation rate for the entire country."
"And, exactly what rate will that be?" Stark asked, cold as ice.
"The same as the Westerlands I think. 40 out of a hundred, is about what I had in mind from the start, and as proven by the Lannisters, clearly it works well."
I could see from their expressions, that no one was particularly happy with it(except Lannister who didn't seem to care.).
It wasn't that surprising. The tax rate for the yearly taxes was for me a double-edged sword. On one hand, my Grand Dukes would earn more or less from taxing their own vassals, depending on what kingdom they were in. On the other hand, they were also paying me more, or less as well in the same new taxation proportions.
It was a system wouldn't make anyone happy. Well, except for Tully. He looked like a kid in a toyshop. Maybe he would finally have some extra cash to play with.
"However, the taxation rate is only stage one of the tax reforms. The second, and more important step, is how I intend to collect the taxes."
The room went quiet.
"No doubt an army of tax collectors, I'm sure." Stark said Dryly and Coldly."
I chuckled.
"Well, there will be an army of beurocracts, that is true enough. But not tax collectors. Well… Not outside of the Crownlands anyway."
"No, the new system is simply an improvement of what we already have. The Grand Dukes will still collect the coin, keep their share, then send on my cut of the taxes."
Everyone stared at me.
"What is different then your grace?" Goren Greyjoy asked.
"What will different will be that I'm am currently putting together an organization I call" The King's Counters", a group of surveyors in my service."
"They will have a number of jobs, but for the sake of taxation, the job will be to go through every county in the entire kingdom, and count and calculate it's total produce. They will then make copies of that, and send them to the local duke, the Grand Duke, and me. Thus everyone will know, to the letter, how much each county, duchy, and Grand Duchy produces total, and subsequently, how much everyone is to pay in taxes."
I gave a grin that actually made me feel like a predator having cornered a prey.
"It will thus, be impossible for anyone to shirk their payments, take a cut they shouldn't have or write that their smallfolk produced less than they actually did. This will also allow for exceptions to easily be made in the case of a failed harvest."
"Now… I'm sure you have questions?"
Everyone, from Greyjoy to Stark, stared at me mouth agape... Well, everyone except my uncle, he seemed to take it in stride.
"They will never accept it Aenys. The lords of the land are too proud to accept such drastic meddling in their own lands."
"Oh, they will accept it. After all, if they don't, they are refusing to pay taxes. That would make them traitors to the Crown. And they will be dealt with as such." I said in a tone that brokered no argument and made it very clear what the price would be for defiance.
And I would have NO argument about this. I was going to make an example of whoever the first poor bastard who refused my surveyors were.
"Is that so? You will still need hundreds of surveyors for this taxation system of your nephew. It will take years to make happen in practice."
"Indeed. My plans is for them to up and running for all provinces in 4 years."
I looked at all my Grand Dukes in the eyes, from left to right.
"That should give all of you more than enough time to convince your vassals that it is in their best Interest, to support and accept this fair and balanced system. With this system, EVERYONE wins. There will no more cheating out of taxations, everyone will pay EXACTLY what they are supposed to. Not a coin will go to waste thanks to a random greedy lord."
I really had to thank the youtube channel Extra History for making me aware of this easy and simple taxation system. The Japanese had used it to great effect to fund an army well over a hundred thousand strong for an extended campaign against Korea, so one could imagine how effective it would for my projects that would, in turn, generate more wealth.
And frankly, they had done so despite their empire being WAY poorer than my kingdom was. I had more iron, more wood, more gold, more everything, except population, which were roughly equal to 1600s Japan.
The only downside to this kind of taxation was that it required overwhelming military might, so uppity vassals didn't disrupt it. Oh, and look, I just so happened to have dragons.
The first generation would hate this taxation. The second would begrudgingly accept it. The third was going to grow up with it as fact of life. And Aegon would have a steady and hard revenue stream after I inevitably kicked the bucket.
The important thing was to make sure that the crown had a system that would keep going and filling our coffers after my death.
A good taxation system was the only thing that would do that.
"Now, does anyone have anymore questions regarding the regular taxes, or should I move on to the next topic?"
Greyjoy lifted his hand.
"Aye, I've got a question. Are we going to also cover tariffs and the like during this session?"
That… Was a bizarre question to ask at this point, but, whatever. I would answer it.
"Aye, we are. In fact, that can be the next topic covered."
Greyjoy looked pretty pleased with that.
"Going forward, it will be the policy of increasing trade across the board, both internally, as well as externally."
"We will dive fully into trade in every section of the kingdom when we discuss The Royal Eastern Seas Trading Company, but we will go over a preller here."
"What the helm is The Royal Eastern Seas Trading Company?" Stark asked in an annoyed tone. "You've mentioned it before, many times, but what is it exactly?"
"An opportunity for any lord who wishes to engage in trade, to do so with the support and blessing of the crown. It has always annoyed me that Velaryon, Redwyne, Manderly, and Grafton has an effective monopoly on trade with the outside world. Especially as the crown has never given any of them such a monopoly."
"We will cover it in full, at a later session Stark. But if you are not interested in the subject, that is fine. The Royal Eastern Seas Trading Company is merely an opportunity, and I am giving all of you an opportunity to get into it, so to say, before anyone else."
"It is a choice, however. Not something I demand any you invest in."
A bit of silence before Greyjoy spoke up again. "I believe you were about to tell us about tariffs and trade?"
"Yes. Back to that subject. I will be instituting a series of reforms in regards to both export and import. In particular, one of my lords, are currently across the ocean to discuss overarching trade deals with the free cities, among other things."
"Going forward, we will thus have clear codes of taxation of incoming goods depending on where they are from."
However, before that, my first decree regarding the subject is an entirely new tax I am levying, regarding silks, samite, and pretty every single other export from Dorne."
---
Oryn was almost right. We actually finished the discussion 1 hour earlier than the set end of the session.
It was a long, and boring slog of hyper-specific taxes, putting a paid license system for certain businesses into effect, trying to both explain the theory of mercantilism and why it was such a dead-end that had to be avoided at all costs, promising that there would never be taxes leveled for building projects outside the region the taxes were from, and ending on a one-hour discussion of the concept of scrapping the old coin system, and introducing a new one.
Subsequently, I had hammered out a coinage system long before this council ever took place.
From now on, the westerosi coin system would be overhauled with an emphasis on numbers.
Copper coins came in 1, 5, 10, and 20.
Silver ones in 50, 100, 200
And finally, golden coin came in 500 and 1000.
I had no doubt this would wreak havoc on the economy in the short term, but the fact was that I had to do this.
For the smallfolk to become willing and capable of investing cash, the system had to be non-confusing. Which the current system, with Dragons, Moons, Stags, Stars, Groasts, Halfgroats, Pennies, and Halfpennies most certainly were not.
With this, the there would be no such confusion. Only Dragons of different numbers and materials.
Also, this way I could remove all other coins from circulation, like Aegon SHOULD have done.
There should never have been anything else on our coins other than dragons. All it did was symbolically devalue our supremacy. That there were still golden lions, wolves, falcons, stags, and… Whatever the hell the Hoares sigil was supposed to be, was an unquestionable failure on the part of our dynasty.
All in all, as I stayed behind as the lords all walked out I reflected how productive the second day had been. And how it had also been a failure, though a different one than day 1.
This time I had made sure everyone were comfortable, had enough refreshments(though still no alcohol), and we a good long break at the middle point.
On the other hand, there had been little debate. I had said things, and they had said, yes sir, may I have another?
That was not good.
As bad as yesterday had been, at least everyone had had something to do in the discussion. They hadn't just been rubber stamps.
They didn't walk out pissed this time, but other than Tully and Greyjoy(Both of whom were VERY happy with how things had gone for them) no one looked particularly happy. Stark, in particular, looked pissed, just like yesterday.
My tax reforms had hurt him most of all, decreasing his overall revenue by quite a bit. Of course, in the long run, he would benefit as much from this as I did, but I wasn't gonna convince him of that here and now.
All he could see was less coin flowing into Winterfell. Even if they would now be free of corrupt lords taking a cut of that cash.
I sighed, still sitting on my mini Iron Throne.
Tomorrow would just be recapping war strategy, so that would be fun, especially given only Greyjoy and Arryn were going to participate in the war. Both had substantial fleets, who would compliment my own.
Of course, Arryn also had another front to fight, but I got a clear impression he and the rest of the Valemen were looking forward to their role in this war.
Not surprising, given who their target would be.
After tomorrow, we would begin discussing Cities, which would both please, and displease everyone.
Yeah, this was politics alright.