The Fiery Era: Starting from Longxugou

Chapter 94 Paying taxes, and heavy taxes at that!

By printing 39 copies of his book, he could earn 9600 million in royalties!

After calculating this number, Zhao Shi'an couldn't help but gasp: This is insanely extravagant! Being a writer is truly outrageous!

No wonder so many people want to be writers. It's not like you can eat dumplings every day! You could live in a mansion, drive a luxury car, and eat all sorts of delicacies and still not have enough money to spend!

This is fucking money-making!

96 million is close to a small goal, which is equivalent to 9600 yuan in today's money. Although the monthly salary is less than 10,000 yuan, it exceeds that of 95% of people in the country.

In this era, he would be an absolute tycoon, and this is just the income from one book.

Last year, Zhao Shuli spent tens of millions of yuan of royalties to buy the courtyard house at No. 15 Xiangluying, Xuanwumen. It is a large courtyard house with 18 rooms, covering an area of ​​over 1,000 square meters.

The 9600 million yuan in royalties could buy at least two courtyard houses like this.

With so much royalties in the inner city, even in the eastern and western parts of the city known for their wealth and status, one could buy a decent courtyard house.

The three-courtyard house depicted in the TV series "Full House of Love" could easily be acquired for 9600 million yuan, given current purchasing power.

The highest-paid person in this TV series is an eighth-grade worker, earning 99 yuan a month, plus subsidies of over 100 yuan.

Converted to the first edition of RMB, the monthly salary was over one million, and the annual salary was over 1200 million.

The 9600 million yuan in royalties is equivalent to eight years' income for a senior engineer of the eighth grade.

In the TV series, the simple-minded Zhu always complains that his monthly salary is 37.5 yuan, and that he only needs to feed himself, not his family. And that's 65 yuan!

If money was still so valuable after the massive inflation of the early 1960s, then money from 1954 would naturally be even more valuable.

This much royalties is more than Sha Zhu could earn in 21 years of working.

If you still don't have a concept of this, you can refer to the 24-level wage system implemented in my country.

Before the chairman voluntarily requested a pay cut, the salary of an administrative-level official was as high as 644 yuan per month, which is equivalent to 644 million yuan per month.

To earn 9600 million, even an administrative-level official would need to work for more than a year.

This is just the royalties earned from a book of 100,000 words, and the standard royalty rate is only 100,000 per thousand words.

If it were written by "prodigy writer" Liu Shaotang, the royalty rate might not reach the maximum of 180,000 yuan per thousand words, but there is still a good chance of getting 150,000 yuan per thousand words.

In this way, all other things being equal, Liu Shaotang's royalties would be half again as much as his, reaching a staggering 14400 million yuan, which is equivalent to one and a half small goals for a single book.

Two years ago, Henan Opera master Chang Xiangyu traveled to many places to perform charity shows. Over the course of nearly half a year, she performed 178 shows, attracting more than 300,000 audience members and raising a total of 15.2 billion yuan. She then used the proceeds to purchase MiG-15 fighter jets and donated them to the front lines.

At the time, a MiG-15 fighter jet cost 15 billion yuan.

Given Liu Shaotang's reputation, he could earn enough to buy a fighter jet just by writing ten books like this.

Of course, with Liu Shaotang's reputation as a "child prodigy writer," the number of books printed would be at least one million. Even if we only calculate based on a fixed 40% royalty, there are still 20 print runs between 390,000 and 1 million copies. So, one book could bring in more than 200 million yuan.

In this way, writing seven or eight books would be enough to buy a fighter jet.

From this perspective, writers are the chosen ones of this era!

They can make money like no one else, and the key is that they don't have to pay any taxes at all!

Although the farmers' lives improved considerably after the land reform, they were still extremely poor.

In an era when the average yield of grain per mu was no more than 100 jin, even if two harvests could be made a year, based on 400 jin of grain and all calculated using the highest purchase price of wheat, the profit from selling 400 jin of wheat would not be 500,000 yuan. This is just the harvest from one mu of land.

After the land reform, the average person in the country had 2.8 mu of land. Even if they didn't eat or drink the grain they harvested in a year, and sold it all, the income would only be 140 million yuan. After deducting about 15% for public grain, there would still be 119 million yuan left.

This figure of 119 million was calculated based on the assumption that the farmers harvest two crops a year, each yielding 200 jin of wheat, and that they do not eat or drink and do not spend a single penny.

Without considering inflation, a farmer would have to work himself to the bone for 80 years to earn 9600 million yuan, equivalent to working from the founding of the People's Republic of China until 2029.

These writers can earn hundreds of millions of yuan just by writing a book, without having to pay a single penny. Is there any justice in this world?

Even if not everyone is like Liu Shaotang, even if he only takes the most basic royalties, he can still earn tens of millions of yuan.

Taking himself as an example, Zhao Shi'an wrote a popular science book of 100,000 words, based on the standard of 100,000 words per thousand words. He could earn as much as 10 million yuan just from the royalties. This was only if he submitted articles to newspapers. If he published the book, he would be guaranteed at least 10 million yuan.

If you earn money from a single book in the newspapers and then publish it, you're guaranteed at least 20 million!

Not long ago, he was worried that he didn't have enough money to buy a pair of piglets and calves.

With 20 million, not to mention piglets and calves, we could buy large livestock and build a complete breeding facility.

This is just the most conservative estimate of his income. If he gets into a decent university this year, he can easily get 100,000 copies printed through this publicity.

In this way, he could receive the full four print runs, plus the royalties from his published articles, bringing his total income to fifty million.

That much money is enough for him to expand the breeding stock. If he only breeds pigs, he can buy almost all kinds of local pig breeds in China, such as Northeast Min pig, North China pig, Huang-Huai-Hai black pig, Jinhua pig, Rongchang pig, Taihu pig, and Liangguang small spotted pig.

Moreover, this result doesn't even need to be too good. Even just getting first place in Beijing would be enough. If you get first place in the North China region, the first edition of the book would probably be even more expensive. If you get first place in all six examination areas, surpassing Liu Shaotang wouldn't be a problem either.

He will be able to earn over 100 million yuan from a single book, and he will be able to conduct crop breeding and raise large fat pigs without needing funding from the university. On the contrary, the university will support him. After all, who wouldn't be envious of someone who has enough funds to conduct research before producing results?

In today's terms, he's bringing his own funding to the production team. Wouldn't the professors and teachers in the relevant fields fight tooth and nail to get him?

When I'm old and retired, I'll write an autobiography called "My Years of Writing Books and Raising Pigs," and it'll be a huge hit online!

The more Zhao Shi'an thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. After regaining his senses, he became even more convinced that writers should pay taxes, and should pay heavy taxes!

Writers earn such high incomes and don't pay taxes, while farmers work themselves to the bone to earn a pittance and have to pay taxes.

One by one, writers who wrote rural literature and depicted the hardships of rural life made a fortune and gained both fame and wealth!

Does he really want to ask these so-called writers if they've ever farmed? Why do they write about farmers?

Just like after the release of "Dragon Beard Ditch," there were all sorts of superficial and ineffective expressions!

After understanding the current standards for royalties, Zhao Shi'an then made a horizontal comparison with the royalty system.

After a quick calculation, he discovered that although writers in the social camp did not receive royalties, their income was actually quite high, even compared to that of writers in capitalist countries of the same level.

He didn't know how much the royalties were in capitalist countries in this era, nor did he know their tax rates.

Fortunately, Zhao Shi'an knew about the royalty rates and tax rates in modern Western countries.

In the West, authors typically receive around 10% in royalties. If their income is low, they pay around 30% in taxes. If a book sells well, the tax rate can jump to 50%, and sometimes even reach over 60%. This means that most of a book's revenue is taxed. After all, Western countries have always touted themselves as high-welfare societies, and their tax rates are very high.

We are currently at the beginning of the Cold War, and both sides are trying their best to prove that their systems are superior to each other.

This would mean that the highest tax rate for Western writers would be even higher. For the sake of calculation, let's assume a tax rate of 50%.

Similarly, a book of 100,000 words, based on the price of printed books in that era, would be about 180 pages long and priced between 4,000 and 5,000 yuan.

Taking the median of 4,500 copies per book, with 390,000 copies printed, and royalties calculated at 10%, after deducting 50% tax, the revenue would be 8775 million, which is nearly 10 million less than the print run target of 96 million.

In comparison, the print quota system of the social camp is superior to the royalty system of the capitalist camp.

Zhao Shi'an himself was quite surprised by the result! Of course, it's also possible that the data is missing, making it difficult to obtain accurate information for comparison.

Thinking about all this, he started looking up information about writers from the Republican era. The Republican era had only ended a few years ago, and a lot of information could be found.

After asking the staff, I quickly found it in the library.

During the Republican era, writers received a percentage of the book price, commonly known as royalties. New writers and ordinary writers typically received around 8% to 10%.

Established authors and general bestselling authors typically account for 12% to 15%.

Well-known writers and literary figures account for 15% to 18%.

The proportion of writers of Lu Xun, Mao Dun, Lao She, and Zhang Henshui's caliber is between 18% and 20%.

During the Republic of China era, small amounts of royalties were tax-exempt, while large amounts were subject to a progressive tax rate of 15%.

Based on the 10% royalty standard for new writers during the Republic of China period, and with the same price of 4,500 yuan, after paying 15% tax, 390,000 copies of the book were printed, generating a revenue of 14917.5 million yuan.

However, based on the fixed print run, the royalties were only 96 million, a difference of more than 50 million.

No wonder these writers are dissatisfied; they feel they haven't earned enough!

After all, this is just the income of a typical new writer. If calculated according to the top 20% royalty rate, a single book could directly generate nearly 300 million yuan in revenue.

Even the highest royalty rate is only 1.7 million yuan, a difference of nearly 1.3 million yuan.

Currently, public-private partnerships have not yet fully commenced, and there are still many private publishers and private bookstores on the market.

Most of these private vendors still retain the pricing and commission system from the Republican era, but well-known writers, who value their reputation, generally do not entrust their books to private publishers.

Without the addition of top authors, private bookstores are doing alright, as book sales are unaffected and they can use promotional methods to attract customers. However, private publishers are not having such an easy time and can only make a living by selling in large quantities.

In comparison, it's no wonder that these so-called writers later became so resentful; frankly, they felt they hadn't earned enough and had lost their dignity.

In these people's minds, they go to university, graduate, and then sit in an office, enjoying air conditioning and coffee, occasionally writing articles praising the hard work of farmers to gain both fame and fortune.

But once they are sent to the countryside for training, they will attribute their suffering to the times—the system, accuse the misfortune of the times, waste their youth, and lament that they were born at the wrong time!

He only spent a few years in the countryside, but he felt that the whole world had wronged him, forgetting that farmers have lived like this for generations.

These people despise manual labor and farmers from the bottom of their hearts, believing that they are born to sit in offices, engage in culture, and live a decent life, and should not work in the fields.

In modern terms, it's called petit-bourgeois sentiment; in contemporary parlance, it's called petty-bourgeois sentiment.

Their writings were nothing more than "lament literature" by the urban intellectual class about their lost privileges.

Thinking about all this, Zhao Shi'an felt even more strongly that these writers needed to pay taxes, and heavy taxes at that!

After having the idea, he planned to write the article and submit it the next day. If he hadn't forgotten his pen and paper, he would have written it right now.

After putting the book back in its place, Zhao Shi'an found his younger siblings who were reading comic books. He noticed they were engrossed in their reading, so he didn't disturb them and simply joined in.

After flipping through them for a while, he found that the comic books of this era were quite good, except for the rough paper and monotonous colors. The comic books of this era can be roughly divided into four categories: red-themed, historical romance, realistic, and enlightenment books for children to learn to read.

The novels he wrote about were mostly "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", "The Legend of Yue Fei", "Journey to the West", as well as "Kong Rong Giving Up Pears" and "Sima Guang Smashing the Jar" which he bought for his two younger sisters.

There's no need to elaborate on things like early childhood literacy.

It is worth mentioning the realistic themes, most of which reflect real production, such as farmers growing grain, factories making steel, water conservancy projects in the Huai River, literacy campaigns, and the promotion of labor, hard work, collective dedication, and national righteousness!

The bad guys are all landlords, spies, and invaders, while the good guys are all hardworking and patriotic workers, peasants, and soldiers.

There's no need to elaborate on red-themed works; the copy of "Chicken Feather Letter" he bought for his younger siblings is an example of this.

While flipping through these comic books, Zhao Shi'an came across one titled "National Combat Heroes Conference." The moment he saw the title, he became interested and immediately took it out to read.

The opening section introduces the deeds of figures such as Dong Cunrui and Liu Hulan.

It is worth mentioning that Liu Hulan's mother, as a family member of a martyr, was invited to the viewing platform for today's May Day celebration parade.

When I flipped to the middle, I saw the title: "Zhang Yingcai, who has been awarded the Special Merit Citation nine times".

Upon seeing this hero, Zhao Shi'an exclaimed that he was awesome, saying that even Lu Bu might not be able to defeat him.

This hero is a top-tier figure, known to everyone, and even decades later, many people still remember him.

In September 1950, at the National Conference of Combat Heroes, a total of 350 representatives attended, including 78 who were recipients of the Special Merit Award and the remaining 272 who started with the First Merit Award.

Zhang Yingcai topped the list with nine Special Merits and three Special Combat Hero awards! During the meal, considering he was from Shanxi Province, aged vinegar was specially prepared!

This kind of top-level "gathering of heroes" is unprecedented and will never be repeated, after all, the special-class merit will soon be discontinued.