Chapter 1195 Taxation and Population (Part 1)

Chapter 1195 Taxation and Population (Part 1)

After a series of fierce battles, Franz finally cleared the obstacles at home and abroad, and the Austrian Empire could finally devote its main energy to development.

In 1848, the fiscal revenue of the Austrian Empire exceeded that of Britain and France for the first time, and it topped the world with 758 million florins.

Due to the outbreak of the Great Revolution, France's fiscal revenue was directly cut in half from 1.6 billion francs in the Louis Philippe era, and the annual fiscal revenue was only 800 million francs, and it was burdened with nearly 3 billion francs of debt.

(The fiscal revenue of France in the same period of history was about 1.4 billion francs.)

Due to the economic crisis, strikes, interrupted trade routes, wars and many other reasons, Britain's fiscal revenue plummeted to 60 million pounds (equal to 600 million florins in the book).

Russia's 360 million rubles, Russia's financial strength is far stronger than the same period in history, plus the acquisition of Trabzon and Erzurum at the Third Vienna Peace Conference, as well as the close relationship with the Austrian Empire, Russia's economy will continue to develop in a positive direction.

Although Prussia was in a state of distress in 1848, its financial statements were still very good, with annual fiscal revenue of 140 million thalers, or about 210 million florins.

The fiscal revenue of the Kingdom of Sardinia plummeted to 20 million lire, and it basically lost the qualification to continue to compete for supremacy. It was already very difficult to maintain its rule.

(Historically, the Kingdom of Sardinia has always been the richest country in Italy. Some people even believe that the fiscal revenue of the Kingdom of Sardinia before 1848 had exceeded 100 million lire, or about 50 million florins.

The fiscal revenue of the Austrian Empire during the same period was only 100 million florins.)

The tax rate in the United States in North America has increased compared to history, but the fiscal revenue has shown a downward trend and is only 42 million US dollars.

On the other hand, the economic situation in Mexico is not optimistic. Although the lost territory has been recovered, the country's revenue has not increased. On the contrary, more defense spending is needed.

Compared with the 80 million florins before the Mexican-American War, the 68 million florins at this time are really not enough.

However, even so, it is twice the same period in history. In addition, after killing all competitors, Tasan Anna's rule is surprisingly stable at this time.

The other countries are the Netherlands 150 million florins, Sweden 13.5 million florins, and Brazil 40 million florins (the exchange rate of the Brazilian real is very unstable and has poor international liquidity).

The latest census of the Austrian Empire shows that the population of Germany has exceeded 17 million, and the main source of growth is immigration.

The growth of the Italian population is even more exaggerated, exceeding 15 million, and according to the statistics bureau's estimates, there are still a large number of invisible people in northern Italy who are avoiding the head tax.

The third largest ethnic group in the country has changed again. The Croatians have become the third largest ethnic group in the Austrian Empire, with a total population of about 3.3 million.

After that, there were 3 million Bohemians, 1.7 million Slovaks, 1.65 million Slovenes, 1.55 million Poles, 1.5 million Moravians, 1.5 million Transylvanians, 1.3 million Ruthenians, 1.1 million Montenegrins, and 70,000 Serbs.

The number of Hungarians dropped from 6.5 million to 1.87 million. In more than a year, Hungary lost 71.1% of its population, a drop that was jaw-dropping and far exceeded the estimates of experts in the Austrian Empire.

However, newspapers in the Austrian Empire would naturally say it differently, that is, the number of imperial citizens in Hungary increased from 1.5 million to 1.87 million, which was really a cause for celebration.

Even if war, famine, and plague were rampant, they would not have caused such tragic consequences, but the reality was that the Magyar ethnic genocide policy was backfired.

A large number of young and strong Magyars died tragically, and the famine and plague that lasted for a year took away the lives of most of the old and young.

Needless to say, the fate of women from defeated nations was unpredictable. Most of them were divided up as spoils of war.

The lucky ones could marry or be absorbed by other nations, while the unlucky ones would be trafficked and eventually become secret prostitutes or other similar professions.

(Regular brothels in the 19th century also had requirements for prostitutes. Such women of unknown origin did not even qualify as legal prostitutes.)

In addition, due to the complexity of the ethnic groups in the Austrian Empire and the unprofessionalism of the statisticians, there were generally four criteria for judgment at the time: blood genealogy, language and culture, living area, and self-identity.

Blood genealogy may be owned by nobles and wealthy civilians, but it is impossible for most civilians and serfs to have it.

In addition, due to the war, even if it was possible, it was lost.

In the Austrian Empire, a country where the average person knew 2.5 languages, it was a pipe dream to use language to judge a person's ethnicity.

As for the living area, it was even more nonsense. If this was really used as a standard, why count the ethnicity? It would be better to count the number of people directly.

Therefore, self-identification became the main way for the Austrian Empire to count the ethnicity of its people. In other words, if an Austrian considers himself a German, then he is a German.

In addition, the Austrian Empire did not have a household registration system in the past, so from a legal perspective, there was really no way to refute this practice.

Unless they were Jews or Roma (Gypsies), few people would ask about it.

After the war in 1848, anyone with a little foresight would reconsider their ethnic issues, so a large number of Germans who could only speak one or two words of German appeared in the Austrian Empire.

There are still 1.87 million people left in Hungary. It can only be said that the people at that time were still too simple.

In fact, the main sources of these Hungarians are refugee camps and prisoner-of-war camps, so the actual number of Hungarians has to be discounted.

What made Franz speechless was that the number of Jews in the Austrian Empire exceeded two million. Although Franz was the first to attack Jewish financiers and republicans, he did not take the opportunity to attack ordinary Jews, and even issued some The law prevents liquidation from expanding.

However, it was different in other countries of the German Confederation. Almost all Jews were affected.

These Jews naturally fled to Austria, because speaking German was a huge advantage in the Austrian Empire, and they could get more opportunities and respect from other peoples.

For them who have nothing to offer, language is their only wealth.

In addition to the Jews, the number of Gypsies in the Austrian Empire was also increasing rapidly.

This is mainly due to the crazy influx of Gypsies from the surrounding areas. After all, it is so difficult to find a country that is not so discriminatory against Gypsies at this time.

In fact, Franz did not give any preferential treatment to the Gypsies, but only gave them relatively equal rights with other ethnic groups.

For example, robbery and destruction of Gypsy property must be compensated according to the price, insults to Gypsy women must be punished in accordance with the law, and unprovoked violent expulsion of Gypsies is prohibited.

Gypsies enjoyed the right to education and work in the Austrian Empire. Churches could not deny them entry on the basis of their national identity, and their legal property was also protected by law.