Not a good thing?
That's not necessarily true!
Sebastian curled his lips into a smile, then extended a finger and gently shook it.
"A healthy tax policy is actually beneficial for Swan Alchemy."
"Why? Are you earning too many Galleons?" Amelia pouted, looking incredulous.
"Senior, you might have forgotten something, which is that even without taxes, Swan Alchemy gives a considerable amount of Galleons to the Ministry of Magic every year."
"So, whether there are taxes or not, it's the same for Swan Alchemy, and according to calculations, under a reasonable tax policy, Swan Alchemy will actually save quite a bit of Galleons."
So that's how it is.
I almost forgot that point!
Amelia nodded in sudden realization, thinking about the Ministry of Magic's operations.
Since ancient times, the Ministry of Magic has had no finance or tax departments. The Ministry of Magic's daily operations and staff salaries have always been funded by donations from the major pure-blood families.
It is precisely because of this that the Ministry of Magic has indulged the pure-blood families in various ways. As long as it's not a major crime, they can clear their names with donations.
After all, these pure-blood families are the Ministry of Magic's benefactors. As long as appearances are kept, the Ministry of Magic doesn't want to completely offend these fellows.
"Sebastian," Amelia said, "have you ever thought that because of the donations, past Ministers of Magic have given pure-blood families many special privileges?"
"Once it becomes taxation, these privileges will be greatly reduced."
"To put it broadly, now you can even threaten the Ministry of Magic by saying you'll stop donating. In that case, as long as your demands aren't too excessive, the Ministry of Magic will always agree to your requests."
That's the theory!
And if multiple pure-blood families threatened together, it wouldn't be impossible to replace the Minister of Magic.
However, theory only stays on paper; actual implementation is not that simple.
Sebastian smiled and shook his head.
Threats are never a respectable method; they can only be used as an unspoken means.
Like nuclear weapons among Muggles, everyone actually has means of mutual restraint.
Ultimately, the Ministry of Magic is the largest violent institution in the British Wizarding World, and finding a reason to control these pure-blood families isn't too difficult.
After all, any pure-blood family still doing business cannot guarantee that their operations are entirely clean.
Things like smuggling Potions and alchemy materials are something everyone is more or less involved in.
The Ministry of Magic usually just turns a blind eye, and cracking down on smuggling is only aimed at some individual freelancers.
The price is that any pure-blood family that isn't completely fallen and living solely on ancestral inheritance must honestly donate to the Ministry of Magic.
Otherwise, the Ministry of Magic wouldn't mind settling scores later and doing some short-sighted things.
Swan Alchemy belongs to the technical processing industry, and its profits come entirely from selling finished products.
It does not involve the field of raw material smuggling; instead, based on the principle of everyone making money together, it directly distributes this portion of the profit to other cooperating families.
So, for a clean enterprise like Swan Alchemy, this annual donation to the Ministry of Magic is purely a foolish act. Not only does it yield too few benefits, but it also easily leads to resentment.
Once they refuse to donate and Ministry of Magic employees don't get their salaries, they won't care who is right or wrong between Swan Alchemy and the Ministry of Magic; they will only vent their anger on Swan Alchemy.
At that time, if various media outlets just add a little fuel to the fire, saying that Swan Alchemy intends to control the Ministry of Magic through economic means, Swan Alchemy's reputation could easily be ruined.
There were too many reasons for this, and Sebastian couldn't finish explaining them all at once, so he could only smile at Amelia and say,
"I prefer Swan Alchemy to be an excellent tax-paying enterprise, rather than constantly donating in silence."
"After becoming an excellent tax-paying enterprise, I can also make a big deal out of this, letting the Wizarding World know about Swan Alchemy's contributions, because for an enterprise, fame and profit are equally important."
"As for various invisible benefits, as long as I have enough friends in the Ministry of Magic, I won't miss out on my share."
"Alright!" Amelia nodded thoughtfully, "As long as you've thought it through."
She didn't say anything more but carefully read through the various tax clauses.
She found that although Percy was young, the various tax categories were set up extremely reasonably.
For example, corporate income tax, sole proprietorship income tax, and individual income tax, etc. In short, the plan was to implement universal taxation.
Considering some low-income groups, Percy also thoughtfully introduced a progressive tax system.
That is to say, as long as income does not reach a certain standard, no fees need to be paid. And the higher a person's income, the higher the taxes paid.
In terms of individual income tax, Percy also specifically divided different tax levels such as A, B, and C, targeting different groups of people.
For example, Wizard families who are married and have children have the lowest tax rate.
Wizard families without children have the next lowest tax rate.
As for single Wizards, they are at the bottom of the food chain, with the highest tax rate.
After seeing this, Amelia's face darkened.
There was nothing she could do; she belonged to the last category of single Wizards, and she had no intention of marrying in this life.
"Percy," Amelia asked in a deep voice, "Why do single Wizards have to pay such high taxes?"
"Is this discriminating against single people?"
"As far as I know, there are quite a few single Professors at Hogwarts. Are you trying to make those Professors come after you?"
"This..." Percy's smile froze on his face.
When he was writing this clause, he had thought that he would be disliked by many people, but for the Wizarding World, he didn't care at all.
After all, his strength was not bad, and ordinary Wizards posed no threat.
But he completely forgot the fact that almost all the old Professors at Hogwarts were single.
Thinking of Professor McGonagall, Professor Flitwick, Professor Sprout, and Professor Snape chasing him with dark faces because their income had decreased, Percy's heart twitched.
Before Percy could speak, Sebastian proactively spoke up, taking on the responsibility of explaining.
After all, this hat was too big, and Percy might not be able to bear it.
"Amelia, don't rush. This method is actually learned from the Muggles in Germany next door."
"The number of Wizards is simply too small. The main purpose of this is to promote the population growth of Wizards."
There's no other way; Wizards' desire to procreate is not very high, and throughout the Wizarding World, there are many carefree single nobles.
This has led to the number of Wizards not increasing.
However, for a species, population size is a prerequisite for development.
One's position determines one's perspective. If Sebastian were just an ordinary single Wizard, he would certainly firmly oppose this tax level system.
However, when he stood at a certain height and began to look at the entire Wizarding World, he naturally had to firmly promote this system.
At the very least, for the sake of their own wallets, there would always be a group of single Wizards willing to start families.
Sebastian patiently explained the pros and cons to Amelia, even directly citing the Muggle world in Germany as an example, taking a lot of effort to make Amelia understand the intricacies.
Considering the future of the Wizarding World, Amelia quickly accepted this explanation.
"For the Wizarding World, universal taxation is indeed a very good policy." Amelia thought for a while and then said.
"However, the interests involved are extremely vast. To what aspects will these collected taxes be used?"
....