Although Qingdao began to prepare for the New Year celebration at this time, and people's thoughts and emotions had not yet ended, the government's work cycle had passed 1902 and entered the work cycle in 1903.

1902 was the first year of the East China Government's rule after its official establishment, another complete cycle of the East China Government's rule in Shandong, and the first official Spring Festival after the East China Government moved to Qingdao. Therefore, a grand celebration program was prepared for the New Year.

In the past 1902, the East China government has achieved great achievements. According to the year-end fiscal summary, the East China government's fiscal revenue in 1902 was 56.23 million yuan, which was about 39 million taels of silver. The Qing court's fiscal revenue in this year was only more than 90 million taels. The East China government, as a province in Shandong, created more than 40% of that of Qingting. Moreover, Shandong was not a wealthy province in Qingting in the past, so it was a miracle.

Of course, the fiscal revenue of the East China government was not obtained by levying heavy taxes. The income of Shandong residents has generally increased to varying degrees during this year, except for a few people.

There are three main reasons for the increase in fiscal revenue of the East China government. First, the implementation of land reform and the reform of the agricultural tax collection system. Not only did the intermediate links of landlord exploitation, the government directly imposed agricultural tax on farmers, but also adjusted all the land and increased the tax base. Therefore, the agricultural tax collected by the government increased significantly. This year, the actual agricultural tax collected by Shandong increased by more than three times compared with the Qing court, and farmers' income was also increased, which can be said to have achieved a win-win outcome.

Moreover, there is still a certain potential for agricultural taxation to be tapped. Although land reform has been basically realized in Shandong Province this year, due to the time being, many regions have completed land reform after the autumn harvest, and still pay taxes according to the old system. In the next year, Shandong Province will fully implement a new agricultural tax collection system; and according to the experience of the old time and space, after the land reform is completed, after the increase in farmers' production enthusiasm, it will have a period of promotion for agricultural development. When agricultural production increases, the agricultural tax will naturally be leap forward. In addition, newly reclaimed farmland can also increase the tax base of agricultural tax. Therefore, in the next few years, although agricultural tax will not be able to increase leaps and bounds, a steady increase is absolutely possible.

The second reason is tariffs and commercial taxes. The tariffs of the Qingting are controlled by the UK and can only reach 5%. Moreover, after foreign goods pay tariffs, they can no longer pay any fees. The tariffs of the East China government are completely independent. Although compared with European and American countries, the average tariffs of the East China government are only 16%, which is not high. However, after foreign goods enter the East China government's region, there are also income tax, value-added tax, business tax, consumption tax, etc., so the highest tax rate actually reaches more than 50%. Of course, not such a high tax rate will be imposed on all foreign goods, but are adjusted according to the actual needs of the East China government. It can also be said that the tariffs of the East China government are not high.

Although the East China government has increased tariffs, it has also spent a lot of effort to improve the business environment, improve the efficiency of foreign trade procedures, and vigorously develop domestic and foreign trade. Moreover, countries cannot give up Shandong, the coastal market. After all, although China has a large territory and a large population, the real opening-up is the southeast coastal areas and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, with a total of about 8-10 provinces and a population of 150 million. Shandong Province, with a population of 30 million, is naturally impossible to give up easily, let alone Tianjin, which controls the lifeline of Beijing's economy. Therefore, compared with the Qing Dynasty, the import and export trade of Shandong and Tianjin has not only not decreased, but on the contrary has been greatly improved.

In addition, the East China government did not only attach importance to foreign trade and ignore internal trade. On the contrary, due to the development of external trade, it greatly promoted the development of internal trade in Shandong. In addition, the East China government introduced a large number of policies and regulations to protect commerce, which enabled Shandong's commodity economy to develop at an extremely fast speed, and cancelled the checkpoints and cash in various places. Although the taxes collected decreased, the tax base increased exponentially. In addition, the East China government also strictly rectified the tax system. Although the tax collection was very high in the past, most of the tax revenue actually fell into the pockets of tax collectors, and only 30% of the taxes actually paid to the government. Therefore, although the amount of commercial tax collected by the East China government decreased, the tax base was expanded, and the taxes received were basically fully stored in the warehouse. The actual commercial tax collected was naturally far higher than the Qing Dynasty.

Moreover, the East China government will definitely further vigorously develop business and foreign trade, and will also introduce Dabian to domestic and foreign investment. Therefore, there is still a lot of room for growth in tariffs and commercial taxes, and it is also one of the main sources of economic development and increase fiscal revenue for the East China government in the future.

The third factor is actually closely related to the second factor. The establishment of a batch of modern factories not only promoted the economic development of the East China government, but also expanded the tax base. There are now 66 large and small factories established by the government, including 9 large and large factories with more than 1,000 employees. Under the leadership of the East China government, there are 104 factories invested by locals. Although the factories invested by locals are basically small factories with less than 50 people, and even micro factories with less than 20 people account for nearly half, this is a good phenomenon after all.

However, there are still many problems. First, the government invests in factories, and the proportion of privately operated factories is too small. According to the experience of the old time and space, this is certainly not a good phenomenon. Secondly, although many time travelers have devoted themselves to personal entrepreneurship, they basically invest in the service industry, and no one has invested in manufacturing. The manufacturing factories invested by locals are not only small in scale, but also have low average efficiency. They are basically manual production and rarely use machines. This is mainly because the current local people invest, and they are basically self-employed. Seeing that the market is booming and they have a skill, they recruit a few people to open a factory. However, the investment is limited, and the individual handicraftsmen have limited eyes and do not know much about advanced technology, which also limits the development of the factories they run.

Industrial and mining enterprises are also one of the other locomotives for the future development of the East China government. Therefore, in order to enable the manufacturing industry to develop better and faster, the East China government needs to use policies to guide its future work. First, to attract time travelers to invest in the manufacturing industry; second, to train and educate small and medium-sized factories, investors from small factories, transform them from traditional handicraftsmen into modern enterprise managers, and actively attract wealthy locals to invest in the manufacturing industry; finally, to strive to attract foreign capital investment. Of course, some of these aspects have been implemented, while some are also discussing corresponding details.

Of course, overall, the East China government did achieve considerable achievements in 1902. The government's fiscal revenue increased significantly, and the people's living standards were also improved overall. The East China government will naturally vigorously promote this. Therefore, the government's credibility and prestige among the people have also been greatly improved. If the Qing court had a certain influence in Shandong when the East China government was first established, then few people are missing the Qing court now.

However, although the fiscal revenue of the East China government has been greatly improved, the expenditure is even greater. In 1902, the fiscal expenditure was 82.66 million silver dollars, and the fiscal deficit was as high as 26.43 million yuan. Among them, military expenditure accounted for the largest number, reaching 26.73 million yuan, exceeding the top 1/3 of the expenditure. This is also the most criticized point. Some people are joking about this. This is more Japanese than Japan. However, the People's Army is now being formed and improved, so it is not surprising that the military expenditure is higher. In addition, this is also a normal phenomenon in Chinese history. The military expenditure of ancient Chinese dynasties generally accounted for about half of the expenditure, which is mainly because the fiscal revenue was too low. During the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the annual fiscal revenue of the Qing court was about 80 million silver, while Japan's land area was only 1/30 of China and its population was only 1/15 of China, but its fiscal revenue was actually similar to that of the Qing court. It can be seen that China's fiscal revenue in this era still has huge potential to be discovered.

The investment in the five-year plan, which ranked second among expenditures, reached 22.85 million yuan, and these two items exceeded 50 million yuan. However, since the East China government obtained a lot of benefits in the previous battle with the Eight-Nation Alliance, the silver collected from the Eight-Nation Alliance alone was more than 90 million taels, so although there was a large fiscal deficit in 1902, it could still be filled. Considering that the East China government still has enough reserves and the economy will develop further, and gradually achieve balance of income and expenditure in the future, it is also possible to achieve surplus.

In addition, during this year, the East China government has also achieved a huge achievement, that is, the currency reform has achieved phased success, and the issuance of silver dollars is very smooth, and even paper money has not caused much controversy. This is because of the strong support and credit guarantee of the government. Secondly, the East China government has a large amount of silver as a margin, which can be exchanged at any time; thirdly, silver dollars are indeed more convenient than silver, so it quickly received support from the people. After all, silver can be exchanged, goods can be purchased, and taxable. Who would not want to use such a currency?

Although it is still a stage of using silver and silver coins in both economically developed regions, in Tianjin and Qingdao, silver coins have already dominated the circulation of currency. For the East China government, this is an important step in rectifying and regulating the financial order, and ensures the orderly and healthy economic development of the East China government.
Chapter completed!