Chapter 955

After Christmas, Franz was busy again. There were always a lot of things to do at the end of the year. The government's year-end summary, the plan for the coming year, the budget …

The specific matters were handled by the people below, but Franz still had to control the general direction. As a qualified emperor, he had to ensure that he had control over the government.

Minister of Finance Carr: "Your Majesty, this is this year's financial report.

The new Holy Roman Empire's total revenue in 1875 was 86.52 million SD, total expenditure was 87.64 million SD, and the deficit was 1.12 million SD.

Austria's total revenue in 1875 was 157.41 million SD, total expenditure was 155.04 million SD, and the surplus was 2.37 million SD.

Bavaria's total revenue in 1875 was 11.32 million SD, and the expenditure and income were basically equal.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem's total revenue in 1875 was 220,000 SD, and the expenditure was 3.14 million SD, and the deficit was 2.92 million SD. "

Although the Government of Austria was the central government of the new Holy Roman Empire, there was still a distinction in terms of finances.

If the finances were not separated, the central government would have no way to ask for money from the state governments when it was in deficit.

Not only was there a division in finances, but the functions of the two were also different.

The Government of Austria was mainly responsible for the governance of Austria, such as: tax collection, social security maintenance, economic development, education, infrastructure construction … These were all limited to Austria.

The central government was different. These specific administrative matters were the functions of the state governments, and there was no need for them to interfere.

However, the central government was responsible for the entire new Holy Roman Empire, and its main functions included: mediating relations between the states, making laws, judicial institutions, launching diplomatic work, training and managing the army, issuing currency, collecting taxes, managing the colonies …

It was normal that the central government's revenue was not as high as the state's. Other than the colonial revenue, the central government only had seigniorage and tariffs.

The large size of the colony did not mean that the revenue was high. It was considered good now, and it could basically achieve a balance of payments with a slight surplus.

However, this surplus only existed on paper. After passing through the hands of the central government, it would be consumed by local construction projects.

In the early years, the central government had a serious deficit, and the state governments had to share the deficit. It was always difficult to take money out of someone else's pocket.

At that time, the end of every year was the most painful time for the Government of Vienna. He had to patiently persuade the governments of the various states so that they would be willing to fork out the money.

As the colony's economy developed, there was no need for the central government to subsidize it.

This change was not what the state governments wanted. They didn't need to fork out the money, which meant that their status in the Empire would drop.

Politics was just that realistic. With the central government's balance of payments, the merger of the Austrian government and the central government was also put on the agenda.

Whether they were willing or not, this was the inevitable result. Otherwise, how would they rule the colony after it was localized?

It was not a problem for the central government to directly govern the colonies, but if they directly governed the localized provinces, then the political status of these provinces would be on the same level as the state government.

There was no doubt that with the size of the African continent, its future development potential would definitely surpass that of the mainland.

If they did not consolidate the system now, when these provinces developed in the future, they would definitely fight for political rights.

If they really transitioned to the era of democracy and freedom, and the people voted to make decisions, then it would only be a matter of time before the European Emperor became the Non-Emperor.

The colony was placed under the Empire's flag instead of Austria's. The main reason was to let the states pay together. Secondly, it was to have an official status, which would make it easier to fool immigrants in the German Region.

Now that the work was done, it was time to get rid of the donkey. Politics was so realistic. Franz had decided to merge the administrative power of Austria, Bavaria, and Jerusalem.

The year 1875 would be the last time the finances would be separated. After that, they would be completely merged. The government wouldn't have to go through the trouble of making two budgets.

Franz took the document and looked at it carefully. 1875 was a good year. It was the first time since he ascended the throne that the Government of Austria had a surplus.

Even if it was only two million Divine Shields, it was still a great victory.

A few years before he ascended the throne, Franz had a lot of financial headaches. It wasn't until the First Near Eastern War that he got out of trouble by making money from the war.

Later, the pace of colonial expansion was accelerated. The government's finances were in deficit for years. The best time was to break even.

It was the era of the gold standard, not the era of credit. If the government wanted to print money, they had to look at the gold reserves first.

To stimulate the economy with a deficit, they had to look at how much money they had. There was no way to make up for the deficit by issuing more money. Long-term deficits would increase the government's debt.

The government's debt tolerance was limited. Once it exceeded a certain limit, the finances would collapse.

Greece was a negative example. At first, the government gave out benefits without considering the consequences of the deficit. Later, they could only renege on their debts.

There was no doubt that the Government of Austria was also in debt. The so-called surplus only existed on paper. It was nothing in front of the huge debt.

A moment later, Franz closed the document and said, "Let's use the surplus to reduce the debt! Our debt pressure is still very high. If we encounter an emergency, we will be very passive. "

When the new Holy Roman Empire was first established, the small states were worried that the central government would use the empire's finances to subsidize Austria.

To reassure everyone, Franz set a rule: the central government could not borrow money, and the deficit would be shared by the state governments.

The effect was very obvious. The central government did not have enough money to spend. Every year, they had to reach out to the state governments. Every expenditure was strictly reviewed by everyone. Naturally, there was no misappropriation.

In this way, the central government's deficit fell to the state governments. Austria was the largest and had to pay the most money. Coupled with the investment in their own infrastructure, the debt continued to grow.

Today, Austria's total debt had reached 500 million SD, almost 3.2 times the revenue. It was more than the Tsarist government's debt.

Of course, this calculation was not reasonable. There was still some income that was not included in the fiscal revenue, but could be used to repay the debt.

However, this number was still a little dangerous. During the period of rapid economic development, it was not a problem. Once the economy entered a stable or even recession period, the problem would appear.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem had a deficit. Franz did not even mention it. This was the inevitable result.

All the farmland was fallow, and the city was being reconstructed. All of this required money. If Jerusalem was not a holy land, it probably would not even have the 220,000 SD. It would have been a pure investment.

Minister of Finance Carr said, "Yes, Your Majesty."

After a pause, Carr added, "Your Majesty, our fiscal merger plan has been opposed by the state governments. There might be trouble in the Imperial Parliament."

The merger between the central government and Austria was inevitable. Everyone was mentally prepared. Franz had already talked to the kings of the states, and most of them did not oppose it.

There was no problem with the administrative merger. That was because the Government of Austria had been the central government from the beginning. In essence, the two sides were already one.

The various state governments knew that their objections were futile against the established facts. As long as it did not harm their own interests, they would tacitly agree.

However, the financial situation was different. The state governments had always been subsidizing the central government. It was not easy to achieve a balance of income and expenditure, but now the peaches were stolen. Anyone would feel uncomfortable.

There was no way to compromise on this issue. If the finances could not be merged, how could the consolidation be completed?

After hesitating for a moment, Franz made a decision. "If we can't convince the state governments to agree, then we'll put the fiscal merger on hold.

Let Jerusalem announce the reconstruction plan. At the same time, prepare the documents and apply to join the new Holy Roman Empire at the Imperial Conference early next year. "

The Kingdom of Jerusalem had never been a part of the Shinra Empire, but no one could oppose Jerusalem joining the Shinra Empire.

No Catholic country could refuse to join the holy land. Otherwise, the people's spittle could make the government step down.

The addition of Jerusalem to the Empire not only increased the power of speech of a state, but also added a huge problem.

The Kingdom of Jerusalem was poor. The reconstruction work had just begun, and it required a huge amount of money. Without a doubt, the Kingdom of Jerusalem did not have money.

Rebuilding the holy land was a religious right. After joining the Shinra Empire, the cost would fall to the central government. According to the usual practice, the money would eventually fall to the state governments.

Franz had already made plans to rely on the Vatican to collect donations from all over the world to support the reconstruction of Jerusalem. For this, he had promised the Vatican the right to govern the city of Jerusalem.

However, this was still in the midst of secret negotiations. If the Vatican wanted the right to govern Jerusalem, they had to cooperate with Austria to stabilize the entire Middle East.

This did not prevent him from using the huge cost of rebuilding Jerusalem to put pressure on the state governments.