The Rise Of Australasia

Chapter 1039: Chapter 779: South American Conflict

The sale of television technology was expected to bring in Arthur an income of approximately 220.5 million Australian Dollars, but a significant portion of that would need to be paid to the government as taxes.

In fact, Arthur could use some lawful methods to avoid taxes and reduce the taxes that the Royal financial group needed to pay each year.

However, as the Monarch of the country, all of Arthur’s actions held significant exemplary importance. If Arthur began to legally avoid taxes, then certainly more capitalists and entrepreneurs would opt for tax avoidance.

As a result, the national tax revenue would be greatly reduced, which, in turn, would affect the country’s total fiscal revenue each year.

After all, for Arthur, paying taxes was simply a matter of transferring money from one hand to the other. The higher the tax revenue and annual fiscal income the government had, the better it was for Arthur.

If one were to consider the taxes according to the rates in Australasia, the income amounting to a massive 220.5 million AUD would require at least about 50 million AUD in taxes.

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For the government, it meant an additional tax revenue of over 10 million AUD per year for the next three years, which was certainly very good news.

Speaking of which, the Royal financial group controlled by Arthur was not just the largest taxpayer in Australasia but also the enterprise that employed the most people.

According to the annual report of the Royal financial group, in 1930 the group contributed over 17 million AUD in taxes to the government, accounting for 35.7% of the government’s total tax revenue.

If other industries were taken into account, the taxes paid to the government by the industries under Arthur almost equalled the sum of taxes paid by all other industries combined.

Paying a large amount of taxes also signified one thing — that Arthur’s annual income was also quite substantial.

After the devaluation of the Australian Dollar, the total income generated by all of Arthur’s enterprises each year actually doubled.

In 1930 alone, the total profits of all Arthur’s enterprises exceeded 180 million AUD, which was already close to half of the national total fiscal revenue.

This might seem exaggerated, but in reality, it was a fairly rational figure. Although the Royal financial group publicly only consisted of banks and the military industry, Arthur covertly controlled the extremely important industries of Australasia.

From the small-scale grain and food processing to large-scale industrial products and machinery, including mining and processing, to petroleum extraction and refining, the Royal financial group’s investment was everywhere.

If Arthur did not deliberately conceal some enterprises, the people of Australasia might be surprised to find that their daily lives were inseparable from the enterprises of the Royal financial group.

Because every industry had traces of the Royal financial group’s presence, along with a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises and factories being invested in by the group.

Making a fortune with televisions certainly put Arthur in a good mood, and he showed one of his rare smiles during the Cabinet Meeting.

Actually, since over a decade ago, Arthur had rarely shown his emotions during Cabinet Meetings.

After all, as a competent Monarch, it was best not to let subordinates guess one’s feelings.

To remain impassive was what a qualified Monarch should strive to achieve.

Speaking of this Cabinet Meeting, the discussion wasn’t about domestic issues but a crisis that had newly erupted abroad.

That was also the theme of the era. Although the overall tone was still peace, some regions inevitably experienced crises or even wars.

This crisis was not in Europe, nor was it in a region where the Powers used to compete. Arthur had not expected that despite the European countries moving towards peace and the United States being already preemptively taken care of, such a crisis could break out in South America.

The main players in this crisis were Bolivia and Paraguay. This crisis was also famously known in history as the Chaco War.

From the name, it was clear to understand that the true cause of the Chaco War’s outbreak was the sovereignty dispute over the Chaco region between Bolivia and Paraguay.

It has to be said that the situation in South America has always been unstable. Although there were no super large-scale wars, there have been many small-scale wars and disputes between several countries.

Apart from the three strongest countries, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, the relations between other countries, including Bolivia, Paraguay, and Uruguay, were also not very good.

The Chaco region lies to the west of the Paraguay River, east of the Andes Mountains, south of the Amazon Basin, and north of the Pampas Grassland, covering a vast expanse of over 650,000 square kilometers of uninhabited land.

The reason why there had been no large-scale conflicts before was that the region was not only sparsely populated but also lacked valuable resources.

Although Bolivia and Paraguay had always had significant disputes over the Northern Chaco, neither country was likely to go to war over an area that had neither people nor resources.

However, the situation started to change subtly in recent years. Before the fall of the United States, ExxonMobil had announced the discovery of large oil fields in the Northern Chaco.

Originally, with the pressure from the United States, despite the more intense contradictions between Bolivia and Paraguay, the two were far from going to war.

But with the collapse of the United States, the relationship between Bolivia and Paraguay could no longer be sustained.

In 1930 alone, the two countries experienced more than ten minor armed conflicts at their borders, two of which almost escalated into war.