Shiller shook his head and said, "I don't have ti to deal with them. You go contact the Pale Knight, and keep them out of Gotham. You can keep all the benefits; you don't need to give anything."
"Are you sure you don't want to be involved?" Amanda looked at him and said, "The backers behind this can't just be targeting you; it must be related to the recent martial law in tropolis. Don't you want to expose the mastermind behind it all?"
"If you can expose the mastermind, the entire Justice League would thank you." Shiller looked at her and said, "I'm not getting involved."
"Alright." Amanda shrugged and said, "I wasn't expecting them to thank anyway. So alien criminals have touched the nerves of those in Congress, giving them so unrealistic fantasies again."
"What do they want to do?"
"Of course, they want to use the power of the aliens to deal with the Soviet Union."
"So what you're saying is that in their eyes, the Soviet Union is more terrifying than the aliens."
"It's nothing new. If they could deal with the Soviet Union, what's the big deal about collaborating with aliens? Even if it was a deal that would sell out the entire Earth, they'd sign it."
Shiller sighed and said, "What are they planning to do?"
"I've heard they're planning to actively contact the guy who imposed martial law on tropolis."
"And then?"
"Then I guess they won't have any good way to persuade him. After all, the guy is targeting tropolis, which is under the control of the Luther Group."
"Luther is not Wayne." Amanda slowly shook her head and said, "This guy has an extre lust for control and is ruthless, with no scruples. If soone dares to touch tropolis, he'll make them regret it."
"Will Congress submit?" Shiller asked.
"The Luther Group has significant influence in pharmaceuticals and military industries. The current Lex Luther is the head of Angsa; if he wants soone dead, they won't survive. With tropolis already given to him, what leverage does Congress have left?"
"And they still dare to cooperate with the aliens?"
"Collaborating with the aliens is the only way to change this situation. They're probably betting that Luther wouldn't dare kill them all."
Shiller laughed and said, "That's quite sensible. After all, if he kills them all, finding that many fools again in a short ti won't be easy."
Amanda sat down on the sofa nearby, pondering, and said, "This appears to be a ga between aliens and Earthlings, or between Arica and the Soviet Union, but in truth, it's still a ga between the Federal Governnt and local governnts."
"If this ti even the aliens can't breach tropolis, everyone will know that soone can keep the Federation's orders out of tropolis without paying any price. Implenting anything from the Federal Governnt in the future would beco difficult."
"Do you think this will exacerbate the split in Arica?"
"Arica's division has no further room to escalate. We are already a Federation, with each state equivalent to a small country. I'm just worried about New Jersey State splitting."
"Do you think tropolis will secede?"
"Lex Luther is steering it that way. He's turning tropolis into another country, you know which one I an. That ans, from the system to the economy to the ideology, tropolis will gradually distance itself from New Jersey State."
"Isn't that a good thing?"
"Actually, I don't care whether tropolis becos independent or not. The key is, if tropolis, under Luther's leadership, gradually drifts apart from New Jersey State, then New Jersey State's political, economic, and cultural center will beco Gotham."
Amanda looked at Shiller and said, "Do you think that's a good thing? Letting this haven of madn and killers beco the center of the Northeast?"
"You're talking about the old Gotham..."
"No, from what I've observed of your new mayor, he's also a madman."
"Despite his constant efforts to increase subsidies for the people at the bottom?"
"That's why I say he's a madman."
Shiller was speechless.
In the context of Arica, there are no slogans like "Serve the People." Their catchphrases are self-reliance and self-preservation, achieving their dreams with their own hands. If they fail, they look for their own shortcomings.
When everyone can't even take care of themselves, it's indeed crazy to think about those at the bottom.
"Although I should say I understand your concern now, honestly, I don't. Are you worried that Gotham will drag New Jersey State into a mad abyss, where everyone at the bottom would get subsidies and people's lives would get better?"
Amanda rubbed her forehead with her hand and said, "I don't think it's bad to give subsidies to those at the bottom, but you need to consider where the money for the subsidies cos from. Nepier is planning to implent a new tax law in Gotham, imposing an additional 60% tax on the wealthy."
It was the first ti Shiller heard this news. After a pause, he said, "That actually sounds pretty good."
"Then do you know how he defines the wealthy?" Amanda sighed again and said, "Even university professors like you are considered wealthy and fall within the tax range. Moreover, the tax law might take effect this quarter, which ans you should prepare to pay 60% more taxes by March."
Shiller silently did so calculations in his mind. Although he had spent most of his money on buying a house, he still had enough left to pay the taxes.
"What about tax exemption policies?" Shiller asked.
"Don't even think about it. The tax exemption policies are unprecedentedly strict. The virtual tax avoidance thods used for charity and investnts are ineffective. The tax exemption limits for tangible investnts and consumption have also been greatly reduced, so everyone will have to pay up properly."
Shiller mourned for his wallet for a second and then said, "All right. The tax bureau should work with the police departnt for joint enforcent, right? Otherwise, collecting taxes from those people won't be so easy."
"Aren't you worried about your assets at all?" Amanda looked at Shiller and said.
"A little distressed, but not much," Shiller shook his head and said, "If I wanted to make money, I wouldn't have beco a university professor. For a long ti, my salary just covers my living expenses, leaving with no savings at all, but it doesn't really matter."
Amanda was speechless and said, "Okay, you are a saint with no desires. I'm just worried that Nepier's bloodletting therapy might bring chaos to this city again. After all, if you are considered wealthy, then the vast majority of the middle class will be in trouble, and they won't take it lying down."
"I believe the mayor has a sense of propriety," Shiller said, "He should have prepared so other asures as well, and perhaps we'll know about it soon."
"Fine, you bunch of madn play your own gas," Amanda stood up and said, "I will try my best to keep those assassins outside the city, but there might be one or two that will get in. Just deal with them on the spot, there's no need to contact again."
After saying that, she left. Shiller watched her back and shook his head. Amanda had indeed matured quite a bit, but she still hated madn, almost to a normal level that seed abnormal.
Shiller indeed didn't know about the new tax law, so he opened his phone to search for it and found that Amanda was telling the truth. If things go as expected, he would have to pay about 60% more taxes next ti.
Not everyone has spare money like he does. Shiller estimated that if it was implented this quickly, most people wouldn't be able to pay. Nepier wouldn't really do sothing so stupid.
Sure enough, as he scrolled further down, Shiller saw the clause "exempt from forced collection," aning that if they can't pay, it won't be forcibly collected.
This made Shiller even more puzzled. If this is the case, the middle class could just transfer their assets, leaving nothing on hand. Without forced collection, wouldn't the governnt collect very little?
Scrolling to the end, Shiller saw that the news was published more than half a month ago.
He suddenly realized sothing was wrong. The new tax law should have caused an uproar the day it was announced, but Shiller hadn't felt any public opinion disturbances, as if everyone had calmly accepted it.
Even if they could evade by transferring assets, the middle class should have quite a few grievances. They should have caused a big stir online, so why was no one talking about it?
Shiller found it a bit intriguing, but he didn't dwell on it. After all, he had enough money to pay the taxes. He didn't plan to transfer his assets, as it was too troubleso. He would rather pay the taxes than deal with the hassle of asset transfer operations.
Shiller thought of checking out the shop, but the downtown might already be jamd. So, he decided to drive through the inner world.
Today, by coincidence, just as Shiller drove out, he brushed past another car. He didn't see clearly who it was, just guessed it might be a professor from the Magic Academy.
However, on his way downtown, he felt sothing odd as he saw a lot of people—accurately speaking, a lot of humans of all ages, clearly not students from Gotham Magic Academy.
Heading towards downtown, he saw even more people, many in groups gathering by the roadside, pointing at the buildings on the street.
So were even discussing the glass windows of Shiller's new shop. Shiller got out of the car and walked over. One person enthusiastically said, "Are you also here to look at properties? In my opinion, this building is pretty good, but the guide said it's sold. I wish I had co earlier."
Shiller looked him over. It was a well-maintained lady holding an expensive bag, looking like a wealthy person.
"I am the owner of this property, but I bought it a long ti ago."
"Oh my, then you must be a magician, right? They say it's always been magicians here. You look like a professor from the Magic University, are you?"
"Sort of." Shiller nodded, "What are you doing here?"
"Looking at properties," the lady smiled, "The Mayor said the inner world is about to be open to ordinary people, and by paying a tax, we can enter early. We plan to co here to invest first. The land in the city center will probably rise a lot in the future."
Shiller covered his forehead. He figured out how that ridiculous tax law was implented—as a qualifier for early access privileges.
But it was quite a clever strategy. Without being able to openly announce the existence of the inner world, using this thod to gather funds from the wealthy could indeed solve an urgent need.
The wealthy pay for the privilege to invest in the inner world, converting their money into subsidies for the poor outside. Quite a deft act of shadowy manipulation.
Creating the inner world as a true garden city, and then imposing extra taxes on the right to enter, could achieve the goal of making the wealthy spend and enjoy life in the inner world, using that money to subsidize the poor outside, raising everyone's living standards.
However, this approach presus that the money collected would be genuinely used to subsidize the poor. To achieve this effect, Gotham's future mayors would have to be upright enough.
At this mont, Shiller suddenly realized the key point. The pale knight deliberately set the tax threshold so low to include himself.
He wasn't afraid to pay taxes because they are crucial for maintaining social welfare. But if he ever found out that the taxes he paid were embezzled instead of being used correctly, the mayor might as well start choosing the lakeside seat he prefers.
Truly a clever ga of using the tiger to swallow the wolf.
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