American Tax Officer

West End Police Substation.

At this moment, Adelaide and Bitcher had been brought back.

Meanwhile, Hopkinson and Richards were discussing some matters for the next day with David.

"So, this trial is only targeting Bitcher and Adelaide, with others serving as witnesses and no pursuit of criminal penalties, right, Director David?"

Hopkinson asked with an inquiring look in his eyes.

David nodded and replied, "That's correct, but the punishment for these two must be severe enough to deter the city hall and the officials from the other 17 cities!"

"Alright, I'll have a good discussion with Judge Yvonne about this..."

"Giggle giggle giggle."

As they were conversing, someone knocked on the office door, and Hopkinson had to pause the conversation, saying, "Come in."

"Chief, Vice Mayor Yates from the city hall is here to see you," someone said.

"Yates?"

Hopkinson was taken aback, then glanced at David, and seeing that David had no objection, he replied, "Then bring him over!"

He also wanted to hear what message the city hall wanted to convey at this time.

Five minutes later, a middle-aged man was brought in. He appeared normal when he saw Hopkinson and Richards, but his expression changed subtly when he saw David was also there.

"Chief William, Tax Chief Richards, hello," said Yates.

Yates shook hands with the two men separately and finally came over to David, saying with a smile, "This must be the famous Director David of Nevada State!"

"Vice Mayor Yates, hello," replied David.

[Name: Yates Hernandez.]

[Occupation: Vice Mayor of Sparks City.]

[Income: Monthly income of 16,500 US dollars, illegal income of 25,000 US dollars.]

[Income details: On January 13, accepted a premium tea gift from a businessman, valued at approximately 25,000 US dollars...]

[More details:...]

[Tax due: 3,750 US dollars.]

"Didn't expect to find such an upstanding official..."

After scrutinizing Yates's information through the "Golden Finger," David was somewhat surprised internally.

After all, the man was a vice mayor.

It was quite rare to be this clean.

But though he was clean, he still had some leverage to be exploited.

When the black tax bill was being drafted, the drafting team had already considered this.

Regarding accepting bribes, if officials only sought cash to avoid National Tax Bureau scrutiny, they could still opt to accept valuable items like gold or jewels to evade detection.

Therefore, a clause was added to the black tax bill's provisions that even if one accepted items, they must also be taxed based on market value.

And according to the information from the Golden Finger, the vice mayor might not have taken a direct bribe, but he did accept a box of valuable tea.

So, by the provisions of the black tax law, even if the vice mayor was relatively clean, David could still take him down if he wanted to.

"Alright, since you are all here, I'll just speak frankly!"

After some initial courtesies, Yates got straight to the point in front of everyone, "I know the National Tax Bureau has some opinions about the crackdown initiated by our city hall, but it can't be helped, it's an order from the state government that we must follow, it's not that we really want to conflict with the National Tax Bureau, I hope you can understand..."

This statement was somewhat displeasing to Hopkinson.

In America, the national, state, and city governments basically do not belong to each other, the nation need only take care of national matters.

The state need only manage state matters.

The city has it simplest, just dealing with their own city's issues.

And the three systems are not in a hierarchical relationship.

If your city hall doesn't care about the state government, what can they do to you?

In the end, isn't it still about seeking to climb higher in state government positions?

Although thinking this, Hopkinson could not express his thoughts so bluntly and could only cast an indicative glance toward Richards.

Richards caught on immediately and said, "Vice Mayor Yates, it's not mandatory for your city hall to obey the state government's instructions."

"That may be so, but we are after all part of one system, I hope you can understand..."

Yates was also somewhat distressed internally.

Though they could choose to ignore the state government, maintaining a good relationship was vital for possible future promotions within the state government.

Since the National Tax Bureau and they were not part of the same system, with no promotions involved, that's why the city hall officials, despite knowing they would offend the National Tax Bureau, still mostly chose to comply with the state's instructions.

They just didn't expect the National Tax Bureau's retaliation to come so swiftly and decisively, leading to the arrest of two of their key officials.

Richards, dissatisfied, replied, "Vice Mayor Yates, you're asking us to understand you, but who will understand the National Tax Bureau? Do you realize how much tax revenue our black tax bill is going to lose because of your crackdown directive?"

"Don't worry, I came here to discuss this matter with you. As long as we resolve this conflict, our city hall can set aside the crackdown directive. Moreover, as compensation, the city hall is willing to fully cooperate with the National Tax Bureau in the coming days to allow you to significantly collect the black tax revenue!"

Yates's earnest words managed to somewhat sway Richards and Hopkinson.