New Gods of North America

After handing the extraordinary materials he brought back to Ineisha,

Wayne walked through the detective agency's courtyard, feeling that the amount of renovation work had increased again.

Several cabins had been destroyed, and Lina and Emma now had to temporarily move into the office.

Some facilities could be added near the large warehouse, making it easier to climb, shoot, or vault over walls in the future.

The river behind the detective agency had been preliminarily controlled.

Sanders and the agents had set up several fine nets in the river. They might not catch anything, but the strength of a large mammal should be able to pull away the wooden strips on the shore, which would then trigger the alarm device and cause the iron bucket to fall and make noise.

New results were out again, and Seth and Emma were caught to do math problems.

The lottery on the "first duel's outcome" finally reached a round number, with a total of 5,000 tickets sold at 10 cents each, for a total of $500, accounting for just over 23% of the first batch of sales.

The prize money was 70% of the corresponding sales, which was $350.

Tickets for Wayne's victory totaled 1,893, which meant each winning ticket was worth 18 cents, a return of 80%. The remaining odd cents were put into the "How many duels will Wayne win?" prize pool.

In absolute terms, it was difficult to get rich. If you bought a small amount, it would be enough for a drink at the bar.

Wayne remembered that Simon Sherman bought 200 tickets in one go—mainly because Wayne couldn't sign them all, so he limited him—allowing him to earn an extra $16.

This amount might be two weeks' salary for ordinary wage earners, but for the wealthy, it wasn't even enough to buy a Double Eagle gold coin; it was just a show of support.

When the results came out, some agents regretted not being able to participate in the lottery, as they could have made a profit.

Unfortunately, due to the need to avoid suspicion and limited production capacity, the members of the detective agency didn't have this opportunity.

Letters from the mayor and Little Taylor arrived again.

Little Taylor's letter was about more mundane matters, mentioning that more and more people were passing through Black Rock Town recently, and there were also many gold diggers digging around the town.

Some people seemed to really regard the West as a complete "lawless land," making a lot of jokes and keeping the police station's iron cage and the town's gallows busy lately.

In his reply, Wayne specifically asked about his home situation. If Ineisha's previous "equipment" was still there, he could consider having Pastor Huck send someone to take it to the church, as matters concerning the church and the Exorcist Association should theoretically be managed by the local pastor.

The matters the mayor talked about were more significant. The proposal for Kanx State to formally establish itself as a state was being negotiated.

He was considering trying to get "Wichita," as Black Rock Town would be named after it became a city, to be the state capital of Kanx State, but this involved ceding land and giving up revenue, which needed to be carefully considered.

The selection of state capitals in the American Federation usually follows one of several patterns.

Before the invention of the steam train, the most theoretically "correct" way was to choose the "geographic center" of the state, so that people from all over the state could travel to the capital relatively conveniently, a reason that was beyond reproach.

A relatively convenient method was to choose a currently prosperous large city, as the wealthiest and most influential people would mostly live there or have businesses there. However, the construction of state government office space required expenses and land, so it depended on who was willing to pay.

If that didn't work, they could choose a piece of "unowned" land and start planning from scratch, so that no one had an advantage and everyone started from zero.

Black Rock Town's location could barely be considered near the "geographic center," but it wasn't really very central.

If they gave up the competition, someone was willing to invest in accelerating the construction of the steam train line to Black Rock Town.

Wayne had no opinion on this. The state capital of America was mainly where the state government offices were and where the congressmen held meetings, and its economic contribution to the local area was usually not very large. On the contrary, it might have side effects.

For example, in promoting some matters that were beneficial to the local area, many unrelated people would interfere and take the opportunity to cut the cake.

So he said that he would respect the decisions of the mayor and the congressmen, and anything was fine.

Reading on, the mayor gave Wayne a "dramatic pause."

—After Black Rock Town officially became a city and was renamed "Wichita," it would begin to levy «property taxes».

In this era, the American Federation had not yet begun to levy the so-called "income tax," and the "strongest tax department on Earth" that Wayne was familiar with in modern society had not yet been born.

But the American property tax had already begun to be levied.

The so-called "property tax" refers to taxes on "movable property" and "immovable property," of which the most concerning and familiar part is the famous "land tax" and "property tax."

If we roughly divide it, in this era, "land tax" can be simply and crudely divided into two types:

One is the fee for purchasing "undeveloped land" from the federal government, which is very cheap. Many landlords own large tracts of land in this way.

The other is the land occupation/use tax collected by local governments, which is the so-called "big head."

Generally speaking, even if they are both "landlords,"

the net worth of a landlord whose land is located in a "prosperous state" is considered to be much higher than that of a landlord "who owns the same area of land in the West."

The reason is that the prices and taxes of "barren land" and "cultivated land" are not equal.

Land and real estate in the American Federation are said to have so-called "permanent property rights," but in fact, they should be called "long-term property rights."

Owners of land and real estate need to pay corresponding taxes to the "local government" every year, otherwise they will be "forcibly recovered."

The logic is that the local government and the people have made "efforts" to increase the value of a piece of land, and the "expenditure" of individuals occupying the corresponding land needs to be increased accordingly. If they cannot pay, America is big, please move elsewhere.

If the land price of a piece of land, such as a community, rises, then the land tax and property tax of all residents in the community will rise.

If some families' income cannot keep up with the rise in land prices and house prices, they will gradually be unable to pay the corresponding taxes, so they can only move out, or wait to have the corresponding land or housing property rights confiscated.

This forms the common population migration and flow in the American Federation.

Wealthy communities pay more taxes, and the corresponding supporting facilities and living environment are better, and the land and houses are more expensive.

The original residents who gradually cannot afford to pay the taxes can only move out actively or passively, allowing people who can afford to pay the corresponding taxes to join the community.

Land for residential use is like this, and other more valuable land is even stricter.

Taking the land under Wayne's name as an example, if property taxes are collected after the city is built, it will be an expense that is not too small and will increase year by year...

Oh my god,

when I return to Black Rock Town again, will those lands no longer belong to me?

Fortunately, the mayor still has a way. In order to commemorate those who have contributed to the development of Black Rock Town,

he and the congressmen have specially prepared a bill to provide certain tax exemption years and amounts to families who have "played a huge role in the establishment and construction of the town," "originally lived in Black Rock Town for a long time," or "whose family members have held public office."

In name, it benefits all the existing townspeople.

Wayne's family is considered one of the "founders" of the town, and with Uncle Benjamin, the years that family members have held public office are not short. For the time being, we don't have to worry about the land being confiscated for the next few decades...