Chapter 116: Chapter 99: Is It Your Turn to Whine?

Gray's expression darkened slightly before he responded, "A blatant attack on the Chief Tax Officer of your national tax authority? Is such a thing even possible? There must be some mistake..."

William scoffed dismissively and replied, "A mistake? Do you think our national tax authority would make a mistake?"

Gray appeared somewhat helpless and after a pause, he said, "Let me speak frankly, Chief William. The owners of these establishments you're investigating have over a dozen venues in the Lake District and other businesses. If they are all shut down by your tax authority, it could result in thousands of people being laid off!"

"These unemployed workers could not only bring instability to the Lake District, they may also significantly increase the demand for welfare and relief funds."

"I've already heard that the owner from the Indian Tribe has realized his mistake. He's willing to pay his taxes to your national tax authority and is even prepared to pay a penalty fine!"

"Chief William, why don't we just let bygones be bygones? This would be beneficial for both your tax authority and our city administration!"

William thought to himself, they attempted to assassinate one of our national tax authority's officials, and it was our most relied upon Chief Tax Officer at that. Could we really let this slide?

Although he thought this, he didn't reveal his true thoughts and instead answered, "The additional cost of welfare and relief funds for a thousand people is something our national tax authority can handle."

Gray's face became thoroughly grim as he asked, "Chief William, your national tax authority might have the funds, but what about our city hall? We are all serving our country; shouldn't we show some sympathy here?"

William pondered for a moment.

After all, the other man was Las Vegas' Deputy Mayor, and it wouldn't be good to burn bridges. If the city's administrative office didn't cooperate or even worked against them, it could obstruct their tax collection efforts in the future...

But soon, he had a thought and answered, "Deputy Mayor Gray, it's not that I don't want to consider the city hall's position, but our Director David has suffered a severe psychological injury. Who will show understanding for him?"

"Moreover, I've delegated the lead on this case to him. He's now a star Chief Tax Officer in our department and even the whole of Las Vegas. It wouldn't be appropriate for me to interfere too much. Do you understand?"

As a leader, the ability to pass the buck was still very important.

What he actually meant by his words was that he was not the one calling the shots in this matter!

Of course, if you can sort things out with David, then there's a chance to minimize the issue!

However, he knew David's character well enough to know that David would definitely not let the matter rest so easily!

And if David wasn't willing to let it rest, then it naturally wasn't his problem as the Chief!

Gray also understood the subtext in William's words.

From the information he gathered from various sources, he knew David could be hard to deal with, which is why he hadn't approached David directly but had instead sought to exert pressure through Chief William to resolve the matter.

In principle, the city hall and the national tax authority were different administrative branches, and generally, there wouldn't be much overlap.

Yet here was the Deputy Mayor visiting him at the critical moment when they were cracking down on the Ditter Group.

Could it also be about the Ditter matter?

"It's like this, these past few days..."

Gray repeated what he had initially said to William.

After listening to Gray's words, David understood.

Although Gray didn't explicitly say it was for Ditter's sake, David could infer his meaning from the conversation.

It was nothing more than wanting to minimize the serious issue to a trivial one!

But how could David let go so easily when Ditter had so brazenly attempted to murder him?

David, dissatisfied, replied, "Deputy Mayor Gray, it's our national tax authority's duty to reclaim taxes and combat criminals. Facing such violence and refusal to pay taxes, and the audacity to attack the national tax authority, if we don't take severe action, how can we deter other lawbreakers?"

"You are right, but the main responsibility of the national tax authority is taxation. As for fighting crimes, I think it would be better left to the police!"

"How about this, our city hall will step in, and ensure he pays his taxes down to the last penny. In addition, as compensation, he'll pay a penalty fine. And for Ditter's assault case, let our police department handle it, how does that sound?"

Gray's idea was good in his own right.

If the national tax authority didn't go after Ditter, the police could arrest him, detain him symbolically for a few days, and once the fuss had died down, they could slowly deal with the situation and the matter would be considered closed.

But he had overlooked one thing.

That was David's determination to use Ditter as an example to establish his authority.

David outright refused, "Deputy Mayor Gray, since when does the police get to intervene in matters that the national tax authority should handle?"

Upon hearing this, Gray instantly became furious.

According to the rules and regulations, the police department was under the direct leadership of the city hall.

Now that David was saying that it wasn't the police's place to intervene, didn't that imply that it wasn't the city hall's place to meddle either?