Binjiang Police Affairs

Chapter 1488: Chapter 267: Senior Sister’s Grand Opening! (Part 2)

"So your city leaders gave you this money?"

"You’re dreaming. This time we’re bringing in a big project, with the first phase alone requiring an investment of over 100 million. Luckily, when formulating incentive policies for investment promotion, there was no cap; otherwise, proportionally, we’d be talking about millions in rewards."

"There wasn’t a cap, so how much do they give now?"

"Two hundred thousand, the maximum is only two hundred thousand."

Han Yu curiously asked, "Who gets this two hundred thousand?"

Xiang Ning sat behind him and hugged his waist with a laugh, "Mayor Hou just passed by Hong Kong during his overseas investment promotion trip and stopped by to visit. The follow-up work was all done by Uncle Ge and me. Mayor Hou said since Lin Xiaohui didn’t want it, this reward would be split between Uncle Ge and me."

"Half each means ten thousand per person, Ningning, you’re rich!"

"Investment promotion is my job. Getting a reward for attracting business feels a bit embarrassing. I initially said no, but then Mayor Hou said if I don’t take this reward, how will others in the future? If no one accepts rewards, how can we motivate everyone for investment promotion?"

Even now, Xiang Ning felt like she was dreaming. She leaned on his shoulder and laughed, "In the morning, we had a standing committee meeting, and Mayor Hou brought it up again. Everyone said the incentive measures for investment promotion were passed by the standing committee, and since they’ve been implemented, they must be executed. There’s no way around it, so I have to take this reward."

"Does Uncle Ge know?"

"He knows. Today, I just got his bank card number, so when salaries are issued next month, the reward will go to his card."

"Did he say anything else?"

"He said this isn’t embezzlement or bribery, nor is it misappropriation of public funds, so why not take it?"

Fearing that his junior wouldn’t believe him, Xiang Ning continued, "Don’t be fooled by Uncle Ge’s glamorous appearance. Even though he seems carefree, he actually doesn’t have much money. His past salary was spent on his children, and his current salary is used to pursue the master’s wife, even that second-hand apartment was bought with a loan. He’s most worried about Little Siqi now, considering his and the master’s wife’s age. If he doesn’t take this ten thousand yuan for free, it’s perfect to save for Siqi’s future."

Receiving a ten thousand yuan reward all of a sudden!

Han Yu also felt like he was dreaming, even a bit scared, and couldn’t help but ask, "Ningning, what exactly did you and Uncle Ge do for that Hong Kong boss?"

"A lot!"

Xiang Ning knew her junior was frightened by the money and proudly said, "Last time we went with Director Luo to East Guang for investment promotion. After the negotiation meeting in Guangzhou, we hurriedly went to Shenzhen with investment materials. With a try-and-see approach, we asked Lin Xiaohui to help contact the Hong Kong boss, to see if he could grace us with his presence for a meal.

Unexpectedly, he happened to be in Shenzhen, and he was also a Political Consultative Conference member there. We invited Liu Guan for dinner. And more unexpectedly, his subsidiary had a large import-export trade business and already knew Liu Guan. Since they were acquaintances, the discussion went smoothly."

Chief Liu of Binjiang Customs had transferred to East Guang and was now Deputy Director of Shenzhen Customs and Director of Smuggling Crime Investigation!

With Liu Guan putting in a good word, of course, the invitation from Changzhou City would be taken seriously.

Han Yu realized and continued asking, "And then?"

"At the dinner table, Liu Guan praised Uncle Ge highly. He was the former Transportation Bureau chief, an anti-flood model, and had good relations with Ministry of Transport leaders. Uncel Ge was praised like a flower. Previously, when we talked about building the Yangtze River Bridge and the highway soon, they didn’t believe us. But with Liu Guan’s endorsement and Uncle Ge’s assurance, they were fully convinced that Changzhou had promising development prospects."

"And then?"

"After that, Uncle Ge kept in touch with them. I was too busy to keep up, and even if I had the time, they might not believe me because I am a woman and relatively young, maybe they felt I was unreliable."

Xiang Ning muttered a bit, then continued, "Later, they formed a team to inspect our investment environment in Changzhou. I put all my work aside and accompanied them to the ’Bridge Office’ to understand the progress of the Yangtze River Bridge project, and visited the highway construction company and even the railway construction site to check the situation in person.

Secretary Wei and Mayor Hou also took the time to accompany them and invited them to dinner. We initially thought such a large project would take them a year or two to make a decision. But surprisingly, a few days after they returned home, they called to say they’d decided to invest! No wonder Hong Kong’s economy develops so well; they are efficient, and we really should learn from them."

It seemed like bringing in a big project was effortless, but it was not easy at all.

If it weren’t for Lin Xiaohui’s matchmaking, Mayor Hou’s charismatic visit, Liu Guan’s assistance at a crucial moment, Uncle Ge’s expert persuasion, and the fact that Changzhou was about to become the best-equipped district in the entire Binjiang, why would they invest in Changzhou?

Anyway, Xiang Ning really opened up for business in investment promotion!

Her role as Vice Mayor was not in vain, and even if she didn’t achieve anything else during her term, having this big project as a foundation was already better than most officials on secondment.

From the bottom of his heart, Han Yu was happy for his senior sister and couldn’t help but ask with a smile, "Getting a ten thousand yuan reward all of a sudden, what are you going to treat me to tonight?"

"Let’s have spicy hot pot. Sister Ling said a new spicy hot pot place just opened in the alley behind Wenfeng, it’s cheap and delicious!"

"Spicy hot pot?"

"You don’t like it?"

"No, I like spicy food now."

"I’ll order you a beef set."

Previously, a beef set wouldn’t suffice.

But now isn’t like before, after visiting overseas with the navy fleet for more than two months, he was fed up with meat, now he just wants to eat vegetables.

Rather than eating, Han Yu was more interested in how the ten thousand would be spent. He laughed, "Ningning, the light motorcycle has been running for over ten years; wear and tear is severe, it’s always breaking down and too hard to repair. How about we get a new motorcycle?"

"Why replace it? As long as it can be repaired, we can use it. Wait until it can’t be fixed before considering replacement." Xiang Ning thought and laughed, "We’re not like others. When their vehicles break down, they need to send them to the repair shop; we can fix them ourselves. At most, we’ll buy parts to replace, which wouldn’t cost much."

It’s not we, it’s me who can fix it, isn’t it?

Han Yu really wanted to replace it, but hesitated for a moment and carefully asked, "So how do you plan to spend the ten thousand yuan?"

"There’s no ten thousand!"

"Didn’t you say the reward was ten thousand?"

"There is a ten thousand reward, but it’s subject to tax."

Han Yu had never paid tax before and asked in confusion, "Tax, what tax?"

Talking about this, Xiang Ning didn’t feel happy and sighed, "We have to pay personal income tax."

"How much?"

"I asked the tax bureau, and they said if the taxable income is more than eighty thousand, the actual tax rate is forty-five percent."

Han Yu couldn’t believe his ears and asked, surprised, "That can’t be right, there are many bosses making ten thousand a year; why don’t they pay taxes?"

Xiang Ning also felt the pinch and said helplessly, "Others can avoid taxes, especially individual bosses. How would the tax bureau know exactly how much they earn? I’m different. Soon, all the officials in Changzhou would know I got a ten thousand investment promotion reward. If I don’t lead by example in paying taxes, who knows how many envious people would anonymously report us."

The standing committee, the Vice Mayor, must set an example!

Han Yu sighed quietly and, after thinking, asked, "What if the income exceeds twenty thousand?"

"If the taxable income is more than twelve thousand and less than twenty-five thousand, the actual tax rate is about 10%."

"That doesn’t seem right. When I worked in Linghai development zone, I got an investment promotion reward and took home more than twenty thousand once, and I didn’t pay tax then."

"There’s nothing right or wrong; don’t look a gift horse in the mouth! At that time, you didn’t need to pay taxes, not because you weren’t supposed to, but because tax management wasn’t as strict as it is now. You weren’t in a high position then, unlike me now. So many officials and people are watching, and Mayor Shen didn’t submit personal income tax, Linghai Tax Bureau just turned a blind eye."

"So others can not pay taxes, but because you are city leadership, you have to?"

"Let’s not talk about this anymore; it hurts thinking about it."

...

PS: Tomorrow I have to take care of the kid again, stayed up late to write a Chapter for an update, the second Chapter will have to wait until tomorrow afternoon.