Chapter 1965 - Tax Agency

The personnel system would continue implementing Lingao's examination-based evaluation methodology while prioritizing front-line and operational staff. Alongside enhanced front-line subsidies, personnel exchanges would be strengthened. Newcomers would invariably begin in tax administrator and front-desk collection positions. Only after achieving "competent" ratings or higher in both roles and completing requisite years of service could they transition to agency work.

Following the plan agreed upon with Ai Zhixin, Wang Qiyi reorganized Finance and Tax Bureau personnel after completing the post-resumption comprehensive examination. Excluding fewer than ten logistics staff and employees tragically lost during the plague, the Bureau now counted seventy-eight operational personnel. Adhering to the principle of mixed veteran-novice groupings, they were divided into eight ordinary teams of nine members each. The remaining six individuals formed Wang Qiyi's personal team. These nine teams would conduct a thorough survey of Guangzhou city, divided by district. Each district would receive cross-verification from at least two different teams. Wang Qiyi's team, besides covering its assigned district, would also conduct spot audits of inspection work in other areas.

"Sharpening the knife doesn't delay the woodcutting," Wang Qiyi had explained to Ai Zhixin at the previous briefing. "We possess considerable data, but I want these people walking the ground, seeing things firsthand. The root of tax collection is the tax source. The clearer and more comprehensive our grasp of tax sources, the smoother subsequent operations will be. We can delay collection by a day, but this foundation must be solid."

Currently, the Finance and Tax Bureau held substantial archival material transferred from Civil Affairs, the Police, and the former Guangzhou Prefecture. Launching tax operations through desk analysis of these materials would pose no difficulty. Yet Wang Qiyi believed effective taxation required grounded personnel and grounded management. Forming work teams to walk streets and alleys served dual purposes: first, to give Guangzhou residents a direct impression of the Executive Committee's new "tax collectors"; second, to gather data through the most intuitive and direct means. Wang Qiyi didn't distrust Civil Affairs data, but old timeline experience had taught him that seamless desk comparisons didn't guarantee truth. Moreover, depending entirely on others for such foundational information felt deeply unsatisfactory. Tax work required its own intelligence sources.

"Remember, the essentials are walking, looking, asking, listening, and speaking." Wang Qiyi addressed the assembled teams at the mobilization meeting. "Walking means reaching every household. Looking means observing every corner. Asking means omitting no question from our inquiry forms. Listening means hearing not only answers but also complaints—whatever they're willing to share. Speaking means publicizing our finance and tax work, explaining to the broad citizenry how the Executive Committee's Finance and Tax Bureau differs from the Usurper Ming's apparatus! Don't fear being verbose, and don't fear mistakes. There are no mistakes—simply record what you observe and hear. What we seek is truth."

The census methodology Wang Qiyi had formulated remained crude even by new timeline standards. But he wasn't overly concerned. Individual household surveys might contain significant discrepancies, but aggregate results across entire blocks and industries would prove reliable. That sufficed. These materials would serve as data preparation for refining tax categories and items, forming the Guangzhou Municipal Finance and Tax Bureau's foundational archives alongside materials transferred from other departments. An additional objective was identifying cadres demonstrating high professional quality and strong responsibility during inspection work for selection into the tax assessment group—building talent reserves for the imminent collection period. As for collection operations, his wife would be leading the third batch of arrivals; those finance and tax students were better suited for such work than current cadres.

"Agreed—I have no objections to your plan." Ai Zhixin set the document on his desk. "We might as well call this operation 'Sharpening the Knife.'"

"Sharpening the Knife? As in 'sharpening the knife doesn't delay woodcutting'?"

"No. As in 'sharpening the knife for the pigs and sheep.'"

Having concluded the first order of business, Ai Zhixin and Wang Qiyi turned to refining the Guangzhou Finance and Tax Bureau's organizational and management systems. Regarding structure, the Finance and Tax Bureau would temporarily handle only tax collection operations. Ai Zhixin's earlier vision proved correct and aligned with reality, so Wang Qiyi made minimal modifications.

The Municipal Finance and Tax Bureau would be temporarily organized into two tiers: agency and front-line. The front-line would establish only a Collection Division (Tax Collection Hall) and Management Division. The agency would comprise the General Office, Collection and Management Division, Tax Assessment Division, Inspection Division, Tax Accounting Division, and Financial Accounting Division.

"Two accounting divisions are excessive. We're critically understaffed—this can easily be consolidated into one division with internal sections." Ai Zhixin felt that with everyone bemoaning personnel shortages, simultaneously requesting additional headcount while creating two similarly named institutions would invite criticism from meticulous if not particularly knowledgeable transmigrators.

"Ah, my Director Ai, this proves problematic," Wang Qiyi tapped his notebook. "Financial accounting manages our internal funds; tax accounting manages tax revenue—the state's money. Combining them invites even more criticism, doesn't it? Most crucially, you've forgotten—in the old timeline, where did party secretaries and mayors visit on the evening of December 31st each year? The Planning and Statistics offices of the National and Local Tax Bureaus, and the Treasury office of the People's Bank. The same applies here for Liu Xiang. He may not care how we collect taxes, but he absolutely cares about tax accounting reports. How about this modification: rename Tax Accounting Division to Tax Statistics Division, and Financial Accounting Division to Finance Division. That should satisfy everyone."

"Acceptable." Ai Zhixin nodded, feeling mildly irritated. It seemed the Wang couple perpetually modified his proposals. Minor details, perhaps, but still vexing. He resolved to stop offering opinions first. "Then tell me, Old Wang—should our bureau adopt a slogan or tenet? Fangshaodi has its school motto: 'Knowledge is Power.'"

"Serve the country, serve the economy, serve society." Wang Qiyi responded reflexively.

"Good heavens, Old Wang—show some political awareness! This is 1635, not 2015. We are a regulatory agency, not a service agency. I propose just four characters: Gather Wealth for the State..."

"Collect Tax for the People?" Wang Qiyi completed automatically.

"Just four characters." Ai Zhixin was simply speechless. "Only the first four. Why 'for the people'? If anything, 'for the Executive Committee.' I have no desire to cultivate a generation of taxpayers in this timeline who shout 'I am a taxpayer' at the slightest provocation."

"People pay taxes and can't even discuss it? Rather dictatorial and overbearing." Wang Qiyi joked, though internally critical: Impressive political awareness. Setting aside that traditional Chinese thinking lacks this consciousness, even abroad in the old timeline, those shouting such slogans were invariably losers—their protests accomplished nothing anyway. Once money enters the treasury, it ceases to be yours. The state collects taxes not through conscientiousness or 'for country and people' awareness, but through the violence monopoly of the state apparatus, legitimized through law.

"We don't say it, but our revenues are utilized that way. Even if only partially, the common people will perceive that we perform better than we claim," Ai Zhixin explained patiently. "If we proclaim this tax is collected for the people's benefit, then falling short subtracts points while succeeding adds none."

"..." Whether taxation was truly derived from the people and used for the people proved genuinely difficult to articulate. Rather than leaving handles for criticism, better to embrace "Royal Grain and National Tax" directly.

"Chinese speak of Royal Grain and National Tax; foreigners say only death and taxes are certain. Everyone understands this clearly—no need for false modesty."

"Agreed." Wang Qiyi had no desire to prolong this particular debate. In the old timeline, he'd been seconded up and down the hierarchy, had presided over operations, yet always hovered in deputy positions. This had much to do with his disinterest in such political calculations and his poor sensitivity to them. Serving as "Vice" Director again in the new timeline confirmed that leopards couldn't change their spots.

Having defined the organizational departments, they turned to positions, responsibilities, and personnel. The Guangzhou Special Municipality Finance and Tax Bureau preliminarily established:

Agency internal structure: General Office, comprising General Affairs Section, Secretarial Section, Personnel Section, Publicity Section, Archives Room, and Cashier Room—responsible for overall logistics. The Archives Room would manage only internal records, not tax archives. The Cashier Room fell administratively under the General Office, though personnel and operations functioned independently.

Collection and Management Division: containing internal sections for collection and management, primarily responsible for overall planning and coordination of front-line collection and management work. Currently sharing offices with the front-line Collection Division and Management Division.

Tax Assessment Division: comprising Investigation, Preliminary Review, Assessment, and Re-review sections, responsible for tax assessment of all taxpayers within the jurisdiction. Whether fixed-amount collection or account-based collection, payment declarations required a tax assessment notice issued by the Tax Assessment Division.

Inspection Division: comprising Case Selection, Hearing, Inspection, and Execution sections. Responsible for periodic or irregular tax inspections of taxpayers and collection management oversight of the Finance and Tax Bureau within the jurisdiction. Inspection methods could include targeted inspections of selected individual taxpayers or special inspections by district or industry. Except for collection operations, all Inspection Division operations could function independently.

Finance Division: responsible for the Finance and Tax Bureau's internal fund utilization and management.

Tax Statistics Division: comprising Statistics Section and Receipts Section. Responsible for compiling tax reports and unified management of tax receipts and documentation.

Front-line departments numbered only two:

Collection Division: responsible for tax declaration and collection work within the jurisdiction.

Management Division: responsible for prompting tax reporting and payment, providing feedback on tax assessment situations, and conducting tax law publicity within the jurisdiction.

"Rather top-heavy," Ai Zhixin muttered, studying the plan. "A mass of leaders at the agency level, while those below do all the actual work. Aren't there too many sections?"

"Unavoidable. We can only favor the grassroots in personnel allocation, and compensation must also favor front-line workers." Wang Qiyi shared Ai Zhixin's assessment of this plan. In the old timeline, he too had felt the grassroots were overworked and underappreciated—especially since his own wife served at that level. But now, responsible for top-level design, he recognized that those agency sections proved stubbornly resistant to consolidation or elimination.