American Strategic Deception Bureau

　In contrast, several people who heard the news came

　Reporters were more active, scrambling to take pictures and interview the new widow Monroe.

　After the reporters left, Monroe forced herself to cheer up and asked Ferry why he came to the town today.

　Ferry briefly talked about the real estate transactions between his father and the Dark Sun Cult, as well as the demolition that the town of Eden was about to face.

　Finally, he comforted Monroe, saying, "Don't worry, ma'am. Your house is near the edge of town. The cult only needs to clear out the block in the center of town. I'll tell them to avoid your house when they buy it."

　However, Marilyn Monroe shook her head. "No, I don't mind them wanting to buy my house. I even hope someone can buy my house. If possible, could you please do me a favor and let them buy my house at a more reasonable price?"

　"???" Fili was completely confused. After a long pause, he managed to squeeze out a word in confusion, "Why?"

　"Because, apart from this house, I have nothing left. If I don't sell it quickly, I won't be able to pay the property taxes soon!"

　Marilyn Monroe sighed wearily, "My daughters and I still have to eat!"

　Chapter 578: Although I can’t get the inheritance, I still have to pay the inheritance tax

　Like many Hollywood movie stars who were once extremely popular on stage but became impoverished in their later years, Marilyn Monroe, the golden goddess of the film industry, also fell into extreme financial difficulties a few years after she got married and retired from the screen.

　After all, gender discrimination is still very serious these days. Although Hollywood female stars are very famous, their income is far less than that of male actors of the same level.

　In the same blockbuster, the heroine's salary is often only one-third to one-quarter of the hero's, or even less.

　Compared to male actors, actresses need to dress up more, buying more expensive cosmetics, fancy clothes, jewelry, luxury cars and grand parties, which makes their expenses even higher. Therefore, it is more difficult for them to save money during their peak period.

　Even Marilyn Monroe, once the president's mistress and a top-tier actress whose stardom was extended for a while by Fieri's intervention, had a net worth of just over one million US dollars by the time she retired from acting.

　Well, that’s roughly equivalent to over 10 million U.S. dollars in the early 21st century, which is less than what Black Widow Scarlett Johansson gets for a movie.

　Moreover, "it is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality". Hollywood actresses often develop extravagant habits when they are at the peak of their popularity. After retiring from the screen, it is not so easy to change back and become as frugal as ordinary petty bourgeoisie.

　How did Hollywood's Pamela Anderson manage to spend so lavishly? Before going bankrupt, she paved her mansion with gold bricks! And it's platinum!

　Kim Basinger bought a small Georgia town for $2000 million, but was forced to sell it at a loss just one year later.

　In addition, there are always people selling them all kinds of deceptive financial products, tricking them into investing in various cleverly packaged money-losing industries, as well as all kinds of strange health care products and luxury goods, which causes these female stars to fall into poverty soon after they become out of fashion.

　Of course, the same is true for Hollywood male stars, many of whom are all kinds of prodigals. For example, the "King of Bad Movies" who went bankrupt again and again

　Nicolas Cage spent a huge amount of money to buy two castles and four yachts in New Orleans alone, built a pyramid mausoleum for himself, and bought a private island hoping to live in seclusion and become the owner of the island after retirement. However, everything was reduced to zero because of Nicolas Cage's broken capital chain and bankruptcy.

　There are even more people who have squandered their fortunes due to repeated marriages and divorces, or who have fallen back into poverty due to lawsuits or failed investments.

　Compared with these younger generations who have been brainwashed by consumerist ideas, Marilyn Monroe was already frugal, and she could still be supported by her husband.

　But the problem was that DiMaggio didn't have much money. Like Monroe, he came from a poor family. His family were just fishermen and he didn't have a wealthy family behind him.

　Although he did earn a lot of money when he was a sports star, DiMaggio only played baseball for a total of 19 years and retired from the field in 1951. In the following 20 years, he actually lived off his savings. At most, he would occasionally play friendly games or attend some parties as a guest of honor to earn some pocket money.

　So, even after these two retired stars got married, they still didn't have much money combined, owning only three houses—of course, this was based on their status. Compared to the average working class, even Marilyn Monroe, with her millionaire fortune, was a truly wealthy woman.

　But with their family wealth, it would be very difficult for them to maintain a high-consumption lifestyle without working.

　Of course, given the help this celebrity couple had given him in his early days, Ferry also did not forget to promote Marilyn Monroe.

　Her "Marilyn Monroe Body Spa" on Malibu Beach was a thriving business, and once quite profitable, thanks to the "magic illusion plants" and youth potions sponsored by Fieri, in addition to her own appeal.

　If she had continued to run this business, she might have been able to thrive in the Los Angeles drug world as a moderate female drug lord.

　Anyway, drugs have been legalized in the United States in advance - or they have never been banned.

　In the current timeline, President Nixon, who was obsessed with drugs, was already overwhelmed by dodging assassinations and suppressing rebellions, and had no time to care about such a small matter as drugs.

　Unfortunately, like many other female stars, Marilyn Monroe was also short-lived in her business ventures.

　At first, she was very enthusiastic about this club, but after she had children, Marilyn Monroe began to concentrate on her family. She gradually became less active in attracting business from the spa club and left it to the fortune teller Zoe. She moved to San Francisco with her husband.

　Moreover, her spa service, which relied on anesthetics to promote sales, was only monopolized for a short period of time before competitors arose. As a follower of the Prince of Lies, Cyric, Firi couldn't just support her friends without helping her own people in the Dark Sun Cult who also worshipped the Prince of Lies, Cyric!

　As a result, the profitability of the "Marilyn Monroe Body Spa" on Malibu Beach gradually declined. Furthermore, after operating costs, the remaining profits were largely taken up by Zoe and her apprentices, leaving Monroe, the hands-off owner, with little dividends.

　Furthermore, as a well-known actress with a kind heart and left-leaning ideology that was suspected of being communist, although Marilyn Monroe probably had no such concept in her mind at first, as she often took drugs, she gradually realized over time that drug abuse was harmful.

　Even if there are no pathological side effects, as long as a person becomes psychologically dependent on anesthetics, he or she will become decadent.

　Therefore, on the one hand, due to limited profits and laziness in management, and on the other hand, she began to resist this "new type of opium den" business. In early 1970, she sold the spa club on Malibu Beach to Zoe, the witch of the Dark Sun Order who actually ran it.

　Next, Marilyn Monroe bought financial products from Citibank and several other banks. In addition, she and her husband Joe DiMaggio pooled money to buy an apartment building near the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, planning to live a mindless and idle life relying solely on dividends and rent.

　But unfortunately, the United States, where the strong prey on the weak, is not France, where there are idle people everywhere. It is not easy for ordinary people to get rid of production and management and rely on "clipping coupons" to become rentiers for the rest of their lives - not to mention, Marilyn Monroe had just completed the reallocation of her assets when she encountered the civil war!

　During the Second American Civil War, New York State first became a rebellious state, then the Red Revolution broke out. The Federal Reserve vault was looted, and then the city was hit by an atomic bomb, reducing much of the city to ruins. Wall Street's financial center was completely destroyed, and the New York Stock Exchange was forced to suspend trading to this day.

　Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio's stocks were all frozen in the stock market and could not be withdrawn at all.

　Their deposits in several New York banks and the financial products they purchased also evaporated physically.

　To make matters worse, when the East Coast was in chaos, small-scale fighting also broke out in California. Although Los Angeles was far away from the main battlefield in the Bay Area and the fighting was not intense, street fighting and civil unrest still occurred, and some people set fires everywhere at night to create chaos for looting.

　Unfortunately, the apartment building purchased by Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio also caught fire. Although it did not collapse, it was burned black and twisted, becoming a dangerous building - this was even more troublesome than collapsing. Monroe had to demolish it at her own expense to avoid damaging the adjacent houses.

　What? Insurance for the apartment building? Of course Marilyn Monroe had it, but the insurance company had gone bankrupt by now. Who was going to pay for it?

　Even if the insurance company hadn't gone bankrupt, it would probably have been difficult to get compensation - as we all know, there are two things that insurance companies will not pay for: not this, not that... and Monroe's apartment building was burned down during the Civil War, so the insurance company could have invoked the "war exemption" clause.

　As for rebuilding on the same site? Given the pathetic efficiency of the California bureaucracy, you'd be lucky to get approval within three years!

　Moreover, in the following period, Monroe would have to continue paying real estate taxes and even property fees for an apartment building that no longer existed!

　Monroe, helpless, had no choice but to put the charred ruins up for sale. After repeated price cuts and fire sales, she finally sold the land at a loss of 15% of the purchase price. Furthermore, the actual purchasing power of the dollar had fallen by over 70% between the time of purchase and sale.

　So, the little money she finally received from the land sale could not even fully cover the cost of demolishing the remains of the apartment building.

　Thus, in just a few months, Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio were suddenly reduced to poverty, as their bank deposits, along with the bank itself, became Schrödinger's cats in the war, leaving the two jobless vagrants with no idea where to raise the money for their daily expenses.

　Although Joe DiMaggio resolutely sold his old house in San Francisco in order to make a living, the proceeds were still very limited.

　His sudden death and the subsequent funeral expenses made the already poor family even worse off...

　——After arranging the funeral for her husband and buying the cemetery, Marilyn Monroe could not even come up with $10,000.

　But the only asset she has left now is the big villa in the town of Eden, and the property tax she needs to pay every year is more than this amount.

　Therefore, when she learned that the Dark Sun Cult was coming to the town to purchase land, demolish buildings, and build large-scale projects, she took the initiative to sell her current residence.

　No way, in

　In the United States, poor people are not eligible to live in big houses! The annual property taxes alone can drive you out!

　Of course, if she really reached the point of desperation, Marilyn Monroe would also swallow her pride and find a way to seek help from her old acquaintances.

　Although Hollywood stars are usually just friends, hanging out together is one thing, but talking about money is another. However, given Marilyn Monroe's status in film history, she certainly had certain privileges, so it wasn't a problem for her to crowdfund several million dollars in a short period of time.

　Not to mention, Playboy owner Hugh Hefner was her famous admirer. As long as Marilyn Monroe was willing to move into his mansion in Chicago (the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills in Los Angeles was not purchased by Hugh Hefner until 1974), she would have no worries.

　If all else fails, as a female "Tantric Master" who possesses "H-therapy" and can cure all men's illnesses by spreading her thighs, Marilyn Monroe only needs to hang up a lewd banner and donate her body to a "special medical institution", and all the men in Los Angeles will be happy to line up to take care of her business.

　However, as a genuine "independent woman" with some backbone, rather than an indescribable creature who begs men for money under the banner of "independent woman", Marilyn Monroe feels that she is not as destitute as those streetwalkers. She thinks that as long as she can sell her villa in Eden Town at a better price, find a safer small apartment in Los Angeles to live in, and wait patiently until the New York Stock Exchange reopens and the financial products she and her husband bought can be cashed out, her life will be better.

　In that case, there was no need to rush to sell her body and face—she was certainly not a chaste woman, but she knew that a female star's body was not something that couldn't be sold, but it couldn't be sold cheaply. Otherwise, she would become a bus in the eyes of the world, and her price would drop, making it impossible to sell her at a higher price in the future.

　However, after listening to Marilyn Monroe's talk about her future plans after her husband's death, Fieri frowned and thought for a moment, then pointed out a blind spot she had overlooked. "Ma'am, I guess you haven't consulted a lawyer yet? Have you considered that before all this planning begins, you'll have to pay a hefty inheritance tax to the IRS? So you have to start raising money quickly."

　"Inheritance tax? You mean, my villa in the town of Eden?

　Oh, by the way, that was the couple’s common property, and now half of it has become an inheritance.”

　Marilyn Monroe blinked her beautiful eyes. "Does this meet the threshold for inheritance tax? It shouldn't be enough, right?"

　"Unfortunately, the US dollar is depreciating so rapidly these days that $100,000 isn't as durable as $10,000 ten years ago. But the inheritance tax threshold is still based on the old standard from five years ago, which is $150,000," Fili replied. "And your villa is worth at least three million!"

　"That's why I want to sell the house so that I can have money to pay taxes!" Marilyn Monroe thought for a while and said so.

　"No, no, no, you can't sell the house until the estate taxes are paid because it's illegal. The rules in the United States have always been this way: you have to pay the estate taxes before you can inherit the estate. You have to inherit the estate before you can sell it.

　Otherwise, the IRS will seal and confiscate your villa, take it to court for auction, and then sell it to a connected person at a ridiculously low price—usually, the price is just enough to pay the inheritance tax. Only the remaining change will be given to you.

　Fili said so, then paused, looked at Ms. Monroe's bad face, and continued to tell worse news, "

　In addition, most of the stocks and financial products you bought on the New York Stock Exchange should have been purchased using your husband's account, right?

　So, if you want to inherit these stocks and financial products, as well as your husband's bank deposits, you must also pay inheritance tax first.

　Even worse, although you'd be lucky if you could sell all your stocks at a 10% discount when the stock market reopens, the IRS will still calculate the tax based on the closing price before the stock market freeze.

　As for those financial products, when the IRS finds you, they will definitely calculate the tax based on the purchase price or even the highest price."

　"Wait, these stocks are frozen and cannot be converted into cash. Why do I still have to pay taxes?" Marilyn Monroe was stunned.

　"Well, even though the stocks are frozen and can't be traded, if you want to inherit them, you still have to pay inheritance tax first, otherwise the stocks will belong to the IRS. Of course, the same goes for financial products and bank deposits."

　Fili sighed. "I advise you to give up the inheritance. Otherwise, after the IRS charges you an inflated 40% to 50% inheritance tax, the actual amount you receive might not even be worth the tax! You'll end up losing money if you inherit the inheritance!"

　For a moment, Ms. Marilyn Monroe was struck by lightning, and her face looked even uglier than if she had lost her parents.

　Chapter 579: Marilyn Monroe also wants to join the church?

　Since ancient times, tax inequality has been a global problem, with poor people everywhere paying taxes while rich people avoid taxes.

　The end result is that the country is heavily in debt and the people are living in dire straits. They can only wait for someone to raise their arms and use violence to break the deadlock and reshuffle the situation.

　The United States, the blue star hegemon, is of course no exception. It has always been a "rich

　People don’t pay taxes, and the poor have no money.”

　On this issue, even the greatest president can only try his best to be a paperhanger and cannot make any real improvement.

　For example, around World War II, under the wise leadership of President Franklin Roosevelt, Uncle Sam's highest tax rate on the wealthy reached 94%, then remained stable at 91% for a long time. However, this doesn't mean that wealthy Americans actually paid more than 90% of taxes at the time—because there were still many exemptions and deductions that allowed the wealthy to reasonably avoid taxes.

　In the 1940s and 1950s, when the nominal tax rate in the United States was the highest, the average effective tax rate actually paid by wealthy Americans was only 42%.

　Doesn't that sound like a small amount? Actually, it's a lot.

　Since the late Cold War, the tax evasion methods of wealthy Americans have become increasingly sophisticated, and the government's efforts to collect taxes from the rich have become increasingly weak.

　In the 21st century, Amazon boss Bezos and "Iron Man" Musk simply did not pay a penny of tax for several consecutive years!

　As for other American capitalists, it is similar. Basically, the richer people are, the less taxes they pay. The rich man pays less taxes than his maid.

　Since the big capitalists in the United States pay little tax, the country's fiscal expenditure can only be borne by the middle class and the poor who are unable to avoid taxes. Then the bloated and corrupt bureaucracy has caused government spending to skyrocket, and the government can only print US dollars indiscriminately while raising taxes desperately.

　In the future, the seemingly considerable salaries of ordinary Americans would usually be immediately deducted by half, or even more than half, by various miscellaneous taxes and loan repayments as soon as they received them. Out of a monthly salary of $4,000, only an average of $200 to $300 could be used to buy food.

　Even this pitiful amount of food expenses has to be cut down on as soon as trouble strikes. This is because commuting, cell phone bills, internet fees, rent, property management fees, student loans, car loans, and so on are all fixed expenses. As long as you don't want to lose your job, you can't save any of them.

　In order to maintain social relationships, some American girls who own cars and houses even have to sell blood to buy two cups of coffee for their colleagues.

　In comparison, it is relatively more feasible to eat less meat and vegetables, or simply eat only one meal a day to save money.

　If the economy were more difficult, these Americans who seemed to have houses and cars would have to go to the alleys and rummage through trash cans to find food.

　Why rummage through the trash? To prevent Americans, despite their vast land and abundant resources, from becoming lazy due to easy access to food, the US government has always strictly prohibited "malicious disaster relief" and "malicious relief." Specifically, legislation stipulates that supermarkets cannot dispose of near-expiry and expired food at will, but must toss it into the trash, forcing the poor to scavenge for food in the trash. This is how the piles of whole food in American trash cans come about.

　At the same time, in many states in the United States, giving food is also illegal, and kind-hearted old ladies are often arrested for giving food to the poor.

　Since even charitable relief is blocked in various ways, how can the rich obediently pay taxes to the country?

　Under their propaganda and packaging, "reasonable tax avoidance (tax evasion)" has become a symbol of intelligence and capability, while paying taxes according to the law represents stupidity, incompetence and lagging behind the times - of course, these are the rules for the rich, and there is another completely opposite set of rules for the poor.

　However, in the United States, not every rich person can easily evade taxes - one must be powerful, otherwise he or she is just a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered.

　Therefore, Hollywood stars, who were nouveau riche with little real power and not very smart, became the main victims of super-high tax rates for the rich and the main ATMs for the IRS to make up for their losses during World War II and the Cold War.

　While the truly powerful gentlemen can bear a nominal 90% tax rate but actually pay almost nothing, the actors can only pay more than 90% of their salary in taxes, so they have no motivation to make movies and only make one or two movies a year and then take a rest.

　Reagan, then a second-rate Hollywood star, once complained to reporters after becoming president: "In the past, Hollywood actors never wanted to make a second film after making one because the tax burden was too high. If you deducted your personal income tax after making a second film, it would be like working for nothing."

　After renouncing his American citizenship and immigrating to Europe, comedian Charlie Chaplin boasted to reporters, "Those who claim I made a fortune in America are deceiving themselves. Three-quarters of my income comes from Europe and Asia, and the greatest 'reward' I receive in America is the income tax, often at 100%. To be honest, I have always been a good customer of your country."

　Before, when Marilyn Monroe was making movies, she suffered from high tax rates. Before the money she earned could even warm up, most of it was taken away by the IRS.

　Luckily, as an actress, Marilyn Monroe had a clever way to avoid taxes: spending lavishly on mink coats. This was a trick that Evans, the actress in the movie "The Dinner Party," used to claim the cost of the mink coats as a work expense. When the IRS sued her for tax evasion, Evans argued that wearing high-end, luxury clothing was a necessity for her work, and her fans loved seeing her bare shoulders in mink coats.

　The US court ultimately ruled that the actors' high cost of clothing was a necessary business expense, but the jewelry could be replaced with fakes and was not exempt.

　then

　Since the 1930s, buying mink has become a court-approved tax evasion method for Hollywood stars.

　For a long time thereafter, almost all Hollywood male and female stars bought mink to avoid taxes. At one point, the situation reached an exaggerated level where each person owned eighteen pieces of mink. It even promoted a rapid increase in the scale of Soviet mink exports to the United States, so much so that even Stalin heard about it.

　——Instead of having the hard-earned performance fees taken away by the IRS, it is better to buy a bunch of mink coats and save them!

　Therefore, Marilyn Monroe, like other female stars of her time, was keen on buying mink, because even if she didn't buy the mink, the money would still have to be used to pay taxes.

　Then, compared to seasonal fashions that are too time-sensitive and will be worthless in a few years, mink coats are obviously more likely to hold their value when they are sold.