People in America started by developing the Yellow Turban Army.

Chen Ping'an opened the help post he had made that morning: "I accidentally bought a small town in the United States for one dollar. I may have been ripped off and may have to pay a lot of taxes. What should I do?"

I need help urgently.

For Chen Ping'an, an ordinary college graduate who had graduated less than three years ago, finding a job that suited his major was virtually impossible.

If it were a girl, Chen Ping'an could stay at home and take the civil service exam without any worries, even if it took ten or eight years.

Unfortunately, he was a man.

I remember when he first graduated and came home, he was treated like a treasure. He was waited on hand and foot, and that was no exaggeration.

But in less than three months, his dear parents found fault with everything he did, in short, they were afraid that he would become lazy and useless.

So, my mother said, "Find a job first to tide you over, then slowly look for something better while you're still employed. Young people shouldn't be unrealistic and have unrealistic expectations..."

Then he was kicked out and began a life of screwing in screws in a factory workshop.

His roommates all felt sorry for him: "You're too late to be a college graduate working in a factory fixing screws!"

If it were a decade or two earlier, Dongguan's factories would have been filled with the most beautiful women in the country, and a college graduate like you would have been highly sought after, with no one able to compete with you.

Unfortunately, no girls are going to work in factories anymore. Even though you're not considered a precious person anymore, it would be a waste for you to work in a factory and screw in screws.

You'd be better off going into sales. As long as you work hard, have good communication skills, and college students are quick-witted, you should be able to do well!

Chen Ping'an agreed, so he quit his job at the factory, used his six months' salary to rent a house, and found a job as a real estate salesperson.

then……

Six months later, the real estate market started to collapse. He gritted his teeth and turned to being a rental agent to barely survive.

This is a good era, but for Chen Ping'an, who has only recently graduated, it has been somewhat bumpy.

Work is not always smooth sailing, just like life.

Real estate agents are no exception; they inevitably encounter eccentric clients who can make them feel overwhelmed.

Fortunately, every outstanding college student has their own way of relieving emotions, and Chen Ping'an is no exception.

Just a few days ago, I was scrolling through videos as usual when I came across an American town where the auction started at one dollar.

Hey... one dollar, not a hundred million dollars, it's just 6.8 yuan, isn't it?

In the neighboring city of Dongguan, this amount of money can't even buy a rice noodle roll with meat. What can you do with it?

Chen Ping'an decided to lend a hand; he had no intention of taking advantage of the situation, he just wanted to feel involved.

After all, this is a huge American asset worth one dollar, enough to buy an entire town!

If the deal were to actually go through, wouldn't it cost tens of millions, maybe even a hundred or two hundred million?

When I go out and tell others, they'll say that the starting bid for that American town that sold for tens of millions was only one dollar, and that I was the one who handled the bidding.

He swore that was exactly what he was thinking at the time, and he had no other intentions, since no one expected that a dollar could buy a town.

So, after clicking through several of the website's built-in auction agreements, he paid a one-dollar deposit and then clicked to place his bid: one dollar.

After receiving the notification that his bid was successful, he closed the webpage and went to browse other generous female users.

Then, I put the matter out of my mind.

Unexpectedly, this morning I received a call from the West Coast Law Firm of Ron Law Firm in Los Angeles.

The broken Mandarin on his phone informed him that he had purchased a small town north of Los Angeles for one dollar on the X platform, and the deal was done.

The platform processed the transfer of ownership for him based on the identity information he provided and confirmed.

Then, very kindly, he was reminded that this town was an abandoned mining town with 580 acres of land, 18 buildings, and a mine.

Therefore, Chen Ping'an should pay attention to the property tax, house tax, etc. due each year. If he fails to pay them, even if he does not go to the United States, the US tax authorities may file a lawsuit in his home country.

For specific examples, please refer to the Dai Fa case.

If needed, you can entrust the West Coast law firm Ron Law Firm to handle the matter; they have partnered elite accounting firms.

By the way, a friendly reminder.

The mining town that Chen Ping'an bought was an abandoned mining town. Due to the mining in the past, the 580 acres of land in the mining town were full of gravel and could not grow any crops at all.

Moreover, the stream that used to flow has dried up, and now that no wells have been dug, this town is no longer suitable for living or growing crops.

In this case, the amount of tax payable registered in the previous year was very low. With 580 acres of land, 18 old buildings, and an abandoned mine, the tax was only $4800 a year.

Of course, no one gave it to me, since it was unclaimed!

But now it's taken.

After the property is transferred to Chen Ping'an's name, there may be some tax reduction in the first year, but starting from the second year, the asset value will need to be reassessed and the amount of tax to be collected will need to be re-evaluated.

I believe the amount is definitely not the $4800 it was in the ownerless, unproductive state; it will certainly be much larger, possibly many times larger.

Even if it's a piece of land with no output, an abandoned mining town, or someone who takes over 18 dilapidated buildings that need to be repaired according to California law.

The cost of repairing just 18 dilapidated buildings is a huge sum of money, not to mention the land taxes that will be paid on the 580 acres of land that will not generate any future output.

Chen Ping'an's takeover was like taking on a red-hot, extremely hot silver-plated tin plate; if he didn't throw it away, the damage would be continuous.

Therefore, the advice given by the West Coast law firm Ron Law Firm was to sell at a loss.

In other words, they wanted to resell the land and pay money to the next big scoundrel.

As long as Chen Ping'an can provide an $80,000 transfer subsidy, the West Coast Law Firm of Ron can help him transfer this hot potato, charging a 20% service fee.

After saying that, the person on the other end hung up the phone.

Chen Ping'an was left completely bewildered, standing there dumbfounded, not knowing what to do.

I just clicked on the starting price of a video auction on an online platform because I was browsing videos. Who would have thought I'd end up with such a hot potato?

And it's the kind of thing you can't shake off.

This isn't just a one-time loss; it will become a bottomless pit of losses year after year.

What should we do?

Feeling completely lost, he thought of Zhihu (a Chinese Q&A website) and quickly posted a request for help.

I briefly described how I was scammed in the post and asked for help from the knowledgeable netizens.

But to my surprise, when I came online now, there was not much reaction, only a few comments and replies.

[The blogger raised their pillow a little higher, and the dream ended.]

[Blogger, you're an idiot! Case closed!]

[Has the blogger been reading too many novels?]

Buy a small town for one dollar?

I suggest you uninstall the novel app!

[Just passing by, dropping by!]

……

Chen Ping'an ignored all the comments, even if they were questioning or cursing him. He didn't care, mainly because he had no interest in arguing with people online.

Only the last comment caught his eye.

A person named "Your Soul Doesn't Weigh 21 Grams" gave a somewhat helpful comment:

If what the blogger said is true, then it's true that they accidentally fell into a trap.

There are many bankrupt towns in the US that are sold off at low prices to certain groups of people.

It's quite possible that they'll give it away for a dollar.

It's definitely not going to be anything good!

The reason these items are bundled together and given away is because most of them are liabilities; only when someone takes them over can taxes continue to be collected.

Moreover, the taxes on those negative assets are quite high after they are taken over!

But I don't know much about the specifics of how to collect the money or how much to collect.

However, the blogger doesn't need to worry too much.

The claim that the U.S. tax authorities can prosecute tax evaders in our country is unfounded; the U.S. doesn't have that capability.

As long as you haven't become a U.S. citizen or haven't left the country, there's nothing to worry about.

That law firm is trying to scam you out of money. They're exaggerating on purpose to scare you!

The Shenzhen resident they cited as an example, who called himself Daifa, had acquired American citizenship and had automatically lost his Chinese citizenship, which is why he was sued.

However, I only have a superficial understanding. If you want to know the real story, I suggest you try to find someone you know in the United States and ask them to help you ask.

After all, we are separated from America by mountains and seas, so we don't know as much as the locals!

This comment is very fair and to the point, and it also offers some mature suggestions.

But, should I contact someone I know in America?

This suggestion makes a lot of sense.

What a coincidence, Chen Ping'an actually has someone over there.

My college classmate, Lin Zhiyong, was a roommate who suddenly went to California in his junior year to inherit his deceased uncle's estate.

He invested his inherited wealth over there for two years, obtained a U.S. green card, and now lives in Los Angeles.

Moreover, he and Chen Ping'an were quite familiar with each other, and they would chat on WeChat from time to time.

So Chen Ping'an decided to make a phone call to ask him if what that West Coast Ron Law Firm said was true.

Is it impossible to get rid of that run-down town?

After all, it's not that you can't believe what lawyers, especially American lawyers, say, but you should believe them strategically and selectively.

The video call took a long time to be answered.

Then, a tall, thin face lying on the bed appeared on the phone screen, yawning, with a single tear squeezed out from the corner of its eye.

He wiped the drool from the corner of his eye before slowly and deliberately speaking:

"Ping An, why are you calling at this hour?"

It's late at night, I'm already asleep. Next time, be earlier!

Luckily, I'm single. If I had a girlfriend and you suddenly called while we were getting intimate, I might just lose my erection!

There's a time difference in Los Angeles; it's about ten hours earlier. It's daylight here, but it's usually dark there.

However, Chen Ping'an had no interest in chatting with him about these things. Instead, he went straight to the point. After all, if this matter wasn't clarified, it would be like a cat scratching at his heart.

"Ah Yong, I accidentally spent one dollar on an abandoned mining town north of Los Angeles on the X platform..."

Before he could finish speaking, Lin Zhiyong, tall and thin, was startled on the other end of the video call and instantly snapped to attention: "What!"

Are you out of your mind?

How could you dare to buy into these mining towns that cost only one dollar?

"Do you think your family owns a mine to squander?!"