American Tax Officer

This has to be a mistake!

Our Newtown District is such a huge area and even with the assistance of public funds, we only managed to gather around 1 million – how could Lake District possibly surpass us by so much!

It must be that their bureau's statisticians got the data wrong when publishing it!

In the midst of these thoughts, the screen controller had already returned from outside and spoke with an incredulous look, "Inspector Keanu, I confirmed it three times with the Lake District Sub-Bureau Branch; their data isn't wrong – it really is over 1.3 million!"

"What!"

Keanu's lips parted slightly, but for a moment he was unable to make a sound. His face was filled with astonishment and disbelief, as though he were transfixed by an invisible force.

Other than him, the other tax investigators, chief tax officers, and inspectors at the scene all wore the same expressions!

The Lake District Sub-Bureau Branch's data wasn't published incorrectly?

They genuinely achieved over 1.3 million dollars in tax performance?

How the hell did they accomplish this!

Impossible, impossible, utterly impossible!

A massive sense of disparity swept through the hearts of all the inspectors from Newtown District as they were not only incredulous but also utterly baffled.

...

Meanwhile, at the National Tax Bureau New City District Sub-Branch.

The tax investigators, chief tax officers, and inspectors here, upon seeing the tax performance figures sent by the Lake District Sub-Bureau Branch, were all similarly dumbfounded and disbelieving.

If this 1.3 million-dollar tax performance were claimed by the Newtown District Sub-Branch, although they would be just as surprised, they certainly wouldn't be shocked to such an extent.

After all, the Newtown District had 'big business and property' and had also received public funds, so a 3 to 5 times increase in tax performance would not be out of the ordinary.

But for this 1.3 million-dollar tax performance to show up for Lake District Sub-Bureau Branch was a bit too ridiculous.

Just how much did the Lake District Sub-Bureau Branch achieve last evaluation period?

Even with Viagra, it shouldn't be this fierce!

Moreover, Lake District and Newtown District's economy and GDP are both on the same level, yet Newtown District barely managed to gather nearly 50 thousand dollars in tax performance during this evaluation period.

But Lake District rather brashly went and doubled their achievement two and a half times!

Absurd, far too absurd!

For a moment, the inspectors from New City District Sub-Branch began to question their lives.

...

Over at the National Tax Bureau Lakeside District.

At that moment, the excitement among the folks had somewhat subsided, replaced by an expectant demeanor.

Having secured the title of Las Vegas Top-performing Tax Bureau Branch, everyone's bonuses were pretty much assured.

So now, the allocation of public funds was what everyone was most interested in.

As previously said, as long as there was public funding, it could be used to bribe informants, purchase information, and such, which for every inspector was a very beneficial thing.

About ten minutes later.

Keanu, who had gone out earlier, had returned and addressed everyone, "I've confirmed with the city bureau, with this sharp increase in tax performance, the corresponding public funds will also increase. The total amount has reached 350 thousand dollars!"

"350 thousand dollars!"

Upon hearing this figure, the nine chief tax officers sitting at the front row had eyes red with envy.

This sum of public funds was not to be divided equally.

According to the National Tax Bureau Black Tax Case rules, the more remarkable and contributing squads were eligible for a larger share of the public funds.

There's no need to talk about Lewis's group; they contributed a large portion of the bureau's tax performance this time, so naturally they were destined to take the lion's share of the public funds.

The remaining smaller portion would then have to be fought over by the other nine squads.

"This time, Squad Seven has made the most significant contribution to our Lake District Sub-Bureau Branch, therefore their share of the public funds will be 150 thousand. No objections, right?"

Upon hearing this, Hector and the other chief tax officers showed expressions of envy, jealousy, and reluctance.

The public funds amounted to 350 thousand dollars and Squad Seven was taking away a third of it – of course they wanted to object, but what could they do, since Squad Seven had the highest tax performance? After all, this public funding was more or less earned through their efforts, so they could only reluctantly accept it.

At this moment, the happiest people were not David and Nisen, but Bucky and the other five members of Squad Seven.

With such a considerable sum of public funds allocated to Squad Seven, once the new evaluation period began, even without the duo of David and Nisen, they were confident they could achieve the number one tax performance of the entire bureau in the next evaluation period.

In short, being part of Squad Seven, they really basked in glory this time.

"Since no one has any objections, then it's decided. The remaining public funds will give Squad One 40 thousand, Squad Two gets..."

Apart from Squad Seven, the remaining 200 thousand dollars in public funds was distributed by Keanu according to each squad's tax performance for this period.

The squads with higher tax performance were allocated more.

And vice versa.

Such a method of allocation also served to motivate the inspectors in the room.

Many had already quietly resolved to strive for more tax performance in the new evaluation period.

That way, if public funds were allocated to the bureau in the next evaluation period, they could naturally get more.

Just as many thought this evaluation period was drawing to a close, and were prepared to hear Keanu say the word 'adjourn' before getting up to leave.

Unexpectedly, Keanu changed the subject, saying, "Sorry folks, I'll need a little more of your time. I just received a notification from the head office. For this evaluation period, the supercomputer at the headquarters has already compiled a list of national data. Let's take a look, shall we?"

At these words, the interest of everyone in the room was immediately piqued, including David!

Before this evaluation meeting had even started, he had already anticipated that his receipt of over 800 thousand dollars in tax performance would likely tower over the whole city.

But as for the national level, he hadn't really thought about it.

Still, this was perfect; he too wanted to see where his achievement of over 800 thousand dollars in tax performance would rank nationally.

"David, what do you think, could our data for this evaluation period be among the top ranks nationwide?"

Next to him, Nisen asked eagerly.

For him, this was indeed something to look forward to.

If they made it onto the National Tax Bureau's national leaderboard this time, it would be visible to the entire National Tax Bureau system.

Maybe thanks to this opportunity, they might gain the appreciation of the higher-ups at the head office and find a fast track to success, right?

Nisen's thoughts were wonderful, but the words that followed from David were like a bucket of cold water poured over his head.

David pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Ranked at the top? That's unlikely!"