American Tax Officer

Keanu replied, "Understood, Director."

...

After the announcement of 'Project Deification', not only the Lake District Sub-Bureau Branch and the Main Street Branch, but also various other major branches across the country were intensely discussing it.

Time quickly reached 1 PM.

At the Lake District Sub-Bureau, inspectors ceased all actions and conversations and proceeded to the 5th-floor conference hall.

David had also arrived there and sat down in the second row.

Only once all the inspectors and the Chief Tax Officers had arrived did Gusin, Megan William, and their group finally enter.

As for William, he made his way to the stage, tested the microphone with a few words to ensure no issues, then addressed everyone present, "Good afternoon, everyone. We've reached our bi-monthly assessment period settlement day. This assessment period, our branch could be said to have reaped a bountiful harvest. Every inspector, Chief Tax Officer, and Tax Investigator here deserves praise..."

After a bit of a lead-up, William gestured to the screen controller, and shortly afterward, the tax achievement leaderboard for the assessment period appeared on the big screen.

The first place was still claimed by Brown Soros, with a tax achievement of 45.6 million USD.

Second was Bellamy Hardy from the Los Angeles Long Beach Branch, with a tax achievement of 39.113 million USD.

Third was David, who, despite not having moved much in tax achievement in the past few days, still managed to remain in the top three with more than 34 million from the Dieter case.

Overall, aside from his own drastic change in ranking, the usual positions of the inspectors remained mostly the same within the top fifty, with not many significant shifts.

"Display the Sub-Bureau tax achievement leaderboard..."

At William's signal, the national leaderboard of tax achievements for all major branches also appeared on the big screen.

There wasn't much difference in the Sub-Bureau leaderboard compared to the last assessment period.

The top five nationally were still the branches from the five districts of New York, followed by major cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco.

It wasn't until the 26th spot that the Lake District Sub-Bureau's name appeared.

Even though David ranked third nationally in the tax achievement leaderboard, that was just an individual ranking.

The current national branch rankings required comparison of each branch's total tax achievement.

Therefore, even if David personally contributed a high tax achievement, it still couldn't surpass the total achievements of the branches in the major cities, which is why Lake District could only rank 26th.

However, once the list was scrolled down, Lake District Sub-Bureau's value became immediately apparent compared to Main Street and Newtown District.

While Main Street Branch was only ranked 113th nationally, Newtown District was even further behind at 199th.

"Alright. Everyone has seen both the inspectors' tax achievement leaderboard and the Sub-Bureaus' total tax achievement leaderboard. Compared to the previous assessment period, we have made significant progress. I hope everyone continues to work hard in the upcoming new assessment period..."

William started to cheer up the inspectors present, then announced, "The major increase in tax achievement this time not only brings an increase in your salary and bonus, but the operational funds have also risen to two million USD!"

"Two million USD..."

Hearing this number, many inspectors and Chief Tax Officers in the room had their eyes light up with excitement.

But David and his Seventh Inspection Squad were an exception.

Because they were well aware that they had contributed the most to the Lake District Sub-Bureau's tax achievement this round, and naturally, the bulk of the operational funds were theirs!

What followed did not disappoint their expectations.

William continued to announce, "Director David's Seventh Inspection Squad, as the team that contributed the most this assessment period, will be allocated one million USD. Everyone okay with that?"

If it weren't for David's efforts, the bureau's overall national ranking couldn't possibly have risen to 26th, and their respective teams wouldn't have had such impressive tax achievements. Therefore, other teams naturally had no objections.

"Since there are no objections, that's decided. The remaining one million will be divided equally among the other nine inspection squads!"

William shifted the topic, saying, "Oh, by the way, the 'Project Deification' announced by headquarters this morning, I believe you are all already informed."

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rise through the ranks. Everyone has a chance. I hope you all put in more effort. Who knows, I might still be your director today, but perhaps by the next assessment period, we could become colleagues of the same rank!"

Upon hearing this, the inspectors, already eager about Project Deification, felt the flames of their ambition stoked even further.

Even though they knew their chances were less than 0.01 percent.

But just thinking, as William said, about the current drastic status difference between inspectors and director potentially transforming overnight into a peer relationship, who could resist such temptation?

Seeing that he had indeed raised the morale of the inspectors, William was quite satisfied. He glanced at his watch and then declared, "Let's not waste any more of your time. This concludes the assessment period!"

"Come with me to my office."

Here, David signaled to Bucky and others, followed the crowd out of the room, and swiftly returned to his office.

And, trailing behind him, Buckynison and the others filed in one after another.

David settled back into his seat, picked up his pen and fiddled with it as he asked, "How's the arms case investigation going?"