Chapter 33: Chapter 33: The Shock at the Major Street District Police Station

The thunderous applause echoed throughout the conference room, and Gusin gave plenty of face, signaling for everyone to stop only after a full minute had passed.

“Team seven, squad two, you are the example that our whole bureau should learn from. I hope that when the next assessment period starts, everyone will aim to match the standard set by team seven, squad two. Okay, next is team eight…”

With the dazzling achievement of over 800,000 dollars in tax contribution from team seven in front, people barely paid attention to the data from the three smaller teams that followed.

It was only after more than half an hour, when team ten’s data had been announced, that Gusin turned to the operator and asked, “Are we ready with the data from Downtown District Sub-Branch and New City District Sub-Branch?”

“It’s all set, the data has been sent over and is being received; it will take about three minutes!”

Upon hearing this, a sense of tension appeared on Gusin’s face.

Likewise, people present like Lewis, Hector, and most of the inspectors felt the same.

Since the introduction of the Black Tax Act, Washington D.C. Headquarters had established an assessment period every half month.

And this assessment was not only within their own bureau but was a joint evaluation involving all three sub-bureaus of Las Vegas.

The higher-ranked and higher-achieving sub-bureaus would receive not just commendations, but substantial rewards as well.

During the last assessment period, because the Downtown District Sub-Branch achieved the first place in tax contributions across the city, all inspectors, chief officers, and tax investigators received a handsome salary bonus.

Moreover, they also received an allocation of 200,000 dollars in public funds.

With that money, the inspectors from Downtown District Sub-Branch could apply to use these public funds for purposes such as bribing informants or purchasing intelligence leads.

This way, they would naturally achieve twice the result with half the effort in the next assessment period.

While everyone was lost in thought, the data from the two major sub-bureaus seemed to have been received. With the operation conducted by the controller, the image on the large screen changed.

Upon opening, the title above read:

‘New City District Sub-Branch Assessment Period Data.’

Looking down from the title to the ‘Total Tax Achievement’ behind the numbers, everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief.

Because it displayed ‘493,000 US dollars.’

Currently, their Lake District Sub-Bureau alone, with just David’s team, had already reached over 800,000.

Together with the other nine teams, the total was nearly 1.3 million US dollars.

The total tax achievement of the New City Sub-Branch was a mere 493,000, not even half of theirs. They were simply not on the same level!

But the relief only lasted for a moment, as Gusin, Lewis, and the inspectors present tensed up again.

Las Vegas is divided into three major districts, with Lake District and Newtown District having roughly the same GDP.

As for the Downtown District, it is the most prosperous, with the strongest economic strength, and the highest GDP.

To say it’s not an exaggeration, even when combined, Lake District and Newtown District barely equal the Downtown District.

The reason is simple.

Las Vegas has over 200 casinos, and just the Downtown District alone contains more than a hundred of them.

Not to mention other hotels, cultural tourism projects, and so on.

And there’s another point—Downtown District Sub-Branch was the one that claimed first place in tax achievements last period, and as a result, they received a sum of public funds.

With this financial boost, no one knew how far their tax achievements could go during this assessment period.

Under the tense mood of everyone, the controller opened the data about the Downtown District. When they saw the total tax achievement listed below, everyone felt a sense of relief.

It seemed that things had not gone beyond their expectations after all.

The Downtown District Sub-Branch’s tax achievement was only 1.03 million US dollars, still a good distance away from their bureau’s total of over 1.3 million.

“Haha, fantastic!”

“Wrigley, extremely Wrigley!”

“Nice, nice!”

When Gusin had announced the data for each team, truth be told, many inspectors were a bit annoyed at being overshadowed by David’s team.

But now, that annoyance was transformed into gratitude.

With their bureau achieving the top tax contributions across the city, firstly, they would receive a salary bonus, and secondly, the bureau would get a sum of public funds.

This way, they could apply to use public funds for the new assessment period, thus allowing for smoother tax enforcement work.

…

While the Lake District Sub-Bureau was still reveling in excitement,

concurrently, at 77 Kegley Avenue in the Downtown District, the local IRS sub-branch was located here.

Just like the Lake District Sub-Bureau, the Downtown District Sub-Branch also occupied a five-story building.

However, it featured a grand porch on the ground floor where four marble columns supported the roof, creating an imposing presence.

The main entrance was a pair of silver automatic doors that swung open and closed to welcome a steady stream of taxpayers.

From the ground to the top floor, numerous windows allowed natural light to fill the building. These windows were neatly arranged, like a series of mirrors reflecting the bustling traffic below.

At this moment, in the fifth-floor conference room in front of the large screen, a blue-eyed, blond middle-aged man with a beaming smile said, “Alright, the data from Lake District and New City District have been sent over, let’s take a look, shall we?”

His name was Keanu Alderson, one of the two tax investigators of the Downtown District.

At his cue, the screen controller opened a document, revealing the title ‘New City District Sub-Branch’ at the top.

Below the title was the data for New City District’s assessment period.

Seeing the figure of 493,000 US dollars, whether it was Keanu on stage or the chief officers and inspectors below, all maintained a calm, as-if-expected demeanor.

“493,000, not bad. After an assessment period of development, Newtown District has indeed achieved significant results. Now, let’s see the achievements of Lake District!”

Quickly, the document for Lake District Sub-Bureau was opened.

But when they saw the number 1.389 million US dollars, everyone’s eyes widened in disbelief, and a dead silence fell over the room—you could hear a pin drop.

Keanu on the stage was also stunned for a while before turning his head to the controller and asking urgently, “Is this Lake District’s data? Are you sure you haven’t made a mistake?”

The controller was shocked too but responded without hesitation, “Inspector Keanu, this is the data sent from Lake District Sub-Bureau itself; how could I mistake it?”

“Call them immediately to confirm, see if they entered the wrong tax achievement!”

Keanu still couldn’t believe it.

And truthfully, neither did the other chief officers and inspectors at the scene—they all found the tax achievement hard to believe.