Chapter 441

After finishing his business with the district prosecutors, Uesugi Muneyuki activated his invisibility ability and silently headed toward Roppongi Hills in Ginza, Minato Ward.

He had agreed with Mai Shirakawa today to discuss personal tax matters, and his new income had already been sent to her so her financial advisor could handle it.

Although Uesugi Muneyuki doesn't care much about money since his living costs are nearly zero, seeing hard-earned silver taken away like this still irks him, and he also wants to find a chance to discuss inner world matters with her—recent consecutive ghost guest and bulletproof vest cases in Toshima on the outer world have caught his attention, while inner world affairs are mostly handled by her.

Tax! Tax! Tax!

A famous Frenchman once said, our flag symbolizes France's long-standing tax history tradition: blue is the color of our tax bills, white is the color of our faces when we receive tax bills, and red represents the angry expression we make when we clearly see our specific tax figures.

France is one of the highest-taxed countries in the world, having once imposed a 75% "rich tax," but today we won't discuss France—using the United States, whose tax levels are close to Japan's, as an example.

Take a typical example: Stephen Curry, the famous NBA star from the United States, earns an annual salary of 60 million US dollars in his later years, but must deduct 35% federal tax, 13% state tax, and 3% agent commission; additionally, the NBA withholds 7%-10% annually for reserve pension funds.

So while 60 million US dollars sounds like a lot, after reasonable tax avoidance through his agency, Curry actually takes home only 26 to 28 million US dollars per year.

Japan is similar: taxes and various social insurance and medical contributions account for 20%-30% of income, and if consumption tax is included, it reaches about 35%, so excessively high salaries essentially just mean sending money to the Ministry of Finance.

By comparison, China's direct taxes are actually not high—even quite low—but this doesn't mean the actual tax burden is low—the state simply smartly hides many taxes in indirect forms, such as inflation and value-added tax, or the household registration system tied to real estate, meaning it's hard to enjoy public resources, community services, education, and medical resources without buying a home, so people are forced to buy houses, and in reality, 30-40% of housing prices are so-called land transfer fees, which are essentially the same as social security in nature, just renamed and repackaged to be less conspicuous.

Collecting taxes from the wealthy is a world-class challenge.

For example, Mai Shirakawa, as Head of the Kantou Shinai Alliance.

About fifteen minutes later, Uesugi Muneyuki arrived as scheduled at Mai Shirakawa's luxury mansion in Ginza Roppongi.

But today's situation seemed different—when Uesugi Muneyuki opened the door, he was startled to discover other people inside Mai Shirakawa's penthouse luxury mansion!

Who?

In Mai Shirakawa's and his private world, a third person had appeared?

Uesugi Muneyuki stared blankly at the pair of deep red velvet ankle boots with butterfly bows placed by the door, and immediately understood.

It was Asuka!

Sure enough, as he entered, the Chosen Girl, Asuka Saito, bounced into view: "Mr. Uesugi! Welcome!"

"Oh, it's Asuka—I thought it was someone else!" Uesugi Muneyuki smiled, reached out, and ruffled the girl's hair: "Asuka looks very pretty today!"

"Really? Hehehe~ Mai-sister said you'd definitely like it, Mr. Uesugi!" The girl clearly enjoyed his praise, her eyes crinkling as she smiled, then immediately dropped to her knees to change his slippers.

At this moment, Asuka Saito had let her wheat-ear braid side bangs fall forward, her jet-black black hair fully released and flowing over her shoulders; in her frail frame she wore a shirt resembling a school uniform with a cross-twist flower decoration, the chest twist ornament slightly compensating for missing curvature, her purple silk ribbon tied into an elegant butterfly bow, and at her tight collar one could glimpse her delicate, petite collarbones and the Mickey Mouse crystal silver necklace from the Disney boutique, while she wore a deep red windbreaker coat for warmth, giving her a mature appearance.

Her pleated skirt was elegant black, and likely even darker and more eye-catching was the pair of Wolford-style 40D matte black stockings on her legs?

Uesugi Muneyuki likes this, and Asuka wears them for him whenever possible for this reason.

However, the girl has recently felt a bit resentful: "Mr. Uesugi, you've been too busy lately!"

"Asuka, how did you come here?" Uesugi Muneyuki said with a smile.

"Mai-sister invited me!" Asuka Saito glanced shyly at Uesugi Muneyuki, then said softly: "Mai-sister said Mr. Uesugi would come too, and that he also wanted to eat my cooking."

"I see." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded sincerely: "I must say, your casual wear is adorable, Asuka—this outfit really suits you!"

"Hehe, as long as Mr. Uesugi likes it." Asuka Saito revealed a bashful, embarrassed expression: "Please wait a moment—I'll go prepare the ingredients,!"

After speaking, Asuka Saito blushed, turned, and jogged away, deliberately showing off her frail figure and tender legs.

Indeed, the girl's delicate, slender legs paired with black stockings gave her a hint of maturity, and now that she's already 17 years old, she finally has a sense of womanhood.

Great legs, great feet, great stockings!

Uesugi Muneyuki's expression remained steady as he stood watching.

Tsk, Mr. Uesugi's foot fetish, stocking fetish, leg fetish really is……

Asuka Saito felt both proud and a bit resentful, then sprinted away.

After changing his shoes, Uesugi Muneyuki slowly walked into Mai Shirakawa's home; just as he was about to enter his room, he suddenly heard a sound from the other end of the hallway, turned his head, and saw Mai Shirakawa stepping out of the study.

"Senior?"

Upon seeing her graceful figure, Uesugi Muneyuki couldn't help but chuckle and called out with a hint of inquiry—after all, he never expected Mai Shirakawa to have summoned Asuka!

"Junior Student, you're here?"

At this moment, Mai Shirakawa's tall, slender figure wore a yellow-and-white floral home shirt, the V-neck revealing a beautiful collarbone; her snow-white, long neck bore only a silver chain set with droplet-shaped pink jade, the faint pearl sheen of the pink jade utterly incomparable to her smooth skin, instead making her skin appear snow-white, transparent, and crystal-clear like jade.

Beneath her European-style home wool dress, two long, straight jade legs were revealed, her lotus-root-like slender, beautiful legs wrapped in gray transparent stockings; the thin stockings made her pair of slender, fair, long legs even more alluring, her beautiful feet stepping into high-heeled light purple silk slippers, the shoe rim of these slippers very thin, revealing most of the beautiful foot arch wrapped in stockings, a gold-edged butterfly bow decoration on the toe, faintly revealing the traces of ten delicate jade toes.

"You finally remembered me, Junior Student?"

Walking elegantly to Uesugi Muneyuki's side, Mai Shirakawa opened her lips slightly in the red dust and asked softly, a pair of bright eyes tinged with resentment fixed on him, making Uesugi Muneyuki somewhat reluctant to meet her gaze.

This inner world couple hasn't seen each other in a long time.

"Recent cases have been big and troublesome—I can't get away from my side." He explained.

"Really? Are you sure it's not because taxes are too high that you suddenly remembered me?" Mai Shirakawa directly pressed both hands onto Uesugi Muneyuki's neck, forcibly turning his face toward hers.

Uesugi Muneyuki only felt a gust of fragrant wind blow over him; by the time he reacted and lifted his head, the National Goddess Mai Shirakawa's exquisite face was so close that he hadn't even had a chance to speak before his mouth was covered.

"Mmm~" The senior's kiss was domineering yet passionate, and while kissing him, she also wrote characters on his chest.

"Five!"

Uesugi Muneyuki's face turned green—he knew there was no escaping today.

Tonight's guild battle!

Tonight's abyss settlement!

……………………

But we still need to handle the main business first.

In the kitchen, Asuka Saito was preparing dinner for two, while in the dining room, Mai Shirakawa took out a document for Uesugi Muneyuki to calculate taxes.

"Muneyuki, the income you sent me—I've already handed it over to the Black Stone Foundation's financial staff for review; in this, your social insurance fees and income tax as a Tokyo University physician are unavoidable deductions."

Mai Shirakawa calculated taxes for Uesugi Muneyuki: "So calculated, annual actual take-home income: pre-tax 1,200,000 minus social insurance 234,000 minus actual tax paid 167,400 equals 798,600 yen.

If year-end tax filing and supplementary payments are included, the monthly average take-home is: 666,000 yen."

"But we can adjust your current tax situation."

"First, as Head of the Kantou Shinai Alliance, I enjoy exemption from resident tax, so if you declare your shrine religious affiliation as an official member of Uesugi Shinai, I can approve your transfer to Meiji Jingu as a fixed participant in Shinto activities as a descendant of Kenshin Kō, saving you 300,000 yen in resident tax annually."

"Then, you can spend 330,000 yen per year purchasing our Shinto domestic products to enjoy the tax exemption amount, of course you don't actually need to buy them; I can just handle the accounting for you here and directly give it to you, which would also save you approximately 300,000 yen in hometown tax gift supplements."

"Adding one dependent relative aged 70 or above can save 148,000 yen in taxes."

"Finally, I suggest you transfer your financial relationship from your personal account to my Black Stone Foundation; our Shinto social activities and various business outsourcing enjoy national special tax reductions, meaning that of your 5,000,000 yen from the Metropolitan Police Department, only 2,500,000 yen will be included in the taxable amount, reducing income tax plus resident tax by approximately 700,000 yen."

"In other words, after our adjustment, Muneyuki, your annual income can be adjusted from 7,980,000 yen to 9,428,000 yen!"

Mai Xuejie handed the document to Uesugi Muneyuki, smiling with eyes narrowed, and said: "How is it? Junior Student, is this adjustment acceptable?"

"Acceptable? It's simply, fantastic!"

Uesugi Muneyuki looked at Mai Xuejie's financial team organizing the tax avoidance plan, and couldn't help but his eyes shine.

This way, annual net income increase of 1,440,000 yen!

In this way, an annual income of 12,000,000 yen with actual take-home of 9,420,000 yen is completely acceptable!

Paying taxes is the duty of us citizens!

My lover, is this country!

(Chapter End)