Xia Fei was slightly surprised. Quantum Holdings had always paid taxes according to the rules and had never owed the Federation a single cent. It could be said that a third of the Federation's finances were supported by Quantum Holdings. If not for the large amount of star coins that Quantum Holdings had earned from foreign trade, the Federation's financial situation would not have been optimistic.
However, a large portion of the taxes that Xia Fei had paid had been used on the government's facade. The new government office was made up of sixteen thirty-story buildings that were luxuriously decorated. Each building had as many as twenty elevators.
The federal spaceport in Denver was the biggest failure of all. There were not that many alien spaceships on Earth, yet the federal government had spent hundreds of billions to build a huge but useless spaceport. The last time Xia Fei visited the place, he was the only guest in the entire airport.
Extravagance and wastage were the norm, recklessly spending the taxpayers' money. These were all indisputable evidence of the Federation's crimes, and now that they were actually trying to fish for profits from Quantum Holdings, Xia Fei was absolutely not going to let this go.
Xia Fei's expression turned ugly as he asked, "What reason is the Federation going to use to levy a special tax on Quantum Holdings? What's the tax rate? "
Andre answered, "Their claim is that Quantum Holdings has formed a monopoly in the Federation, so they're going to levy a punitive tax of one billion star coins. They might even break up the company."
* Slap! *
Xia Fei was furious as he slammed the table.
"Monopoly? Now that the Earth Federation has joined the Pan-Human Alliance, the anti-monopoly law should be applied to the entire galaxy, not just a tiny Earth. Breaking up the company with a tax of one billion? How dare they say that! "Xia Fei was furious.
Xia Fei lit a Hongtashan cigarette and leaned back on the sofa, his mind spinning. Over the years, Xia Fei had felt that Earth was his home, so he had especially told Charlie to pay taxes in full to help Earth get through this crisis. After all, the Earth Federation had just joined the Pan-Human Alliance, and there were many things waiting to be done, so money was needed everywhere.
He never thought that his good intentions would end up nurturing a tiger. Now that the Federation's wings had grown, they actually turned around and wanted to deal with Xia Fei. It was a great humiliation. He had spent every cent to support these politicians, only to find out that they were all ingrates!
A moment of self-control was necessary. Xia Fei was a man, after all, and it was not his style to tolerate being bullied. However, he soon regained his composure and seriously analyzed the current situation and came up with a plan to deal with it.
"There should be quite a few of our friends among the 128 members in the upper house. Think of a way to stop this bill from being passed in the upper house. At the same time, find out who's trying to stab us in the back. Make sure to keep it a secret and don't let anyone find out. I want to get a list of these people in three days, as well as the people behind this," Xia Fei very calmly said.
Andre nodded. Actually, he was very afraid just now, too. If Xia Fei had mobilized his fleet on a whim, it was not impossible for him to raze the Earth Federation to the ground. This was because there was only one capable interstellar fleet on Earth, and that was the escort team of Quantum Holdings' Security Bureau.
If that was the case, Quantum Holdings would lose the initiative. After all, the people did not know the inside story. No matter what reason Xia Fei had, he would become a sinner of Earth as long as he blew up the federal government. Moreover, Xia Fei had never cared about what others thought. As long as he was the slightest bit impulsive, he would definitely do such a thing.
Fortunately, Xia Fei did not lose his calm and analytical mind just because he was angry. It was evident that Xia Fei was becoming more and more mature and shrewd after so many experiences.
Andre smiled. "I didn't come here unprepared. I've already investigated all the information you need."
Xia Fei nodded, indicating for Andre to tell him the truth. If he was a little fox, then Andre was an old fox. Having him in the company had saved Xia Fei a lot of trouble. Before telling Xia Fei about this matter, Andre had already found out all the details and had a preliminary counterattack plan, which was why he had come to discuss it with Xia Fei.
"This matter is indeed a little troublesome, because the one who proposed the special bill isn't a member of the upper and lower houses but President Murati. He has already spread the word that if his bill is rejected by the upper and lower houses, he will use his authority as president to forcefully implement it," Andre said.
Xia Fei furrowed his brows. "Who's Murati? I don't remember the previous president having that name. "
Andre smiled. "You're often away from Earth, so you don't know much about the changes in the federal government. This president used to be the deputy minister of the Ministry of Justice and Order. He won the election a month ago and has just taken office.
"He grew up in the former Germany, so he's half German and half Korean. He's the most sinister of all. At the peak of the election, two of the most popular presidential candidates were exposed to scandals. One of them was having an affair with his niece, while the other helped his son get a huge government contract through the back door.
"It's said that Murati was the one who released the news, and the interest group behind him has been preparing for this for a long time, purposely waiting for the most critical moment of the election to leak the news, completely crushing his opponents in one fell swoop. In the end, it was the unpopular candidate who was elected, shocking all the critics," Andre explained.
Xia Fei nodded. "To be able to hide such important evidence for so long and only release it at the most critical moment, it's obvious that this person is very shrewd and sinister. Still, the two candidates didn't lose out. Who asked them to do such shady things behind the scenes?"
Andre laughed. "Not many of these politicians are clean. It's hard to imagine the darkness behind many famous people. It's just that the interest group is taking care of them in the dark, so there are many things that the people don't know."
Xia Fei thought for a while and said, "Only a small number of people know the truth. There's a saying that the eyes of the masses are as clear as snow, but I don't agree with it. The eyes of the masses are never clear, because they don't have the chance to see everything behind them. They can only speculate based on what they see on the surface. By the way, who are the people behind Murati?"
Andre answered, "His background is quite complicated. It's mainly made up of Koreans and Italians. The former provides the money, while the latter is in charge of covert operations. Though the mafia isn't as powerful as it used to be, it still plays an important role in the Federation."
"Back when Quantum Holdings launched a full-scale takeover of the world's top corporations, even the stubborn Russians had no choice but to lower their heads. Only the Koreans and Italians were unwilling to join Quantum Holdings. The Italians' businesses are all family-run, so it's easy to understand why they rejected the offer, but I didn't expect the Koreans to be so cunning. They put up a stubborn resistance, refusing to let us get involved," Andre said.
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