And the Democrats are pitching.
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Posted on 01/09/2012 10:39:28 PM PST by Olog-hai
ROME—Italian officials combating a national plague of tax evasion hit the jackpot in a swoop on a posh ski resort, catching 42 drivers of Ferraris and other luxury cars who had declared incomes of less than €30,000 ($38,700) a year.
The technocrat government of Mario Monti is stepping up a war on tax evasion that robs the Italian exchequer of an estimated €120 billion a year, nearly four times the value of the prime minister's new austerity budget.
Amid howls of protest from local officials, conservative politicians and shop owners, 80 tax inspectors fanned out through Cortina d'Ampezzo, one of Italy's smartest ski resorts, on December 30.
They have now reported that of 251 "super cars" checked in the Dolomites town, 42 belonged to people "who could barely make ends meet" on declared annual incomes of less than €30,000, and 16 to people with declared incomes of under €50,000.
Some 19 luxury cars were owned by companies that declared a loss in both 2009 and 2010, and 37 by firms reporting annual revenue below €50,000, the inspectors' statement said.
Their bonanza did not stop there. …
Italian authorities are using new weapons against tax evasion including comparing citizens' declared incomes with their bank deposits and ownership of homes and luxury items like yachts and sports cars.
They have also capped cash transactions at €1,000 to tackle another common form of tax evasion—the undervaluing of goods and services. Italy's dentists are notorious for offering a discount if paid in cash.
Special dogs capable of sniffing bank notes have recently been stationed at Italy's borders to detect people trying to smuggle out their savings in attaché cases and suitcases. …
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
Everyone in Europe tries to evade taxes in every way they can think of.
its because politicians who do this to the rich in Italy end up with concrete boots, they dont mess around out there.
This is a lie by the Italians that is being sold by the dirt bags at Reuters. There is no other reason that they are cracking down on cash spending and savings going to Switzerland than to conserve the limited amount of cash the country has access to. They are going to loot the banks to keep their out of control welfare spending going. There are no serious cuts in the bloated size of Gov't there, just new schemes to keep them afloat. There is a new Mussolini in town and his name is Mario Monti. Italy will collapse.
The higher the taxes, the higher rate of tax evasion.
DUH....
If Mario Monti is not careful, he’ll end up like Mussolini, strung up in the square.
This will not help the luxury car market in Italy. ;-) I wonder if they will try this in Greece?
They do have an appointed prime minister in that country, just like in Italy. Who knows what’s coming for them.
You can’t argue the point with technocrats. You can only sweep them out of the way.
I recall a story a couple months ago where it was reported the most popular car in Greece is the Porsche Ceyanne, even among people on the public dole reporting less than $30K a year. This luxury car concept is making the rounds of dying Socialist European countries.
Government's hate competition, and public employees even more. It is they who want to loot the public exchequer, and these evaders are robbing them the opportunity to pad on an extra week of vacation to their already generous six weeks, and if they don't confiscate even more wealth, the public employees likely won't be able to retire at age 40 with a lifetime of public benefits and retirements to float them along.
Once public employees learned that they could set their salaries and benefits with little to no public notice or objection, the looting of treasuries around the world was ignited. I sweep floors, I deserve 95% of my salary for the rest of my life, along with thrice that amount in health benefits for myself, my wife, my children, and even the grandchildren which I now claim as living with me!
Worse are these so called 'disability retirements' where each minor injury counts as a permanent percentage of disability - once the magic number is reached, retirement ensues. I got a scratch on my finger, that's 1% - 85 more of those, and I'm set for life!
Does this mean every public employee is corrupt? No. But every public employee should have their salary and benefits set by the public, not themselves. They should never exceed the salary or benefits of private enterprise. A window drone should pull down the same salary as someone at McDonalds, with the same benefits as well. Anything more, and you are embezzling public funds for personal gain. And honestly, I'd like to see most arrested for this crime.
Both Italy and Grease have EU selected PMs. Their appointments, approved by the parliaments, were required as a prerequisite to getting EUrobucks.
The crackdown on tax evaders is proscribed by EU gestapo monitors to ensure that austerity (government spending cuts and tax increases) is enforced.
yitbos
What ever happened with John Kerry’s boat?
No condemnation of the MF tax cheats in the first 12 comments above...really a sad state of affairs.
You could look at it that way. Or you could more realistically look at it as citizens STOPPING the government from robbing THEM. After all, the money belongs to the citizens, not the exchequer. Right?
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