Sometimes it’s best to be inconspicuous. That’s definitely the case if you’re doing something that’s illegal. From Bergamo, Italy comes the story of an unidentified Italian man who loved his Ferrari F131. Even in Italy that’s a car that will get you noticed. Unfortunately for that Italian, members of La Guardia di Finanza (the Italian Finance Police) happen to see the car one day this past January. They traced the license to the man and pulled up his tax return.
It was all zeroes.
Needless to say, the Finance Police wondered where he got the money for such an expensive car. It turned out the man was a director and legal representative for various companies. And those companies had very high costs and very low revenues from 2007 to 2010. That allegedly cost the Italian government something like €3 million.
The man, who also piloted high-speed racing boats, had two other expensive cars that he leased: a Hummer and a Dodge luxury vehicle. All-in-all it was a lot of conspicuous consumption without paying taxes. He’s been arrested. If the allegations against him are proven, he’s looking at spending some time in prison, fines, and paying the back taxes.
Sometimes it’s best not to flaunt it.
News Story: English (UPI), Italian
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The economist had an article not to long ago about the same thing.
Sounds like a big problem in italy.