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发帖数: 36302 | 1 Ferraris Out of Fashion in Italy as Police Nab Tax Evaders
Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Police fanned out across Milan in late January halting
more than 350 vehicles, mostly luxury SUVs and Porsches, in a bid to catch
tax evaders. Bloomberg Television's Caroline Hyde reports. (Source:
Bloomberg)
Enlarge image
Italy is No Place for Tax Evaders To Buy a Ferrari Victor Sokolowicz/
Bloomberg
A Ferrari SpA logo is displayed on the trunk of an automobile at the company
's plant in Maranello.
A Ferrari SpA logo is displayed on the trunk of an automobile at the company
's plant in Maranello. Photographer: Victor Sokolowicz/Bloomberg
Enlarge image
Italy is No Place for Tax Evaders To Buy a Ferrari Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/
Bloomberg
The additional levy means that the owner of a Lamborghini Aventador will
have to pay an extra 6,600 euros a year.
The additional levy means that the owner of a Lamborghini Aventador will
have to pay an extra 6,600 euros a year. Photographer: Haruyoshi Yamaguchi/
Bloomberg
Police fanned out across Milan in late January halting more than 350
vehicles, mostly luxury SUVs and Porsches.
At checkpoints, including one adjacent to the fashionable Corso Como, the
police got the driver抯 license and registration, which they passed on to
the national tax agency. The tax authorities will use the data to check if
the carsowners had declared enough income -- and of course paid the right
amount of income taxes -- to justify their lifestyles.
It was at least the fifth raid targeting wealthy Italians since a Dec. 30
sweep at the posh Cortina d扐mpezzo ski resort, where 251 high-end cars were
stopped, including Ferrari and Lamborghini supercars, Bloomberg
Businessweek reports in its Feb. 13 issue. Rome, Portofino on the Italian
Riviera and Florence have also been targeted.
揑抳e been stopped three times in the last few weeks by authorities because
I抦 driving a luxury SUV,says Andrea, a Range Rover owner and entrepreneur
in Italy抯 wealthy northeast. 揑t seems like the McCarthy era in America.
You抮e guilty by suspicion.
The 43-year-old, who declined to give his last name for fear of attracting
the attention of Italy抯 tax agency, now plans to sell the SUV he bought
last May. He expects to get at most 40,000 euros ($52,400) for a car that
cost him more than 100,000 euros. 揇ealers are full of luxury cars. No one
wants to buy them now,the businessman said.
Luxury Sweep
Italian authorities are applying to luxury-car owners the same logic they
displayed more than a year ago, when tax agents started tracking down the
owners of yachts berthed in Italy抯 harbors to see if they were current on
their tax payments.
In the raid in Cortina D扐mpezzo, tax agents found that 42 luxury car owners
had declared income of less than 30,000 euros for 2010 and 2009. Another 19
luxury cars were owned by businesses which posted a loss in the previous
year. The sweep in Florence discovered a builder with no tax record who was
driving a Mercedes with his wife who was receiving social assistance. Tax
officials also found a German owner of a BMW X5 SUV with no declared income,
according to the website of the tax agency抯 Florence office.
This is serious stuff for the government, which estimates that tax evasion
costs the country about 120 billion euros a year in lost revenue.
揟he ownership of a luxury car highlights a level of spending and a standard
of living that are often not reconcilable with the income declared by the
owner,said Carmelo Piancaldini, a manager in the inspections unit of
Agenzia delle Entrate, Italy抯 tax authority. 揑f one is transparent with
the tax agency and buys a luxury car, he doesn抰 have to worry.
Record Costs
The collection effort is part of Prime Minister Mario Monti抯 plan to curb
record borrowing costs on Italy抯 1.9 trillion-euro debt and avoid following
Greece, Portugal and Ireland which all had to seek bailouts.
Monti has also raised taxes on luxury goods, including expensive cars. The
owner of a 316,000-euro Lamborghini Aventador, for instance, will now have
to pay about 8,400 euros a year in taxes, an increase of 6,600 euros.
While tax authorities reject being the cause for a slump in car sales, the
measures are having an impact. Marco Santucci, general manager of Tata
MotorsJaguar brand in Italy, said orders for high-end cars 揹ecreased
substantiallyin the final months of 2011, dragged down by the taxes. Sales
are shifting towards cheaper versions with smaller engines, he said.
Slumping Demand
Demand for vehicles from the likes of Fiat SpA (F)抯 Ferrari and Maserati
brands and Volkswagen AG (VOW3)抯 Lamborghini slumped 53 percent in January,
with just 66 supercars sold, according to Anfia, the association of Italian
carmakers. The new taxes and high-profile dragnets have also sent exotic-
car prices down 20 percent, according to dealer association Federauto.
揈xtra taxes and fiscal raids are hurting the demand for supercars and
killing the second-hand market,says Filippo Pavan Bernacchi, head of
Federauto.
The slump in luxury sales adds pressure on the Italian auto market as the
economy teeters on the brink of recession. Sales may fall to the lowest
level since 1985 this year on the weight of the budget-tightening measures,
according to Fiat Chief Executive Officer Sergio Marchionne.
Luxury Tax
Still, for Ferrari, which earns higher profit margins than any other Fiat
unit, it抯 not the end of the world. There抯 plenty of demand outside Italy
for the company抯 sports cars.
揑taly isn抰 a concern for Ferrari as it sells its cars abroad,Marchionne
said last month in Detroit. Relying on Italy would be a problem, because 揹
emand is not there -- austerity is impacting everywhere in the country.
Monti抯 new luxury vehicle tax targets owners of cars whose engines have
more than 251 horsepower. The tax may raise about 165 million euros this
year, according to Unrae, Italy抯 association of foreign carmakers.
揑t抯 hard to imagine that any other European country having luxury car
producers contributing significantly to employment would have introduced a
taxon supercars, says Maserati CEO Harald Wester.
The government also increased duties on fuel. All told, the extra levies
will cost Italian drivers 5.1 billion euros by the end of 2012, Unrae
estimates.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tommaso Ebhardt in Milan at tebhardt@
bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@
bloomberg.net |
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