Italian tax police cracks down on non-tax paying supercar owners

Supercars are a luxury that only a few people in the world can afford. But the flip side to enjoying these exotics is the astronomical amount of taxes you have to pay to afford such fine things in life. Over in Italy, the country’s official tax police, the Guardia di Finanza, is beginning to crack down on tax evaders, particularly individuals that own super cars but fail to pay the requisite tax dollars commensurate to the price of their lavish vehicles. In a report filed by Bloomberg, the Guardia di Finanza began the sting operation late last year at the Cortina d’Ampezzo ski resort, where the agency managed to flog 251 super cars, including Ferraris and Lamborghinis, to check whether the owners declared their proper income and were paying due taxes for the kind of posh lifestyle they were living. Since the first sting operation was done late last year, the Guardia di Finanza has done similar check-ups in a number of other Italian towns, including Rome, Milan, Portofino, and Florence. This crack-down has forced a lot of super car owners who may be guilty of tax evasion to sell their exotics at bargain bin prices in hopes of not getting caught with their hands in the proverbial cookie jar. Italian officials have pegged an amount of €120 billion being lost as a result of tax evasion - that’s $160 billion in our currency! - prompting the government to step in and reign in all the guilty parties who enjoy the spoils of their fortune without paying the requisite taxes that come along with it. Let’s face it: if you’re somebody who claims to make, say, €40,000 a year, yet you drive a Ferrari that costs five to six times that amount, then there’s a very big discrepancy there. The lesson, as always, is that if you want to enjoy the luxury of owning a supercar, you better be on the up-and-up when it comes to facing the tax police. Let us know what you think of the Guardia di Finanza’s sting operation in the comments section below. Will that kind of thing fly over in the States?