List of tax cheating ProCyclists

[Von Mises]

Also, in most countries salaries and capital gains are taxed differently, usually payroll taxes (taxes on salaries) are higher. It gives advantage to those whos income comes from capital (dividends, stock options) and is disadvantage for those whos income is based on salary (cyclist, most spoertsmen etc).

You ride a very high horse here. Tax laws of the countrys are what they are. You can argue until the sun sets if the tax law is fair or not for a given person, but that discussion would be more appropriate on some accountants forum.

I agree. If we are talking about dopingng, there is a common understaning what is fair and what is not. Not so much with taxes. Taxing is very arbitrary, rules and levels are very different in fifferent countries.

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Many German riders live in Switzerland.

I also understand that a number of Dutch riders live in Belgium as they have tax advantages there, but I don't know the details of that.

Susan

 

[Roude Leiw]

Many German riders live in Switzerland.

I also understand that a number of Dutch riders live in Belgium as they have tax advantages there, but I don't know the details of that.

Susan

If I remember correctly, Belgium and Switzerland (for certain cantons) have a tax law which tax for non national residents only the percentage of your income actually earned in the country of residence to the full extent and have some kind of reduced flat tax for income earned outside of the country, hence the important number of sportsmen, rockstars et.al. living there.

 

[la.margna]

Numerous (current and former) riders live(d) here in Switzerland. Cadel Evans, Andreas Klöden, Oscar Freire, Francisco Mancebo, Jan Ullrich, Christoph Moreau, Cadel Evans, Markus Burghardt, Andreas Klöden, Bert Grabsch, Linus Gerdemann, Thor Hushovd, Stefano Garzelli, Daniele Nardello, Danilo Hondo etc.
However, they actually live and train here. That's the significant difference.

But again, everybody has his own ethics how to look at things. I disclosed mine and stand by it. I just can't stand cheaters, whether they have found a loophole or technicality that excempts them does not matter to me at all. These are my personal ethics. In his conscious, everybody knows exactly when he does or decides something whether it is fair and correct or not.

Our entire society is build on integrity, mutual respect and honesty. The problem is (similar to the peloton) as soon as some people start to cheat, others start to cheat as well. And like in the peloton, the honest and fairplaying guys are betrayed and cheated. And at a certain stage, if egoism and cheating reaches an unsustainable level, such a collective system does not work anymore.

Nobody likes to pay taxes. But for obvious reasons, we just have to. But because (according to a report just issued these days by the www.taxjustice.net so many high income earners cheat taxes (not the one and sole reason, but a major factor), tax rates continue to rise and won't fall. According to the taxjustice net, an estimated 21 to 32 trn (do you f..king know how many zeroes a trillion has??!! ) of unreported private financial wealth was owned by wealthy individuals via tax havens at the end of 2010. So our states were not only deprived of the (varying by country) 20-50% of taxes on these amounts in the first place, they also miss out on three digit billion incomes every year, as the (possible) income on these assets are also not taxed.

Personally, I believe, if every corporate and natural person were to pay taxes honestly and governments could be cleaned of corruption and spending money just to buy votes and ship to (mostly tax-cheating) buddies, global tax rates could be as low as 10-15%. So remember next time when you get the tax bill, that it's thanks to the cheaters that you pay much more then you should. Maybe you might then look at it differently.

The most wicked thing however is, that sometimes the "on paper" most reputated lawyers defend the largest gangsters - the really big fishes, not the tiny pro cycling plancton - making it extremely difficult and almost impossible to catch them.

But luckily, not all rich people are like that. There are some exceptions. I know a guy who built a company from scratch. He is based in an European country. Currently, his company does create an annual profit stream of approx. USD 100m even in a bad year. But in contrast to many others, he does not spend one quid on tax optimising or loophole searching lawyers. He lives by the principle that if you earn a lot, you can also afford to pay a lot (of taxes). Chapeau!

But lastly, let's not forget, that in view of the number of pro cyclists, as I see it, the list of tax cheaters is very, very small. Which is a good sign, not? (Am I repeating myself here maybe?)

 

[la.margna]

Also, in most countries salaries and capital gains are taxed differently, usually payroll taxes (taxes on salaries) are higher. It gives advantage to those whos income comes from capital (dividends, stock options) and is disadvantage for those whos income is based on salary (cyclist, most spoertsmen etc).

Definitely. That's why some "specialists" also try to channel fixed income streams into structures that are packaged and taxed as capital gains (in some jurisdictions even tax free!) etc. Definitely, there are always methodologies, practices and structures for all those cheats... sorry optimisers.

I agree. If we are talking about dopingng, there is a common understaning what is fair and what is not. Not so much with taxes. Taxing is very arbitrary, rules and levels are very different in fifferent countries.

That's unfortunately true.

 

[la.margna]

If I remember correctly, Belgium and Switzerland (for certain cantons) have a tax law which tax for non national residents only the percentage of your income actually earned in the country of residence to the full extent and have some kind of reduced flat tax for income earned outside of the country, hence the important number of sportsmen, rockstars et.al. living there.

Yes, it's called "Pauschalbesteuerung". Although, some cantons for example the canton of Zurich has seen this loophole recently removed by public vote. But that's the reason why so many Formula 1 pilots live here (and of course artists, etc. as you mentioned). Most proyclists probably don't earn enough to get this deal, I think. But still, a "normal" German resident in Switzerland is taxed approx. half the rate on his salary (compared to Germany).