Crackdown on tax-dodging taxis (Norway)

Aftenposten ^ | March 18, 2005 | not specified

[franksolich]

Crackdown on tax-dodging taxis

Oslo tax authorities have several nasty surprises for taxi drivers and owners not registering all of their income. The biggest shock is a bill for NOK 12 million (USD 1.97 million) in back taxes for the worst offender.

The case is just one involving 500 taxi owners and 2,500 drivers being investigated for tax evasion, newspaper VG reports.

According to VG, 37 of the 500 owner investigations are now finished and 35 can expect a bill of NOK 1 million each.

Oslo authorities are also investigating possible social security frauds involving taxi drivers who are suspected of receiving payments while working.

The widespread taxi fraud was uncovered in the summer of 2003. Four persons were then charged and Oslo tax authorities undertook a major operation of the business.

According to VG the mastermind was an authorized accountant with prior links to Oslo's tax authorities.

[franksolich]

Hmmm. It seems Oslo is as up-to-date as New York City.

Despite "language problems," I have never had anything but illuminating experiences with taxi-drivers, who have taken me places, and shown me things, generally unnoticed by others in too much of a hurry to get from A to B in the shortest time possible.

Such people have no idea what they are missing.

[franksolich]

Ping for the Norway ping list.



I got a very late start today.

Anyway, among news in Norway that one should watch closely is that the left-wing parties appear to be having some, uh, problems getting along with each other.

But really, this is nothing new; historically, left-wingers split and splinter and splinter again and splinter yet again, which is one of the reasons Adolph Hitler came into power in Germany; all opposition to him was so fragmented it was as if there were no opposition at all.

And the history of the socialist parties in America is illuminating; the Socialist Party, the Socialist Workers' Party, the Socialist Labor Party, the American Socialist Party, the Radical Socialist Party, the Party of Socialism and Anarchy, and so on and so forth (all of these are real names of real political parties here).

If these guys remained united, they could probably mass 100,000 votes or something, but divided, each of them is lucky to get 5,000.

And so "yesterday's news" happening in Norway today.....

[kingsurfer]

ping

[Eurotwit]

Tax dodging taxi drivers?

Now is the perfect time to tell the story about the fight between the Somalian and the Norwegian taxi drivers.

Pity that I am too drunk.

Unfortunately, I am a bit too tipsy at the moment, and I am on my way out.

BTW: You might be interested: Unfortunately, I managed to insult Lizol and gregor something on from Poland. I promise you that I intended no such thing. But, anyways, because of that I looked up the money transfers that Norway does to the EU as a price to stay out of the EU. We pay around 300 million dollars a year, about which 138 million dollars goes to Poland.

But here is the thing: There is trouble now, because the Polish are just taking the money and using it for whatever they want... But, the Norwegian government had earmarked quite a lot of it to go to saving the Bison in Poland.

So, now there is an international conflict between Norway and Poland about Bison.

Weird, how the world turns out to be sometimes :-)

Cheers,

Euro

[franksolich]

It does not surprise me.

The deal is, the guys from Poland who run the Eastern European ping list--probably the best put-together and most-aesthetic ping list on Free Republic--have such awesome talents, but alas the current political and economic situation in Poland does not give them the freedom, the opportunities, the finances, given you and me--but one of course hopes it pleases God that this changes.

This is why, if I won the Powerball lottery, I would purchase an advertising agency, and import all these guys on the Eastern European ping list from Poland, so as to give them the chance to become wealthy, and to make myself even wealthier.

Given our temperaments and personalities, this would be an ideal set-up; I would be the "idea man," lurking in the shadows, invisible to all, while these guys could schmooze and schmalz with the clients--wining and dining the men, being nice to the pretty girls, that sort of thing.....which is of course 99% of the advertising business.