The monk who sold his Ferrari

[Mariyam]

I've opened this thread in CT because I've come across many posts (by different posters) that denigrate Sachin Tendulkar wrt to the whole Ferrari gifting episode. One may or may not think him to be the greatest ever, one may or may not like him, but to say that he evaded tax/duty is totally baseless. Thought, I'd clear that up once and for all. I had posted this earlier, but the thread got closed before the guys who alleged that Sachin evaded tax could respond. A rough chronology of the events that transpired: - Sachin equals Bradman in # of test centuries and Ferrari decides to gift him a car. Schumacher hands him the keys. - Sachin applies for an exemption on customs duty (1) ( very different from evading duty) - The government grants him the exemption, and the duty on importing the gifted car is waived. - The Finance minister also proposes to modify the Customs Act. Hitherto, only automobiles won as prizes could be exempted from duty (2) - The proposed change is eventually introduced & the Customs Act is accordingly amended. - PIL is filed in the DHC on the amendment and it garners a lot of public attention - With debates (read: controversy) brewing, Sachin declares that he will pay the duty inspite of getting a waiver from the government, just so that the controversy is laid to rest. - Ferari steps in and agrees to pay the duty. Now the fun part; (1) & (2) Sachin wasn't the first cricketer to ask for such an exemption. Ravi Shastri had won an Audi ( can't remember which year) and he had asked for an exemption on Import duty back then. The government then amended Customs Act when the financial bill was passed, and declared that automobiles that are won as a prize would have the import duty waivered. In Sachin's case, it wasn't a prize, but was an ersatz prize gifted to him in lieu of his performance. That he applied for an exemption is based on the previous precedent , i.e Shastri's behaviour. You can hold all kinds of grudges against Sachin's batting, bowling and fielding. But accusing someone of dodging tax/ evading duty is a rather serious allegation. And in this case its baseless. Fact is, that Tendulkar is a breed apart among modern cricketers. Not just on the field, but off the field too. With a near perfect public image. You want to fault someone for the entire controversy, point your gun at the government, not Tendulkar. He merely asked for an exemption, which given the circumstances wasn't wrong at all. I could go on where top notch Industrialists have been gone and evaded duty on machines they've imported into India that has harmed their segment of the market and monopolized trade. Just to highlight the difference.But that'd be going off topic. You say he is seeking a Capital gains waiver on the sale of his 'gift'. Haven't come across this anywhere. Care to share a link. If he is, I think it would be unethical. But I don't think he'd do anything of the sort. The tax would be chump change for him, and he has an image to live up to.

[punjabi_khota]

What a timing sirji madamji :cantstop:

[Sachin=GOD]

MariyamJi kyon gade murde ukhaad rahi hain :D

[ganeshran]

Ponka your posts are moved to the review thread. Please continue the discussion there.

[b555]

Ponka your posts are moved to the review thread. Please continue the discussion there.

you are a mod now? :icflove:

[Vijay.Sharma]

LOL at the Title of the thread. Brilliant!

[Lord]

thats all right,maybe he didnt evade duty BUT HE STILL CAN'T GET A FRIKKING HUNDRED

[rabinjackman]

^ He got 99 duh!

[Mariyam]

LOL at the Title of the thread. Brilliant!

Thanks :icflove:

thats all right,maybe he didnt evade duty BUT HE STILL CAN'T GET A FRIKKING HUNDRED

Getting the 100th hundred is secondary. The purpose of this thread is to refute all those 'he's a tax dodger' allegations.

[Yoda-esque]

This controversy is/was all due to our ignorant media. Nice title.

[DomainK]

Thanks for clearing it up Mariyam. You are the best. :two_thumbs_up:

[Malcolm Merlyn]

Will this view be upheld in a court of law?

[Ram]

Nice chronology of events! :nice: But honestly, anyone who requires a detailed explanation to convince themselves that Sachin Tendulkar did not do anything illegal or inappropriate is probably not worth convincing in the first place even.

[Lurker]

Sachin wasn't the first cricketer to ask for such an exemption. Ravi Shastri had won an Audi ( can't remember which year) and he had asked for an exemption on Import duty back then. The government then amended Customs Act when the financial bill was passed, and declared that automobiles that are won as a prize would have the import duty waivered. In Sachin's case, it wasn't a prize, but was an ersatz prize gifted to him in lieu of his performance. That he applied for an exemption is based on the previous precedent , i.e Shastri's behaviour.

There is a legal angle to this and then a moral angle. From a legal angle you may be right, I personally do not have much information on this nor do I want to search web and just throw some information which I wouldnt know otherwise. The moralistic side is when Shastri won the Audi car if he had to pay for the customs he would have basically gone bankrupt. Do bear in mind this was in 1985 when players made peanuts. Rajsingh Dungarpur, for example, organized a Lata Mangeshkar song event in 1983 after WC success to get money for Indian cricket players, so little they made. Depending on what version you read with all the prize money from won matches an average player made less than 1 lakh. I dont have exact numbers for 85 but the numbers wouldnt be drastically different than 83 WC winning team. To expect Ravi Shastri to make a lakh, if that, or less and pay many times over that number as tax would be ridicilous. He would have been better off selling the car. Sachin is millionaire many times over. He can afford the taxes. I personally do not begrudge him trying to save on taxes. We all do that. More so since taxes do little in India and end up with corrupt politicians or bureacrats, but it is equally true that when SRT had a chance to make a point, he fell on an incident that is 20 years old and by all account not remotely comparable. xxx

[Rajiv]

^^ Good point Lurks, I remember my father saying that how shastri would have to pay the taxes and duties and there were jokes like he should sell it over there. I didn't even know the duty was waived off as well But thus system of duty is way overrated in India anways

[Late Cut]

I am still looking for the monk :hmmm:

[debachat]

There is a legal angle to this and then a moral angle. From a legal angle you may be right, I personally do not have much information on this nor do I want to search web and just throw some information which I wouldnt know otherwise. ... xxx

And that is exactly the point. No one can accuse SRT of doing anything illegal here because everything was done "over the table" and there was no hint of fraud. However, its the spirit of the request that probably shocked people. Does / should a man whose net value is in multiple hundred crores care about a few crores in taxes? Even if 75% of the taxes had gone to corrupt hands - 25% of a few crore is also a lot in the context of our standard of living. But no complains - if he had not cared about those few hundred crores he would have been even bigger doing what he did just sours the things a little bit.

[veer]

Thanks Mariyam madam for clearing it.. this would have been a bad bargain if had paid the tax... it's like you're paying the price (tax) for equaling bradman's record since you can hardly drive ferrari in India..

[Rajiv]

I am still looking for the monk :hmmm:

[vamos_rafa]

There is a legal angle to this and then a moral angle. From a legal angle you may be right, I personally do not have much information on this nor do I want to search web and just throw some information which I wouldnt know otherwise. The moralistic side is when Shastri won the Audi car if he had to pay for the customs he would have basically gone bankrupt. Do bear in mind this was in 1985 when players made peanuts. Rajsingh Dungarpur, for example, organized a Lata Mangeshkar song event in 1983 after WC success to get money for Indian cricket players, so little they made. Depending on what version you read with all the prize money from won matches an average player made less than 1 lakh. I dont have exact numbers for 85 but the numbers wouldnt be drastically different than 83 WC winning team. To expect Ravi Shastri to make a lakh, if that, or less and pay many times over that number as tax would be ridicilous. He would have been better off selling the car. Sachin is millionaire many times over. He can afford the taxes. I personally do not begrudge him trying to save on taxes. We all do that. More so since taxes do little in India and end up with corrupt politicians or bureacrats, but it is equally true that when SRT had a chance to make a point, he fell on an incident that is 20 years old and by all account not remotely comparable. xxx

Yes he's a millionare all right and could have paid it. But, again he's no superhuman to not to look for saving money. Atleast he's not putting his money in swiss banks and not letting the world know about it. And after all, he's married to a gujju lady, so saving money would be an a-priori thing for them :--D