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Español Valentino Rossi yes, Philip Morris no.
Vincenzo Visco, Finance Minister of the center-left government of Romano Prodi
"Coglione": is a very vulgar term, today commonly used in Italy, recently also in the political field.
"I am a fan of his, but the Law is the same for everyone”, said Vincenzo Visco, current Finance Minister of the Italian Government; he was referring to the report on the tax evasion of Valentino Rossi. The motorcycle champion allegedly hid 60 million euro of taxable income from the Internal Revenue Agency.
However, when the Managing Director of the State Monopoly, Ernesto Del Gizzo sent a report on the tax evasion of Philip Morris (60,591 billion old lire equal to about 30 billion euro) for the period from 1975 to 1995, Minister Visco's reaction was:
“Your claims are seriously incautious”. Why didn't Visco say: "I smoke Marlboros, but the Law is the same for everyone"? Read more »
