I’m not a fashion snob. But even I have heard of Dolce and Gabbana, the Italian fashion powerhouse. So the news that Dolce and Gabbana are accused of evading income tax on €1 Billion of income ($1.324 Billion) should be really big news.
According to the UK Guardian the alleged tax fraud stems from funneling royalties to a company in Luxembourg. Luxembourg has a much lower income tax rate than Italy, and the prosecutor alleges that led to €616 Million of the possible tax evasion. (It’s unclear from the article what are the alleged causes of the other €384 Million of income where tax wasn’t paid.)
What is clear from the article is that the Italian newspapers more or less ignored the story, and Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana (the principals behind Dolce and Gabbana) are escaping the probable negative publicity that normally accompanies such charges. Whether this turns out to be the Italian tax evasion case of the century will have to wait until Italian justice is served.
Tags: Dolce&Gabbana