A "pauper" is an Italian who owns a Ferrari, a boat and five apartments

The Italian Financial Police confiscated assets worth one million euros from a man who claimed in the tax department that he was poor, but it turned out that he owned a "Ferrari" and a 12-meter-long boat, according to the Italian agency AGI today.

The competent authorities have put their hands on five apartments and six with life insurance policies, bank accounts and various valuables, including luxurious watches and paintings bearing the signatures of prominent painters like Crico, all owned by the 72-year-old businessman who lives near Modena in Emilia Romagna (northern Italy).

The Financial Police investigation revealed the large gap between the income that the man had been declaring to the tax authorities over the past forty years, and the valuable assets that he had accumulated, and some of them were registered in the name of his wife or son in order to mislead, noting that the revenues that he was declaring were indicating that he was on the poverty line.

The difference between declared income and actual wealth amounts to seven million euros, while the man owes the tax authorities more than 12 million euros.

Italy, the third largest economy in the euro zone, has faced a serious tax evasion problem for years.

According to the estimates of the Ministry of Finance, this causes the state to lose 109 billion euros every year.

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