Questão 1054378

• Banca: FCC
• Órgão: SEFAZ-RJ
• Ano: 2014
• Provas: FCC - 2014 - SEFAZ-RJ - Auditor Fiscal da Receita Estadual - Prova 1
• Disciplina: Inglês
• Assuntos: Interpretação de texto | Reading comprehension

Why Is Spain Really Taking Lionel Messi to Tax Court?

By Jonathan Mahler Sep 27, 2013
So Spain has decided to haul Lionel Messi into court for tax evasion, which strikes me as completely insane on pretty much every level.
You may remember the story from a few months back: The greatest soccer player in the world and his father were accused of setting up
a bunch of shell companies in Belize and Uruguay to avoid paying taxes on royalties and other licensing income.

Messi - who makes an estimated $41 million a year, about half from sponsors - reached a settlement with Spain’s tax authorities earlier
this summer, agreeing to pay the amount he apparently owed, plus interest. The matter was settled, or so it seemed. Messi could go
back to dazzling the world with his athleticism and creativity.
Only it turns out that Spain wasn’t quite done with Messi. His adopted country - Messi is Argentine but became a Spanish citizen in 2005
- is now considering pressing criminal charges against him.
Cracking down on tax-evading footballers has become something of a trend in Europe, where players and clubs have been known to
launder money through “image-rights companies” often set up in tax havens. When you need money - and Europe needs money - go to
the people who have it, or something like that. Over the summer, dozens of Italian soccer clubs were raided as part of an investigation
into a tax-fraud conspiracy. A number of English Premier League clubs were forced last year to pay millions of pounds in back taxes.
No one likes a tax cheat, and there’s little doubt that widespread tax fraud has helped eat away at the social safety net in Spain and
elsewhere, depriving schools, hospitals and other institutions of badly needed funds. But Europe is not going to find the answers to its
financial problems in the pockets of some professional soccer players and clubs.
Messi’s defense, delivered by his father, seems credible enough to me. “He is a footballer and that’s it,” Messi’s father Jorge said of his
soccer-prodigy son. “If there was an error, it was by our financial adviser. He created the company. My mistake was to have trusted the
adviser.” Even if Messi is legally responsible for the intricate tax dodge he is accused of having participated in, it’s pretty hard to believe
that he knew much about it.
More to the point, Lionel Messi is probably Spain’s most valuable global asset. What could possibly motivate the Spanish government to
want to tarnish his reputation, especially after he’s paid off his alleged debt? After four years of Great-Depression level unemployment,
have anxiety and despair curdled into vindictiveness?
Here’s another explanation: Maybe this whole case has less to do with money than it does with history. Maybe it’s no coincidence that
the target of the Spanish government’s weird wrath happens to play for FC Barcelona, which is, after all, "mes que un club." It's a symbol
of Catalan nationalism - and a bitter, longtime rival of Spain’s establishment team, Real Madrid.
Too conspiratorial? Prove it, Spain. Release Cristiano Ronaldo’s tax return.

(Adapted form http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-27/why-is-spain-really-taking-lionel-messi-to-tax-court-.html)

O autor do texto

• A. está seguro de que Messi tinha pleno conhecimento do esquema de sonegação de que é acusado.
• B. discorda da decisão da Espanha de levar Messi a julgamento por sonegação fiscal.
• C. acredita que uma ampla investigação dos clubes e jogadores de futebol pode recuperar elevadas quantias de impostos sonegados.
• D. acredita que boa parte da crise financeira da Europa se deve à sonegação fiscal de vários clubes e jogadores de futebol.
• E. não acredita na versão apresentada pelo pai de Messi em relação à sonegação de que o filho é acusado.

Gabarito: B

Comentários

• "So Spain has decided to haul Lionel Messi into court for tax evasion, which strikes me as completely insane on pretty much every level", tradução pelo google: "Assim, a Espanha decidiu transportar Lionel Messi em tribunal por sonegação de impostos, o que me parece completamente insano em praticamente todos os níveis"

• Even  if Messi is legally responsible for the intricate tax dodge he is accused of having participate in, it's pretty hard to believe that he knew much about it.

  
  

  
  

• Complemento com o seguinte trecho: ''Messi’s defense, delivered by his father, seems credible enough to me.''

  O autor deixa transparecer que acredita mais em motivação política do que em razões fiscais para processar Messi, estrela do FC Barcelona (mais do que um time, um símbolo do nacionalismo catalão como afirma o autor). Ademais, as contas do Cristiano Ronaldo, estrela do Real Madri, foram aprovadas.

• Acredito que a C também esteja correta devido a esse trecho -> Cracking down on tax-evading footballers has become something of a trend in Europe, where players and clubs have been known to launder money through “image-rights companies” often set up in tax havens. When you need money - and Europe needs money - go to the people who have it, or something like that.

• According to the text's author, there is little plausible evidence to think that he engaged in tax evasion on purpose. he had relied on advisors to do so, whom wound up doing away with part of the owed amount.

• Letra A – Errada. Pela leitura do trecho abaixo, verifica-se que o autor não está seguro de que Messi tinha

  pleno conhecimento do esquema de sonegação de que é acusado.

  Even if Messi is legally responsible for the intricate tax dodge he is accused of having participated in, it’s pretty

  hard to believe that he knew much about it.

  Mesmo que Messi seja legalmente responsável pela complexa evasão fiscal que está sendo acusado de ter

  participado, é muito difícil acreditar que ele sabia muito a respeito.

  Letra B – Certa. Veja que o autor considera completamente insano (completely insane) conduzir Messi ao

  tribunal por sonegação fiscal. Portanto, fica evidente que ele discorda da decisão da Espanha de levar

  Messi a julgamento por sonegação fiscal.

  So Spain has decided to haul Lionel Messi into court for tax evasion, which strikes me as completely insane

  on pretty much every level.

  Então, a Espanha decidiu conduzir Lionel Messi ao tribunal em razão de sonegação fiscal, o que me parece

  completamente insano em praticamente todos os níveis.

  Letra C – Errada. Pela leitura do texto, percebe-se que o autor não acredita que uma ampla investigação

  dos clubes e jogadores de futebol pode recuperar elevadas quantias de impostos sonegados. Pelo

  contrário, o autor afirma que a Europa não resolverá seus problemas financeiros nos bolsos de alguns

  jogadores de futebol profissionais e clubes.

  But Europe is not going to find the answers to its financial problems in the pockets of some professional soccer

  players and clubs.

  No entanto, a Europa não vai encontrar as respostas para seus problemas financeiros nos bolsos de alguns

  jogadores de futebol profissionais e clubes.

  Letra D – Errada. O autor não afirma que boa parte da crise financeira da Europa se deve à sonegação

  fiscal de vários clubes e jogadores de futebol. Ele menciona que a fraude fiscal generalizada (widespread

  tax fraud) contribuiu para a crise.

  No one likes a tax cheat, and there’s little doubt that widespread tax fraud has helped eat away at the social

  safety net in Spain and elsewhere, depriving schools, hospitals and other institutions of badly needed funds.

  Ninguém gosta de fraude tributária e não há dúvida de que a fraude fiscal generalizada ajudou a corroer

  a rede de segurança social na Espanha e em outros lugares, privando escolas, hospitais e outras

  instituições de fundos seriamente necessários.

  Letra E – Errada. O autor acredita na versão apresentada pelo pai de Messi em relação à sonegação de

  que o filho é acusado, tendo em vista a afirmação de que essa versão lhe parece suficientemente

  convincente.

  Messi’s defense, delivered by his father, seems credible enough to me. “He is a footballer and that’s it,”

  Messi’s father Jorge said of his soccer-prodigy son.

  A defesa de Messi, proferida pelo seu pai, parece convincente o suficiente para mim. "Ele é um jogador

  de futebol apenas isso," disse Jorge, pai de Messi a respeito de seu filho prodígio no futebol.

  Gabarito: B

• So Spain has decided to haul Lionel Messi into court for tax evasion, which strikes me as completely insane on pretty much every level. Assim, a Espanha decidiu levar Lionel Messi ao tribunal por sonegação de impostos, o que me parece completamente insano em praticamente todos os níveis.

  O autor menciona que a atitude da Espanha em decidir levar Lionel Messi ao tribunal por sonegação de impostos é insana, na opinião dele. Assim, é possível concluir que o gabarito é a letra B) O autor discorda da decisão da Espanha de levar Messi a julgamento por sonegação fiscal.