Dutch criminal allowed to claim cost of gun as tax deduction

[Preacherman]

Now I've heard everything...

From the Telegraph, London (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...26.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/01/26/ixnewstop.html):

Robber's gun a deductible expense

By David Rennie in Brussels
(Filed: 26/01/2005)

A bank robber has been allowed to claim the £1,400 cost of the gun he used as a legitimate business expense.

The 46-year-old criminal was able to set the price of the pistol against his gross proceeds of £4,700, which he stole in the southern Dutch town of Chaam.

Jailing him for four years, the judge at Breda criminal court reduced his fine by that amount.

The Dutch prosecutors' service said yesterday that the judge had followed sound legal precedents.

Leendert De Lange, a spokesman, said: "You can compare criminal acts to normal business activities, where you must invest to make profits, and thus you have costs."

Therefore drug dealers would be within their rights to claim the cost of a car used to ferry the drugs around, he said.

However, Mr De Lange scoffed at the hypothetical example of a drugs dealer claiming his Ferrari against the proceeds of his crimes.

"No, he would have to prove that he needed the car to transport the drugs and I hardly think he would transport them in a Ferrari."

 

[natedog]

Man, I wish the USA could be more like Europe!

 

[Darkmind]

I dont even know what to say about this.

 

[deej]

That comes out to $2616 in USD. Wonder what kind of pistol it was?

 

[FNFiveSeven]

Given that this is Europe, that's probably the going rate for a Glock. Sucks to be them... I wonder what a Sig 210 costs over there?

 

[Sindawe]

The 46-year-old criminal was able to set the price of the pistol against his gross proceeds of £4,700, which he stole in the southern Dutch town of Chaam.

Why does this suprise you? We are after all talking about a land long ruled by various flavors of Bandit Kings and Kleptocricies.

"No, he would have to prove that he needed the car to transport the drugs and I hardly think he would transport them in a Ferrari."

Why not? Would not a hot Ferrari be better at beating the competition and "negative market factors, aka The Cops" than a rattle-trap Toyota or '80s vintage Chrysler K-car? Sounds like a legitimate buisness expense to me.

 

[shootingdutchman]

I am as much disgusted with this as you are. I can't see any valuable reason for this law to work this way. It seems the law is that you can deduct expenses you used for a crime, because if you wouldn't commit that crime, you wouldn't have had those expenses. It doesn't apply to a crime in progress, only to crimes that are completed. I will talk to my GF about this, she's in law school, maybe she has something to say about this.

I don't know what gun it is he used, but our prices in The Netherlands are about the same as US prices, some stuff is more expensive, but some stuff cheaper. For €2000 (that he appearantly paid for the gun) he could've allmost have bought a brand new Sig 550.

And Black Razor, at least we can own proper assault rifles

 

[homeka45]

Freaking morons, and I'm doing the morons a disservice. Will wonders never cease. Maybe the islamist who killed that dutch movie director can get a deduction for his expenses, after all those were done in the name of religion.

 

[jobu07]

I wonder if we could claim our gun collections as business expenses in championing the cause of the second amendment?

 

[MarkDido]

Although not as bad, the United States does equally "dumb" stuff with criminals.

Several years ago in Orlando, a local department store used to have Dobies guarding the store at night.

One night, a burglar breaks into the store via the store's ceiling, and promptly gets torn up by the Dobies.

He sues and wins.

How many times have you heard of a criminal, or the family of a criminal suing an individual or government agency because of injury / death the criminal sustained?

IMHO, state legislatures should think about passing a law that prohibits anyone from suing for damages while in the commission of a crime.

 

[Drizzt]

Robber's gun a deductible expense

Robber's gun a deductible expense
By David Rennie in Brussels
(Filed: 26/01/2005)

A bank robber has been allowed to claim the £1,400 cost of the gun he used as a legitimate business expense.

The 46-year-old criminal was able to set the price of the pistol against his gross proceeds of £4,700, which he stole in the southern Dutch town of Chaam.

Jailing him for four years, the judge at Breda criminal court reduced his fine by that amount.

The Dutch prosecutors' service said yesterday that the judge had followed sound legal precedents.

Leendert De Lange, a spokesman, said: "You can compare criminal acts to normal business activities, where you must invest to make profits, and thus you have costs."

Therefore drug dealers would be within their rights to claim the cost of a car used to ferry the drugs around, he said.

However, Mr De Lange scoffed at the hypothetical example of a drugs dealer claiming his Ferrari against the proceeds of his crimes.

"No, he would have to prove that he needed the car to transport the drugs and I hardly think he would transport them in a Ferrari."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai...26.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/01/26/ixnewstop.html

OOPS! sorry about the duplicate post

 

[Kharn]

For 1400 Euros, I hope he at least got a decent pistol and not a Lorcin or something. Thats like $1900-$2k at current exchange rates, isnt it?

Kharn

 

[RaggedClaws]

The Dutch are such a wacky bunch!

 

[R.H. Lee]

I'm surprised he could write it all off against one job. A pistol should be good for a number of jobs.

 

[HighVelocity]

I'm surprised he could write it all off against one job. A pistol should be good for a number of jobs

Or even depreciated over 5 years.

 

[Rexrider]

How the heck does someone rationally "compare criminal acts to normal business activities"

So that means a crack dealer is gainfully employed?

Is it just me or is the average IQ of people on this planet plummeting?

 

[OF]

Someone wake me when the world makes sense again.

- Gabe

 

[GunnySkox]

Morons! We're surrounded by g** d***** morons!

[Ranting, screaming, and announcements of unhighroady intent]

~Slam_Fire

 

[secamp32]

Did the 9/11 terrorists get to writeoff

the cost of the flying lessons and the 1 way plane tickets on their taxes as a business expense? Maybe a religious donation ?

 

[PMDW]

For 1400 Euros, I hope he at least got a decent pistol and not a Lorcin or something. Thats like $1900-$2k at current exchange rates, isnt it?

£ = British Pounds, not Euros. 1400 GBP comes out to be 2,632.99 USD

 

[cuchulainn]

Please tell me that came from The Onion or some such site.

 

[sturmruger]

I don't even know where to start on this one. :banghead:

 

[Robert Hairless]

I dunno. It should be relatively easy for a drug dealer to demonstrate that he needs some kind of vehicle to transport his illicit drugs. Without a vehicle he would have to restrict the scope of his business to what he could carry on his person, which is horribly inefficient. I'm not sure that he could demonstrate the need for a Ferrari, though, unless it's customary for other drug dealers at a similar level of business to use expensive cars in their trade.

It's very interesting to me that the citizens of so many European Union countries know what's wrong in the United States and know what's right for it. Those people must be very smart indeed. I don't know how the United States has been able to survive for so long without their participation in its internal affairs. I suppose it's further evidence that God takes special care of imbeciles.

 

[Henry Bowman]

Did Al Capone get to write off his costs of doing business (including legal expenses) against his total gross revenue for which he was convicted of not paying taxes?

 

[Kharn]

cuchulainn:
Thanks for pointing that out, I wasnt paying much attention to the symbol and assumed an article about Brussels would be in Euros.

Kharn