India’s star batsman Sachin Tendulkar received a surprise gift to mark his 100th Test cricket match in England today.
Before lining up for India in the fourth and final Test against England starting at The Oval on Thursday, Tendulkar learned he had been allowed to import a Ferrari sports car into his homeland without having to pay any customs duty.
India’s Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha granted the exemption “in recognition for the glory Tendulkar brought to the country”.
The car was presented to Tendulkar by Formula One world champion Michael Schumacher on behalf of car manufacturer, Fiat, earlier in the Indian team’s tour of England.
Tendulkar is making his 100th Test appearance in the series decider against England in London.
Only three other Indian players - Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar - have reached the 100 Test milestone.
Tendulkar had asked the Government to consider an exemption after other cricketers had been allowed to do so in the past.
No doubt that he is great player and made county proud. But there is no point is giving a multi-millionaire custom exemption where poor people are forced to pay there hard earn money in taxes.
he should have been asked to pay tax.Morover ferrari was given to him by FIAT whose products are endorsed by Tendulkar.
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*Originally posted by andha_qanoon: *
No doubt that he is great player and made county proud. But there is no point is giving a multi-millionaire custom exemption where poor people are forced to pay there hard earn money in taxes.
he should have been asked to pay tax.Morover ferrari was given to him by FIAT whose products are endorsed by Tendulkar.
[/QUOTE]
who cares, if they do then this would have not happen.
I agree with AQ. The guy earns enough and should have paid the duty. On one hand they dont want to play for the country because they will lose the sponsorship and mega bucks (even though i support their stance there) and on the other hand they done want to pay taxes to the government, when poor people are given no such exemptions.
I suppose the richer a person is, the more the incentive to save as much as possible through influence and such.
Anyway, Tendu is a great asset for the team. So might as well forego the duty on this car. Didn't they do a similar thing for the Audi won by Shastri a long time ago in Australia (in 1988 or something)? I forgot to track such car-wins by players since then.
I do hope Tendu can drive this Ferrari around Mumbai (or whereever he lives). Usually these sports cars have very low road clearance, which makes them quite impossible to tackle the obnoxious speed-breakers found in the streets of Asian countries.
Ehsan, I don't think Its Tendulkur's choice, if he has to pay taxes etc.
He was rewarded the car by Schumi and the govt rewarded Tendulkur by not making him pay taxes.
Fair deal.
I'm preety sure he donates large sums of his fees to poor, so that should even it all out.
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*Originally posted by UMAIR316: *
Ehsan, I don't think Its Tendulkur's choice, if he has to pay taxes etc.
He was rewarded the car by Schumi and the govt rewarded Tendulkur by not making him pay taxes.
Fair deal.
I'm preety sure he donates large sums of his fees to poor, so that should even it all out.
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Umair bhai read the report, it says he asked the government to consider giving him exemptions.
There is a difference between Shastri's and Tendulkar's case.
Shastri won it as he was Champion of Champion in Benson ans hedges cup which India won in 1985. Where as in tendulkar's case he was given this as a gift by his sponsor. They smartly presented him when he was in India. Assume FIAT choose to present FERRARI to India wouldnot FIAT be forced to pay custom duty when they import that car.
I wont have any objection If Tendulkar had won FERRARI as an award in Natwest trophy. It was a purely business deal and very smartly fiat managed to save millions.
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*Originally posted by UMAIR316: *
Sorry!
But it will be unfair to him if he doesn't get exempted from paying taxes, the other players in the past were exempted he should be as well.
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I dont agree Umair.
A person making the kind of money as Tendulkar does, should, and must pay taxes and duties on anything that he imports. This is just another form of corruption, which is rampant in the subcontinent.
A similar example was cited in the NY times last year, when Alex Roderiguez, a great baseball player, was awarded a $252 million contract by Texas Rangers, averaging more than $25 million a year. On top of that, there was a clause in his contract saying that he would be awarded another $100,000, if he was selected to the All-Star team.
Comment: If you are being paid $25 million a year, you better make the all star team!
Similarly with Tendulkar, why do the rich get richer, get all the perks, get all the loopholes, signoffs, writeoffs and opportunities?
I agree with AQ on this. This happens both in India and Pakistan. If any poor do something good which brings pride to the country all he gets "Hilal-e-Pakistan" and "Mahaveer chakker" (Or whatever chakker) and when someone rich do this he becomes more rich.