Fundação Carlos Chagas • SEFAZ-RJ
🔐 Texto de apoio
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.
🔗 Texto adaptado de:
🔗 http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-27/why-is-spain-really-taking-lionel-messi-to-tax-court-.html
QUESTÃO
Which of the following alternatives is the “odd man out”?
tax dodge.
tax return.
tax evasion.
tax fraud.
tax cheat.
📝 Resolução Comentada – Questão 27
A questão avalia Vocabulary in Context, especificamente o reconhecimento de um Semantic Grouping (Odd Man Out). Embora todas as alternativas sejam expressões lexicalmente corretas do inglês, a banca não cobra a formação dessas combinações, mas sim o campo semântico ao qual cada uma pertence.
O candidato deve identificar qual expressão não pertence ao mesmo grupo conceitual das demais.
Observe as alternativas:
tax dodge
tax evasion
tax fraud
tax cheat
⇩
Todos remetem à ideia de
fraude, evasão ou crime tributário.
A única expressão que foge desse grupo é tax return, que significa declaração de imposto de renda, um procedimento administrativo absolutamente legítimo.
Portanto, o critério utilizado pela banca não é gramatical nem estrutural. O candidato precisa reconhecer qual item pertence a um campo semântico diferente.
- O Comando: identificar o odd man out, isto é, o elemento semanticamente diferente dos demais.
- O Gatilho do Gabarito: perceber que quatro expressões pertencem ao campo da fraude tributária, enquanto apenas uma pertence ao campo dos procedimentos fiscais legais.
- Por que é médio? Todas as alternativas são collocations corretas. A dificuldade está exclusivamente na interpretação semântica.
(A) ❌ tax dodge.
Incorreta. Tax dodge refere-se a um esquema utilizado para evitar o pagamento de tributos, aproximando-se da ideia de evasão fiscal. Pertence ao mesmo grupo semântico das alternativas (C), (D) e (E).
(B) ✅ tax return.
Correta. Tax return significa declaração de imposto de renda. Trata-se de um procedimento legal de prestação de informações ao fisco, não de uma prática ilícita.
(C) ❌ tax evasion.
Incorreta. Tax evasion significa evasão fiscal, ou seja, o ato ilegal de omitir receitas ou utilizar mecanismos fraudulentos para deixar de pagar tributos. Pertence claramente ao mesmo campo semântico de tax dodge, tax fraud e tax cheat.
(D) ❌ tax fraud.
Incorreta. Tax fraud refere-se à fraude tributária, envolvendo declarações falsas ou outras práticas ilícitas destinadas a reduzir ou eliminar o imposto devido. Assim como as alternativas (A), (C) e (E), descreve um comportamento criminoso relacionado aos tributos.
(E) ❌ tax cheat.
Incorreta. Tax cheat designa a pessoa que frauda ou sonega impostos. Embora se refira ao agente da infração, permanece inserido no mesmo universo conceitual das demais expressões ligadas à evasão e à fraude fiscal.
- Questão típica de Vocabulary in Context com foco em Semantic Grouping (Odd Man Out).
- O objetivo não é identificar uma collocation correta ou incorreta; todas as expressões são lexicalmente naturais no inglês.
- A banca avalia a capacidade de organizar o vocabulário por campos semânticos.
- Quatro alternativas pertencem ao grupo crime/fraude tributária; apenas tax return pertence ao grupo dos procedimentos fiscais legais, tornando-se o verdadeiro odd man out.
Chunk family:
- Tax return (declaração de imposto de renda)
- Tax evasion (evasão fiscal)
- Tax fraud (fraude tributária)
- Tax dodge (manobra para evitar tributos)
- Tax cheat (sonegador de impostos)
- Semantic grouping (agrupamento semântico)
Gabarito Oficial: B