VW To Pay Taxes On Journo Bribes

Martin Schwoerer
by Martin Schwoerer

TTAC has written about how Ford and other carmakers in Germany are the car-buying jobbing journos best friend. But according to Spiegel Online, when it comes to bribes, VW is their bestest best friend. VW paid for about 30 German journalists to attend the opening acts of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The car angle? None. And so the German tax agency says this generosity is a cash-equivalent perk. Therefore, the scribes must cough-up the income tax on the Euro 25k trip. (You wouldn’t expect a company that has paid brothel expenses for union leaders to be skinflint, would you?) To ensure that the tit-sucking journos don’t endure “hardships,” VW has offered to pay the relevant tax bill of up to 17k Euros per scribe. Pocket calculator alert! Thirty journalists x 25k = 750k Euros. That’s about a million bucks for just one item of bribery. But wait; a 17k tax bill on a 25k perk? Anyway, all they had to do was stick the journalists into a couple of cars for a quick test drive and poof! No tax. What’s Chinese for “d’oh”?

Martin Schwoerer
Martin Schwoerer

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  • TireGuy TireGuy on Jan 14, 2009
    no_slushbox : January 14th, 2009 at 3:01 pm VW was by far the most popular response to the “I’ll never buy _______ again” question of the day yesterday, so they need all they help they can get buy. Why VW should be so high on that list is for me a surprise anyway. VW is by far the biggest car manufacturer in Europe, and for a good reason. Piech, who is an engineer, has since 1993 pushed for engineering excellence and quality. VWs are very reliable - having had two of them, I am quite happy. Even at an age of over 10 years, there were no serious problems other than normal wear and tear. Comparing what VW spent on this trip to what GM anc the rest seem to have spent frequently on sport sponsoring (free tickets available anybody?) and motor shows, I am sure that this trip is an issue no bigger than other incentives and spendings made by VWs competitors.
  • WhatTheHel WhatTheHel on Jan 14, 2009

    TireGuy: If you're happy with your VWs God bless you and more power to ya. But most of the folks (volks?) I've known who've owned VWs have ended up hating them. Even my dear friend Ricky 'the Shep' who LOVES Vdub admits that his Jetta is nickel & diming him to death. His VW dealer has screwed him so many times I'm shocked they haven't bought him an engagement ring. But he'll still stick with the brand simply because he digs the Dub. You can't buy that kind of loyalty. So VW is big in Europe, so what? Fiat is popular in Italy but that doesn't hide the fact that their electrics are wired with grocery store twist ties. If Piech was such a stickler for engineering excellence he would have put the brakes on the Routan idea.

  • Kurt. Kurt. on Jan 15, 2009

    Mom gave up her Mercedes for a VW cab and she loves it. (My Dad on the other hand hates to be seen in it). Tireguy, good point. Even with the threat of bankruptcy, the BIG 3 still spend huge to bribe folks for their support. At least VW isn't suckling up to Uncle Sugar's teat. The Routan "idea" isn't bad. The Marketing department should all me taken out back and SHOT!

  • Gforce Gforce on Jan 15, 2009

    Ya'll haven't seen a thing. Here is South Africa they own a weekly motoring Television series (called RPM). The presenters are'nt even bothered to be seen driving their sponsored Seats on camera, even the commercials during the shows are VW-orientated.

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