Showing posts with label belgian banks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label belgian banks. Show all posts

Sunday, September 23, 2007

What...me work? He could be a STUD

Its pretty much the same attitude Belgium is starting to have about it's royal family.
Back in July El Jueves published a cartoon of Crown Prince Felipe having sex with his wife princess Letizia.

Felipe says, "Have you thought about it, if you get pregnant, this will be the first time in my life I do something that resembles real work?"
Spanish law states that you mustn't insult their Royal Family. If you do you could end up in clink for two years. You wouldn't think there could be such censorship in this day and age - well at least in western Europe.
The funniest thing is, however, that because they banned the cartoon from el jueves, which only has a readership of 80,000, it was instead seen by millions, on the Internet.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Belgian Banks can now accept "Black Money"

Belgian banks will be able to accept small amounts of funds that have been kept from the taxman.
Until now bank clerks risked a conviction, if they handled illicit earnings - what Belgians generally refer to as "black money" - but a modification of the definition of fencing in Belgian criminal law means they now no longer need to fear a court appearance.

Leo Van Hove, Assistant Professor of Economics at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, made a monetary study of the underground economy of Belgium as part of his 1997 doctoral thesis.
“Black work” costs every single Belgian EUR 1,500 per year in additional taxes, says Siebens. A family of four pays a staggering EUR 6,000 extra in taxes every year in order to make up the amount of taxes that would have been paid had everyone reported their income. “Only the richest people are profiting from this situation,” he says.