Hitler the Tax Dodger

[Kellanved]

Turns out Adolf Hitler wasn't just a mass-murdering, war-mongering, racist and depraved ogre. He was also a tax-dodger. At the same time he was preaching to the masses that the collective good is more important than the good of the individual, he was also doing all he could to avoid paying taxes, according to Klaus-Dieter Dubon, who has plunged into Hitler's tax files. That allows us to add "hypocrite" to the list of nasty Hitler adjectives in use.

Just how much did Hitler owe? 400,000 Reichsmarks -- the equivalent of millions of dollars today. Hitler's dictator salary only pumped 45,000 Reichsmarks into his account every year. Not surprisingly, the Fuehrer never had to pay his tax bill; in December of 1934, after Hitler took control, his tax bill was forgiven.

The bill was mostly from book royalties earned from the sale of his ranting, repetitive and virulently anti-Semitic missive "Mein Kampf." Despite the book's lack of literary luster, it earned Hitler 1.2 million Reichsmarks by 1933. But it wasn't just the book. Hitler had loads of admirers who plied him with gifts, even before he seized power. For example, a rich woman wrote him in the 1920s, "Dear Mr. Hitler, I have an extra watch which I have enclosed. Wouldn't you like to use it?" In 1925, he received a Breughel painting (worth 50,000 Reichsmarks). The tax office never found out about such perks.
...


http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,333297,00.html

and
http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,333186,00.html (German)

[rkc3]

1. That's an interesting article.

That's an interesting article.

[RobertSeattle]

2. Double Copy? Your first 3 paragraphs are same as last 3

[Kellanved]

3. fixed, thanks.

n/t

[dummy-du1]

4. He had other priorities

like buying a new Mercedes with special equipment. It's strange how things never change, isn't it?