Gudel – on the luxury car scandal: we must be a rich country, not beggars, roaming the streets with scooters

Gudel: this is an absolute lie

Businessman Benas Gudelis said on the “Facts and Opinions” program that M. Majauskas is only trying to divert attention from more important things.

“First of all, I think it is a lie, an absolute lie and a lie again. Mr. Majauskas is lying to his constituents, for example, about my company, my Lamborghini, which was ordered in 2019 and has nothing to do with it. with a pandemic. My company has not received a single penny of support, we were forced to pay benefits to our employees and then we waited four months for the state to give us the money that we paid to our employees. Mr. Majauskas tries to divert attention from state problems, where money, masks and everything else disappears, and tries to impose it on people like me: it is very low, black and there is nothing really here ”, says B. Gudelis.

According to him, Lithuania should grow and be a rich state.

“It just came to our knowledge then. It may be that people actually bought something with that or other money, but it is still not possible to say that everyone has to skateboard in Lithuania, that is not true.” We have to grow. We have to be a rich and intelligent country, not beggars; take scooters on the streets and tell everyone that we protect nature when the Chinese spend as much as we can save in ten years, “he said.

Business mixed pockets

Professor Raimondas Kuodis assures that companies often simply mix pockets: corporate and personal.

“It is a pity that Mr. Majauskas links this problem with the money and the support of the fight, because that is not the problem. Entrepreneurs have mixed two pockets: that of the company and their own. They should be separate, and this problem has been going on for over twenty years. There is individual consumption through corporate balance sheets. When refueling, the cashier looks up when he hears that no invoice is needed. It is common for an entrepreneur to consume through a company. Why are you doing that? Because you can charge VAT on the items you bring home, and sometimes it’s cars, sometimes apartments, furniture, I’m not talking about anything else. These things are then ‘written off’, written off, which reduces income tax. This is one of the answers to why approximately forty percent of the companies in Lithuania are always profitable year after year.

The question arises of how they survive. Only a significant part of them is eliminated through consumption. It turns out that public sector workers who are indirectly affected by such a livestock operation pay most of the country’s taxes for two reasons. Firstly, they cannot work under livestock forms, they must work under standard employment contracts, and secondly, they cannot have businesses through which they can consume. Therefore, Lithuania almost does not collect income tax, because there is nothing to collect, supposedly it does not exist. And those purchased machines are kept with all the bills, they go to services, refueling and children, family members, not only the owner, so that it is possible to collect VAT on fuel and reduce corporate income tax, “he says. R. Kuodis.

Ruginiene – Finds money for cars, but not for wages.

Inga Ruginienė, president of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation, says the worst is when managers cannot find a salary of six or seven hundred euros for employees, but can buy a luxury collector’s car.

“I strongly agree with the professor that two issues have been shaken here, and that the movement has made it possible to expose a long-standing problem more openly. I remember two or more years ago I participated in an event where an STI representative introduced the tax collection system and talked about buying luxury items, which basically also indicates what not to be. Cars: the tip of the iceberg. Now that ships and yachts have appeared, I asked where various collectibles, paintings, figurines, luxury travel, this STI has this information, and I wonder why nothing has been done so far. Now, when we speak, the businessmen say that everything was allowed, it was done by law.

There are moral and ethical aspects when analyzing certain companies; We analyzed the top ten of those famous companies that emerged and we saw that yes, when managers buy luxury collector cars, sadly, employees pay between six hundred and seven hundred euros in their hands. I think there is a problem when managers talk that every day is very hard and there is no or no opportunity for money to improve the conditions of employees because they are already on the brink of bankruptcy. And suddenly you discover that you bought a collector’s car. For me, this information is a bit behind reality ”, says I. Ruginienė.

Gudel: become a company and get to work

According to Gudel, all the information that was published about him is false.

“I mean, it’s really a bloated affair here, I don’t know any facts. As for me, this is an outright lie, I didn’t buy any machines in 2020, I didn’t use money from these supposed benefits, but I’m talking about myself and I found myself in your program. How does it arise and who will be responsible: the union or the members of the Seimas? Who will be responsible for the slander? I am only defaming myself, “the businessman was upset.

However, when asked if there is a problem with an entrepreneur paying house bills on behalf of a company, Gudel said he did not understand why entrepreneurs should be envied.

“I don’t know if he doesn’t live there, it’s abnormal. If you live there, you need to live somewhere. He pays himself a salary and pays the bills. What’s happening here? What is the problem here? A person earns money, pays taxes, stays with the state, pays VAT to the state, and then we start out of jealousy when talking about those people. What are we jealous of? Start a company and get to work, live so well, why don’t you do it? ”, Says B. Gudelis.

I. Ruginienė states on the show that the biggest problem is that luxury goods are bought avoiding taxes.

“You have just installed that it is normal to use the company’s money in the same way as yours. As the example of a scooter was mentioned, no one says that it is necessary to ride it, ride whatever you want, but the employees must also have the conditions and the salary. In Ben Gudel’s company, the median reaches more than eight hundred hands, which is not the best salary and example of success, but the purchase of luxury cars. It is not about jealousy at all. If they bought it from your salary after paying taxes, there would be no problem, but we are talking about buying luxury items by paying taxes. That’s where the point is, ”says I. Ruginienė.

Gudelis – for Ruginiene: the girl does not “get” what business is and what taxes are

B. Gudelis also reacted to these words of I. Ruginienė on the show.

“I can react very simply. The girl does not “get” what business is and what taxes are. When you buy an expensive car for three or two hundred thousand, you pay sixty thousand VAT only to the state. When guests come to see Lithuania, we try to represent it very well. My company and I represent Chanel in all the Baltic countries: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. I can pick up and buy that car in Estonia, pay VAT in Estonia, we have a branch in Estonia and no one will envy Lithuania like thousands do.

Then in America I have three of those machines and no one is jealous, no one knows. Now I am talking to a trade unionist who is a very beautiful woman, I repeat, nice, cultured, and I want to ask her how much she earns and who determines her salary. That’s what he said, my daughters earn eight hundred, yes, that’s a starting salary, but they still get commissions and they can earn two thousand. “