Aldo hadn’t understood the American attitude toward paying taxes, even though he had become a US citizen in 1976. In Italy, the average citizen, skeptical and mistrustful of government, feels that paying taxes is tantamount to throwing money at corrupt politicians for little in return. The American saying – only two things in life are certain: death and taxes – wouldn’t make any sense to an Italian and especially wouldn’t have in the 1980s. Today the Italian government is trying to curb rampant tax evasion, but in those years, the more money one managed to avoid paying in taxes, the smarter one was considered. It was almost something to boast about.
