Sotheby’s Auction House will auction a rare duty-free Botticelli to avoid high taxes. 92-year-old cement tycoon Sheldon Solow auctioned a portrait of a young man believed to belong to the Medici family.
Solow bought it for just over $1 million about 40 years ago.
The New York auction house now estimates it at $80 million.
Normally, this kind of profit must be declared as capital gains tax, totaling approximately US$33 million.
For Solow, this is not the case. Solow donated this work to his private foundation several years ago, saving millions of dollars in tax deductions for charity.
The plan is completely legal and is often used by wealthy Americans to protect various assets from tax collectors, from stocks to real estate.
