Word: taxing
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Dates: during 2010-2019
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While Dimitris insisted his identity be hidden, there is little chance he'd be caught or seriously sanctioned for his crimes. In 2007, the last year for which statistics are available, Greek authorities prosecuted only 10 people for tax-related crimes that carried a potential jail sentence...
Calculating the full cost of tax evasion in Greece is nearly impossible. The Greek government estimates the shadow, or untaxed economy, is about 30% of the declared economy, among the largest black markets in the 16-member euro zone...
...those countries, tax evasion reduces state revenue. But to different degrees, says Tito Boeri, a professor of economics at Bocconi University in Milan, it is also a root cause of broader problems with competitiveness. "I think the serious problem this tax evasion poses is that it concentrates tax pressures on a small segment of the workforce," he says. "That is an obstacle and an impediment to growth." (See the worst business deals...
...Greece, doctors, lawyers, accountants and other self-employed professionals are among the worst offenders, says Georgakopoulos, the tax head. To prove the point, the ministry released tax information last November about doctors in the wealthy Athens neighborhood of Kolonaki, where the streets are lined with shops selling brands like Prada and Louis Vuitton. Nearly a third of registered doctors there declared annual incomes of less than $22,000. In all of Greece - a country of 11 million people - only 3,125 people declared incomes more than $280,000. "Everyone who can avoid paying taxes does," says Georgakopoulos. "The only ones...
Widespread evasion feeds the Greek attitude that only the stupid pay taxes. Little wonder that Greece's tax revenue is among the lowest in the European Union, 19.8% of GDP (excluding social security) compared to an E.U. average of 26.1%. (Italy's take is 29.1%, Portugal's 24.5%, Spain's 20.7%). Only a handful of E.U. countries - the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Romania - do worse. And none of them use the euro. (Read: "Is the Euro the New Dollar...