With Greece being pressed by its international lenders to find ways to fill a looming budget hole of as much as 2.9 billion euros ($3.9 billion) with more cuts or taxes, the government is collecting less than half of what is owed each year, a State Audit Council report to Parliament showed.
The finding backed the well-known belief that Greeks try to avoid or evade paying taxes as much as they can and that tax cheating, even during a crushing economic crisis in which the government needs every euro it can find, goes uncollected.
Despite big tax hikes in the last three years, while revenues have gone up, they are still less than expected and driving the need for more austerity, officials from the Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank (EU-IMF-ECB).
The report from Council President Ioannis Karavokyris showed that revenues due last year amounted to 110.79 billion euros, but the state collected just 51.99 billion euros, or 46.93 percent. This was due to direct and indirect taxes, whose collection rate came to 57.52 percent, and non-tax revenues, of which only 9.58 percent was paid.
The amount of 110.79 billion euros due for 2012 included the balance carried over from 2011. Direct and indirect tax revenues overdue from 2011 amounted to 55.3 billion euros, or 28.56 percent of gross domestic product, up from 11.34 billion euros (or 25.79 percent) from the previous year.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ coalition government, as have all previous governments, have largely allowed tax cheats to escape paying without a single major prosecution despite pressure from the Troika to improve collections.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
