A top European official expressed his concerns on Tuesday regarding the high value-added tax (VAT) evasion in Greece, which is estimated to amount to 9 billion euros or 4.7% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).
Within the framework of the Task Force for Greece’s presentation of its sixth activity report, he claimed that it was one of the country’s major problems on which the efforts of the Greek tax collection system should focus, along with the cashing in of private debts, audits of wealthy citizens properties and tackling of fraud.
He also expressed fears over the exhaustion of Greek taxpayers who are unable to pay because of the harsh economic policy of the Greek government, adding that the amount of new debts have reached 10 billion euros. He noted that the situation in Greece is being aggravated by the limited activity in the property market that would otherwise have allowed the debtors to meet their obligations with the liquidation of their assets.
Tax evasion is a widespread phenomenon in Greece especially among wealthy citizens. An IMF report had mentioned, “The rich and self-employed are simply not paying their fair share, which has forced an excessive reliance on across-the-board expenditure cuts and higher taxes on those earning a salary or a pension.”
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