Soon, a bill will be presented to the Greek parliament allowing those with undeclared assets either in Greece or abroad to make “good-faith” arrangements to pay the tax. At the same time, the proposed legislation will include much tougher penalties for those who do not report all their assets once they are caught doing so.
Black money is an ongoing problem in Greece and no government so far has been able or willing to take drastic measures to curtail tax evasion. Whether the Syriza-led government will succeed in doing so remains to be seen, but the proposed piece of legislation comes at a time when the Greek state is in dire need of cash and fighting tax evasion is one of the vows made by the new government to its international creditors for the signing of the new bailout program.
If reports are correct, the new bill on tax evasion will carry eye-popping penalties, including prison sentences for those caught having large undeclared assets worth at least 50,000-100,000 euros).
The proposed bill has of course the blessing of the IMF and the EU authorities, who are eager to see Greek public finances put finally on the right track.
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