Greece: Where the Poor Have Yachts and Helicopters

ATHENS – Even as the Greek Finance Ministry failed to meet yet another vow to release the names of individual tax evaders who owe the cash-strapped country more than $60 billion, another of its report showed that some 70 percent of Greeks claim to be living in poverty, including many of the country’s rich, some of whom own yachts and helicopters.
The report, based on tax records for 2009, the second year of the country’s current recession, showed that seven in 10 Greeks reported an income of less than $15,800, the poverty line level. Previous data has shown that many of those are living in rich neighborhoods and include doctors, lawyers, architects and engineers the government suspects are among the many people who under-report their income, a major source of the country’s staggering debt and crisis. Even more remarkable, some 40 percent of Greeks report their income is less than $6,600 a year, which means they paid no taxes at all – none – although the Ministry has now changed the threshold.
The Ministry said there are 10,406 people who own yachts of over 10 meters in length, while 128 own airplanes or helicopters. The Ministry is cross checking income reports against assets to try to identify the evaders. The statistics reveal how the country’s burden is placed on the backs of the working-class and people whose jobs require income taxes to be taken out of their pay, and also how tax evaders, including professions such as mechanics, plumbers, technicians, fruit and vegetable vendors, kiosk owners and others, report incomes far less than they make and don’t issue receipts, or give receipts for far less than they are paid. One man, for example, said he had car repairs done that cost him $529 and was given a receipt for $38. One Greek journalist appearing on a British TV show which mocks the Greeks as being a land of lazy liars and tax cheats said anyone who issues receipts is “stupid.”
While a majority of Greeks claim they are poor or even desperate, 40 percent own a house, 50 percent own cars and more than 900,000 have revenues from renting other properties that they don’t report, showing the breathtaking level of tax evasion that has brought the country to the edge of ruin. The Troika of the European Union-International Monetary Fund-European Central Bank which is lending Greece $152 billion to stay afloat, and planning another $175 billion, has long complained the government has failed to go after tax evaders, despite a recent crackdown against some businessmen. But that included a major shareholder in a TV station who owed $1.58 billion in back taxes for just one year, but who was released from jail almost as soon as he was arrested because his attorney said the station is bankrupt so he doesn’t have to pay anything.
The tax records showed that there are 8,451,733, with 3,058,590 of these being salary workers. At 2,342,865, pensioners accounted for 36 percent. More than 360,000 taxpayers owned houses of more than 200 square meters, while 910,470 people lived in rented accommodation. More than 135,000 taxpayers were paying rent for their children who were living and studying in another city. The number of taxpayers who declared their country homes came to 662,403, with 133,169 of them saying that their houses had a total area of over 150 square meters. However, only 11,763 of them stated they owned a swimming pool. There were also 512,275 taxpayers who acquired a new vehicle in 2009, while the number of car owners came to 4,482,674.
(Sources: Kathimerini)