Greece’s tax office has resorted to confiscations, auctions and criminal prosecutions in order to collect from debtors to the State, as outstanding debts are close to 4.75 billion euros in the first five months.
Tax authorities carry out an average 730 seizures of wages, pensions and savings from bank accounts of Greeks who are in arrears.
According to Independent Public Revenue Authority (AADE) data, 91,104 seizures have been conducted since the beginning of the year, of which 24,059 were in May.
Finance ministry officials estimate that overdue debts will swell in the coming months, as Greeks are called to pay income tax and the single property tax (ENFIA), adding to the already precarious economic environment.
According to the same officials, overdue payments are projected to rise from 4.75 billion euros in the first five months of the year to 12-13 billion by the end of 2017. However, they note that the rate of recovery of arrears is expected to increase as well, with estimates that 4-5 billion euros will be collected.
Total overdue debts (old and new) amount to 95,186 billion euros, 90.43 billion of which is old arrears incurred before 2017, while 4.748 billion euros were added since the beginning of the year until the end of May.
Taxpayers overdue to the Greek State amount to 3,881,795 euros. According to AADE, 930,160 debtors are subject to collection measures, such as wage seizures of bank accounts. Since the beginning of the year, there have been 91,104 seizures of funds.
Furthermore, 2,388,899 individuals and businesses have debts to the State of up to 500 euros, amounting to 340 million euros. On the other end, there are 5,552 debtors whose debts exceed 1.5 million euros each.
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