A recent spate of bullying and even assaults against tax inspectors in the recent period, especially on a handful of well-known islands, appears to have set in motion a plan by the independent public revenue authority for greater fines, longer closures of violating businesses and even the possibility of jail time for convicted perpetrators.
Although such phenomena have been well-documented in the past – and in some cases even “whitewashed” by opposition political parties – the pressing need to ensure that tax revenue targets under the third memorandum are met have rekindled a drive to make the legal framework stricter.
According to reports, the leadership of the independent authority (AADE) has been in constant contact with the finance ministry and Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos over the recent period in order to mandate stricter fines and sentences for tax violations and offenders. Such a prospect would have to be included in a draft law, which would then be submitted to Parliament for debate and ratification.
Tax dodging, failure to handover VAT remittances and social security contribution evasion has long been an endemic problem in Greece, particularly in high tourism regions.
The current leftist-rightist government has had to grapple with this specter since assuming power in January 2015 – and after years of fielding a much softer stance vis-a-vis “grassroots” tax evasion.
