Greece on Monday appointed a former anti-terror prosecutor to help spearhead its latest tax evasion crackdown in a bid to boost its depleted state coffers by a hoped 11.8 billion euros by 2013.
The naming of 55-year-old Ioannis Diotis as head of the Greek fraud squad came as government ministers unveiled a raft of measures to combat a shadow economy that costs the state up to 15 billion euros ($22 billion) a year.
"There are studies by many organisations that give a shadow economy range from 25 to 35 percent of GDP. Based on that and with simple calculations, one can assume that 10 to 15 billion euros are lost to tax evasion every year," Finance Minister George Papaconstantinou told a news conference.
The ministries of finance, development, justice and police will work together to clamp down on wayward taxation, undeclared property, smuggling, money laundering and illegal gambling and trade, in addition to hunting down uncollected fines stagnating for years, Papaconstantinou said.
There will also be tougher sentences for tax dodgers and Greece will seek an agreement with Switzerland to levy tax on Greek bank accounts there.
"We have begun negotiations on a bilateral agreement with Swiss authorities, equivalent to that which Switzerland is negotiating with Britain and Germany, in order to tax funds deposited by Greeks in Swiss banks," he said.
The overhaul was announced as the debt-hit country prepares to undergo a new audit this month by the EU and the International Monetary Fund in order to unlock a scheduled loan release vital to Greece's continued solvency.
Government always mismanages funds that are confiscated from productive individuals. They have no to know how to appreciate resources. The black market is in the business of this everyday and does this without being tracked down by government scum. These are the real heroes who will keep the economy going while the government defaults. Which makes them more dangerous than terrorist because everyday they evade the taxman and show the emperor has no clothes.
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Snitch; do it for the children by Sean Sawyer
Late last week the government of Jamaica revealed several new measures that it will take in order to cut down the high levels of tax evasion in the country and the extent of the national underground economy.
During the reveal of the 2011 - 2012 budget for the government of Jamaica on April 28th, the Minister of Finance Audley Shaw announced that the government would be taking an increasingly tougher stance on tax evasion, with several new measures to be implemented in the near future.
The first of the initiatives came into effect on May 1st, when the government opened an anonymous phone service which allows Jamaican citizens to submit information about other people and businesses who might be evading their tax obligations. All information provided to the tax authorities through the new whistleblowing service will be kept confidential and be followed up by a tax investigator.
The Minister stated that the government would attempt to make greater efforts to fight the country’s underground economy by addressing the issue and occurrence of unrecorded and unreported cash transactions. It was suggested that the new push will be made more effective by the new whistleblowing phone line, as tax authorities will greater access to information on non-complying businesses than they could have previously.
The government will also soon create and maintain a comprehensive database of all high-salaried professionals. The list will be cross-checked with tax authority records of individuals who file tax returns, to determine potential cases of tax evasion and non-filing.
The Finance Minister is pushing for the citizens of Jamaica to comply with their tax obligations and to utilize the new whistleblowing phone line, as the national budget requires greater levels of resources fund Jamaica’s health and education systems.
Call a hotline snitch on your competition, pay for a kid's next textbook. Across town mom or dad go's to jail for not paying the government it's fair share. Tax is theft, don't snitch, live and let live.
During the reveal of the 2011 - 2012 budget for the government of Jamaica on April 28th, the Minister of Finance Audley Shaw announced that the government would be taking an increasingly tougher stance on tax evasion, with several new measures to be implemented in the near future.
The first of the initiatives came into effect on May 1st, when the government opened an anonymous phone service which allows Jamaican citizens to submit information about other people and businesses who might be evading their tax obligations. All information provided to the tax authorities through the new whistleblowing service will be kept confidential and be followed up by a tax investigator.
The Minister stated that the government would attempt to make greater efforts to fight the country’s underground economy by addressing the issue and occurrence of unrecorded and unreported cash transactions. It was suggested that the new push will be made more effective by the new whistleblowing phone line, as tax authorities will greater access to information on non-complying businesses than they could have previously.
The government will also soon create and maintain a comprehensive database of all high-salaried professionals. The list will be cross-checked with tax authority records of individuals who file tax returns, to determine potential cases of tax evasion and non-filing.
The Finance Minister is pushing for the citizens of Jamaica to comply with their tax obligations and to utilize the new whistleblowing phone line, as the national budget requires greater levels of resources fund Jamaica’s health and education systems.
Call a hotline snitch on your competition, pay for a kid's next textbook. Across town mom or dad go's to jail for not paying the government it's fair share. Tax is theft, don't snitch, live and let live.
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