Greek "Wise Men" To Tackle Tax Evasion

Unable to stop runaway tax evasion in a country that is the most corrupt in the European Union, the Greek government is planning to create a so-called “Committee of Wise Men” to come up with some other way to bring in much of the estimated 30 billion euros ($39.48 billion) that tax cheats are costing in lost revenues.
The newspaper Kathimerini reported that the former head of the National Bank of Greece, Vassilis Rapanos, who was slated to become finance minister in Prime Minister Antonis Samaras’ coalition government before falling ill earlier this year, has been offered the job as head of the council. The aim of the committee would be to overhaul the country’s tax administration to more efficiently target tax evasion.
Both Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras stressed the importance of curbing tax evasion on the sidelines of a European Union leaders’ summit in Brussels at the end of last week where a decision was made to approve the release of some 50 billion euros ($65.8 billion) in rescue loans to Greece.
At the same time, ministry officials in Athens submitted to Parliament the first of two tax bills aimed at boosting much-needed revenue. The second bill, to be unveiled early next year, is expected to bring a more radical overhaul of the tax system as well as substituting suspended sentences for large-scale tax evaders with immediate jail terms. Addressing a health sector conference on Dec. 15, Stournaras described this second bill as “the heavy tax law,” adding that despite the progress made by authorities so far “the road ahead remains long and steep.”
Representatives of Greece’s Troika of foreign creditors – the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund – have been pressuring Greece to go after tax evaders but have had little luck. Kathimerini said that a frustrated German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told Stournaras in Brussels “do something about tax administration reform and tax evasion.”
In an interview with Kathimerini, the European Commissioner overseeing taxation issues, Algirdas Semeta, said Greece could boost annual revenue by around 10 billion euros ($13.16 billion) if it limited tax evasion to the EU average.
In the meantime, while Samaras is talking about tax evasion, his government has submitted a bill that instead pounds the middle class and workers with more heavy tax increases, a plan endorsed by the Troika which wants unrelenting austerity measures.